Two boys. One war-torn country. A world away,freedom.
Twelve-year-old Adel and his cousin Shafi try to lead a normalchildhood in war-torn Afghanistan. But when Adel’s father dies, everythingchanges. His uncle, a religious fundamentalist, sends Adel to study at a madrasarun by militants, where he is trained as an insurgent and chosen to carry out asuicide bombing. When his moment of martyrdom arrives, Adel’s detonatorfails, and he is forced to flee the country or risk being killed by the Afghanpolice or the Taliban themselves.
Together, Adel and Shafi set out toseek refuge in England, where Shafi’s brother now lives and where a newlife awaits. With that hope, the two boys begin the perilous journey of 6,000miles to freedom, crossing mountains on foot and squeezing into crowded truckswith other refugees. The two become separated only to find each other again inthe Calais Jungle encampment, their last, hellish stop.
Based on numeroustestimonies from refugee youth, this poignant, timely, and well-documented storybrings to life the traumatic experiences faced by Afghani children fleeing warand poverty, as well as the isolation they often feel as refugees in theWest.