They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan

A “moving, beautifully written account” (Los Angeles Times) of three Sudanese boys who were driven from their homes by civil war and began an epic odyssey of survival, ultimately finding their way to a new life in America

Between 1987 and 1989, Alepho, Benjamin, and Benson, like tens of thousands of other young boys known as the Lost Boys, took flight from the massacres of Sudan’s civil war. They set out in search of refuge with little more than the clothes on their backs and walked nearly one thousand miles, sustained only by the sheer will to live.

They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky is a deeply affecting account of that unimaginable journey. With the purity of their child’s-eye vision, the three boys recall how they endured hunger, malaria, life-threatening predators, and a war that threatened to overwhelm them. Now updated with a new afterword, They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky is a captivating, timeless portrait of a childhood hurled into wartime and an inspiring story of survival.

Alephonsion and Benson Deng and their cousin Benjamin Ajak left the Sudan in 1987, and were relocated in 2001 from the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya to the United States as part of an international refugee relief program. Today, Alephonsian Deng attends San Diego City College and works in the Medical Records Department at Kaiser Permanente Hospital. He has spoken to many schools, universities, clubs and organizations about his extraordinary story in Africa and adapting to his life here in America. Benson Deng runs the computer and digital photography system at Waste Management in El Cajon, CA. Benjamin Ajak resides in San Diego and speaks full time to organizations and schools, sharing his amazing life and insights into surviving as a child of war and a newcomer to the U.S. Judy Bernstein is a mother, writer, Student Advisor for the Community Economic Development Department at San Diego State University, volunteer mentor and Chair of the Advisory Committee of the San Diego International Rescue Committee and co-founder of the IRC Lost Boys Education Fund. She speaks with her co-authors to community groups, temples, churches, and schools.