When Stars Are Scattered
by Victoria Jamieson, Omar Mohamed
Outstanding graphic novel of two brothers Omar and Hassan, little boys separated from their mother when the village was attacked. They nearly died walking many miles with other displaced people to a refugee camp in Kenya.
“We weren’t born here. Hassan and I were born in Somalia. Some people here are from Ethiopia or Sudan or other places in Africa. But we all have one thing in common. We had to leave our homes because we were afraid for our lives.”
The brothers lived in the camp for 19 years, in tents with no electricity, very little water, not enough food, with thousands of people, was like a city with markets, schools, a mosque, hospital.
What is daily life like in a refugee camp – food rations for maize, salt, cooking oil, kids play games with their sandals, they make swings out of plastic bags and elephants out of mud, they sing songs, write poems, and study at night by lamplight so they can pass the examinations.
But Omar and Hassan were the lucky ones – after many years and UN interviews, they were selected for resettlement to America. And are finally reunited with their mother after more than 23 years.
What an amazing refugee story of hope, persistence, people taking care of each other, international aid agencies – all working to improve things globally.
From the founding of the United States, many people were refugees came escaping endless war, famine, religious persecution.
In 1989, Ronald Reagan said, “Anyone from any corner of the earth can come to live in America, and become an American.”
January, 2025, Trump government suspended the United State Refugee Admission Program, even refugees scheduled to come in 2025 are left in limbo.
For 2026, only about 7,500 people, primarily whites from South Africa will be the refugees arriving next year.
Today, Omar and Hassan would spend the rest of their lives in their refugee camp, and never come to America.
In this book, Omar’s teacher in the camp told the kids to close their eyes and imagine the stars.
“Now imagine yourself as one of those stars. Your light is bright and shines for millions of miles. Now open you eyes and open them wide. Look at your friends sitting all around you.
Throughout your life people may shout ugly words at you. Words like, ‘Go home, refugee!’ or ‘You have no right to be here.’
When you meet these people, tell them to look at the stars, and how they move across the sky. No one tells a star to go home.”
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