Mi Camino: Dabeiba, un viaje en el tiempo / My Path: Dabeiba, a journey through time

Mi Camino is a series of interactive comics whose aim is to foster confidence and self-efficacy among children and adolescents living in high-risk communities in Colombia. Young people on the margins of the country, when faced with contexts of prolonged violence, may experience negative identities, which in turn reinforce a general sense of pessimism about their lives and the opportunities available to them. Joining an armed group or turning to crime can therefore often appear as the only solution to this crisis of ontological insecurity. In response, and drawing on the pedagogical framework of the Mi Historia project, the comics promote specific Peace Skills, strengthening self-esteem and encouraging a deeper understanding of the implications of violence.The first comic, Dabeiba: A Journey Through Time, is aimed specifically at Indigenous children and adolescents from the Emberá community of Santa Cecilia, Risaralda—a community that has been disproportionately affected by decades of armed conflict. Clashes between rival armed factions lead to periodic displacement; girls and women are subjected to sexual violence, and Indigenous youth are vulnerable to recruitment by non-state armed groups. The comic is accompanied by a teaching unit that allows teachers and other professionals to explore the story’s themes in greater depth with their students. There are also games designed to engage child and adolescent readers and users with the comic’s learning objectives.