Noe’s Comics Nook: 6,000 Miles to Freedom

Review

Imagine you’re 12 years old. Now imagine that your father dies and suddenly your most fundamentalist, unwelcome anywhere but during Thanksgiving dinner uncle is in control of your life. Now add onto that that you are shoved into a religious “school” and when you fail to live (or, die, as it were) to the standards of those in charge, your only options are to die or to flee with no adult guidance, on foot, and only the goodwill of people who don’t understand your life. It is unimaginable isn’t it? And yet that life – or one of many variations of it – is the reality for countless displaced peoples across the globe.

In 6,000 Miles to Freedom, Marchetti and Pomès present what this experience might look like for two young boys, Adel and Shafi, fleeing from Taliban controlled Afghanistan with nothing more than what they can carry. Put into the hands of smugglers, who fail to protect them turn-after-turn, the two eventually find themselves in the Calais Jungle encampment in France. So close, and yet still impossibly far from Shafi’s brother in England who is meant to be their sponsor into the country and into safety. Or, well, more safety than they’ve had, given the stewing resentment toward refugees across most of Western Europe and North America.

I won’t spoil what tragedies come next, and I have been intentionally minimal on the horrors they face along the journey here. Why? Because it is much more powerful to see it for yourself while reading this comic. Powerful and awful and, I hope, inspiring of political action to demand better treatment for refugees across the globe. While 6,000 Miles focuses on Afghani refugees during wartime, there are migrants all across the globe – in the US, we see how often the Mexican border is used as a political ploy – and the numbers are expected to skyrocket in the coming decades due to climate change and its impacts.

6,000 Miles is a stunning addition to the growing number of comics exploring the life of refugees and is well suited to use in a high school classroom.

Elements of Story

Plot: Growing up in war-time Afghanistan, cousins Adel and Shafi live their lives as normally as they can – until religious fundamentalism forces them to flee their home to survive. Following in the footsteps of countless other refugees, the pair attempt to make their way to England where family may be able to shelter them. But things are never quite so simple.

Characters: Adel, Shafi, Daud, Muhammad, countless unnamed refugees, various smugglers

Major Settings: Afghanistan, England, France, Eastern Europe

Themes: War, Violence, Religion, Human Rights, Refuge, Law, Morality

Lesson Plan Idea Using Common Core Standards (CCS)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.3 – Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Directions: In 6,000 Miles, we primarily follow along with our two main characters, Adel and Shafi, though we also spend quite a lot of time with Daud as well. Each of these characters has their own experience of being a refugee and each has a different strong emotional response to their journey. While they all share the descriptor “refugee,” they all remain individuals with prior experiences and expectations that color who they are.

For this assignment, chart out the backstory available for each of these three characters. Use their prior experiences and their experiences on their journey to create a short profile of each character. Are they angry? Sad? Resigned? What other emotions do we see and what do they hope for at the end of the road?

Once you have generated these profiles, choose one of these characters to write about in more detail. Use what you have gleaned from their personality and offer explanations for why they make the decision that they do throughout the story. There are many key decisions throughout the book (when Adel and Shafi are separated for example) and you may choose to spend dig deep into just one of these or do smaller dives on several, all related to the same character.

You should expect to have two paragraphs for each character profile and up to 4 pages for your deep dive into your chosen character and their pivotal choices throughout their journey.