Refugee Mental Health Graphic Novel 

Hello, my name is Luke and I’m an artist, a recent graduate in Anthropology and Psychology, and I currently work as a high school English teacher in a small town in northern Thailand through a Fulbright grant. 

I have worked years researching mental health in marginalized communities, and have often asked myself how to make this research more accessible. And so, I’ve combined my love of writing graphic novels and community-informed research and activism into writing comics informed by and intended for the very communities I’ve sought to uplift. Attached here is an example of a comic I’ve written in the Spring of 2024 adapting my thesis of working on a suicide hotline and listening as an act of care: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gcbZ4H6EqXBLZphUY5p4j3p_5YMDKPSz/view?usp=sharing 

 This passion of community-informed research as activism and art as a means of accessibility has led me to my month-long internship with THR5VE where we are collaboratively working on a short graphic novel informed by and amplifying the voices of the Karen community. 

Shortly after Burma gained independence from the United Kingdom, the longest-lasting civil war broke out lasting over 60 years. 2021 marked another bloody landmark of this conflict when the military junta overthrew the country's democratically elected party and the fighting continues to this day. This war has ravaged the land, and has displaced millions of people, most of them from ethnic minorities. As part of my internship with THR5VE, I am working with displaced Karen refugees, an ethnic minority in Burma, to craft a short 20 - 25 page graphic novel to uplift the voices of the Karen community through showing important stories, experiences, and themes of displacement tethered through ethnographic interviews and how the Karen community has found peace and ways to cope throughout it all.

Displacement and war have caused unimaginable trauma upon the Karen, but the community has stayed empowered through the values of unity, kinship, gratitude, and hope. We plan to distribute this novel to displaced Karen people as a reminder of the values which bring the community peace, as well as use it as a supplement to fundraise for people displaced by the war. We will not financially profit from this work and any funds made from the comic will go directly back to helping displaced people. I am asking for help to support my volunteer work with THR5VE and the Karen community. 

If one person gives: 

$29.58 we will be able to print 15 booklets 

$20.77 we can compensate a translator for one hour of translation 

$14.84 we can compensate one displaced Karen person for an interview 

If 10 people give $50, we are able to cover the cost of the entire trip to and from the refugee camps, including overnight stay, interviews and translation costs. 

Any donation of any amount is greatly appreciated. I plan to update donors on progress of the graphic novel through email updates and through THR5VE’s Instagram linked here: https://www.instagram.com/thr5ve?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==. 

Thank you so much for your willingness to help our work with the Karen community. Any extra funds raised will go directly to people being displaced by the civil war.