Author Visit
Middle School and Senior School
April 4, 2007
On the evening of April 4, Benjamin Ajak and Judy A. Bernstein co-authors
of "They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky - The True Story of Three Lost Boys
from Sudan" spoke to students and at a public gathering in the Richard E.
Rauh Theater at the Hillman Center for Performing Arts on the Senior School
Campus of Shady Side Academy.
In a collaboration between the Shady Side Academy Middle and Senior School Libraries and the Senior School History Department, the two authors discussed their experiences, answered questions, and engaged the audience in a conversation about the current crisis in Darfur.
In addition to the public evening discussion, the authors visited history classes at the Senior School and had lunch with faculty and students at both the Middle and Senior Schools of Shady Side Academy on April 3 and 4. Community sponsors for this event are Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition and the Pittsburgh Refugee Center.
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The impetus for the visit comes from Shady Side Academy students. Josh Diggs '08 read the book shortly after Senior School Librarian Reed Williams added it to the library collection. Mr. Diggs was moved by the story and recommended that Ms. Williams also read it. Ms. Williams, in turn, spoke with 8th graders about it and had the book added to the summer 2006 reading list. Through word-of-mouth about the book, enthusiasm grew to help raise awareness about the situation in Sudan.
They Poured Fire On Us From the Sky is the story of Benjamin Ajak, Alepho Deng, and Benson Deng, who were raised among the Dinka tribe of Sudan. Their world was an insulated, close-knit community of grass-roofed cottages, cattle herders, and tribal councils. They co-authored the book with Judy A. Bernstein who they met through her volunteer work at the International Rescue Committee in San Diego.
Their world changed the night the government-armed Murahiliin began attacking their villages. Amid the chaos, screams, conflagration, and gunfire, five-year-old Benson and seven-year-old Benjamin fled into the dark night. Two years later, Alepho, age seven, was forced to do the same. Across the Southern Sudan, over the next five years, thousands of other boys did likewise, joining this stream of child refugees that became known as the Lost Boys.
In They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky, Alepho, Benson, and Benjamin, by turn, recount their experiences along this unthinkable journey. They vividly recall the family, friends, and tribal world they left behind and their desperate efforts to keep track of one another. The book is a powerful portrait of war as seen through the eyes of children.
Alephonsion and Benson Deng, and their cousin Benjamin Ajak were relocated from the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya to the United States as part of an international refugee relief program. They arrived in 2001. Now all in their mid-twenties, Benjamin, Benson, and Alephonsion live in San Diego, California.
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