They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky

   “They Poured Fire on us from the Sky” by Alphonsion Deng, Benson Deng, Benjamin Ajak, Judy A. Bernstein is a book that gives insight about three Sudanese boys fighting for freedom. The three boys were named Alepho, Benson, and Benjamin. Alepho was a lazy boy who liked to pull pranks and complain al lot. Benson was a shy boy who didn’t talk much and didn’t defend himself from his brother. Benjamin was very good at running but very bad at doing his job which was taking his family’s goats out to graze, he always lost one. When the government attacked Benjamin’s village he did what he was best at and ran. He ran into the forest and me two of his cousins who had escaped from their villages too. Now they had to make it to one of the refugee camps which was no easy task. They had many obstacles to overcome like bombed villages, hunger, deserts, and minefields. They had to survive in the harsh environment of Africa with the dangerous wildlife like lions, snakes and had to deal with enemy soldiers. They traveled far across Africa to Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya looking for the refugee camp.

   A lot of people had to experience this because of the Sudanese civil war. This story shows the true horrors of this civil war. It took a lot of determination for people to survive these types of conditions. Soldiers destroyed people’s homes forcing them to abandon their land. People had nowhere to go or run to, so they just had to keep moving hoping for someone or something to save them. This story was very interesting and gave a good idea of what it was like to be a villager in the war. It’s unbelievable that soldiers would do these types of things to innocent civilians and villagers. I didn’t even know this war was happening before I read this story and it’s a tragedy. How did this war start and why did it keep going for twenty-two years?