Multicultural Monday – March 1, 2021

When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson & Omar Mohamed

Picture a 4-year-old living through a civil war in Somalia:

• Witness father being killed
• Separated from your mother and sisters
• Nonverbal younger brother is all you have left
• Running for your life into the African bush, avoiding snakes, predators, big cats
• Ending up in a refugee camp

Now, imagine that same boy at 12 years of age:

• Caring for his brother
• Trying to get an education
• Playing soccer with a plastic bag
• Having only one pair of clothes
• Eating only 1 or 2 meals per day
• Having little to no medicine

This is the story of Omar and his brother Hussan, as they try to survive and get out of the Ifo refugee camp, known by refugees as an “open prison”, in DaDaab, Kenya.

Do both brothers survive this ordeal?

Is their mother still alive?

Is there a future for Omar?

Read the book to find out!