They Poured Fire On Us From The Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan

Alepho is Benson’s brother, younger than him by two years. He was more belligerent as a child and gave his mother a fair amount of trouble. Alepho recalls how a number of different animals would visit the village during the rainy season, when the waterholes were full. The men went out hunting, but Alepho was not allowed to join them since he was too young. When the animals moved on in the summer, the family subsisted on milk from their cows and the grain they had stocked up on, instead of meat. Achol, a young girl from the same village, was Alepho’s best friend. They spent all their time playing together since they were too young for school.

When Alepho was five, a villager brought back a baby monkey from the forest that had lost its mother. Alepho adopted the monkey and took care of it. By the end of the summer, it had grown big and strong. One day, while playing together, Alepho accidentally pushed the monkey too hard; it hit its head against a tree and instantly collapsed and died. Alepho missed the monkey dearly; it was his first realization that “life can end in a careless moment” (18).

When Benjamin was four and had not yet started school, he was entrusted with taking the goats to graze along with his friends. Within the first couple of days, he lost a few. He initially thought that a hyena was taking them away, but when he spotted the animal culprit and described it to the elders, they told him that it was a lion. The men went hunting for it and returned with its mane and tail.

Benjamin reminisces about the Dinka culture of sticking together with one’s “age-mates” at all times, as it encouraged values of friendliness and unity, which were important to one’s survival in the wild.

From the elders’ stories, Benson learned about how the Arabs arrived as traders from the north of Sudan, selling their wares and teaching their religion. Many tribes converted to Islam, but the Dinka and the Nuer in the south resisted. Islam was too complicated for them, and their livelihoods as cattle keepers didn’t afford them the luxury of praying five times a day.

The elders believed that the northern government encouraged the converted northern tribesmen, the Murahilin, to attack and steal the cattle from southern tribes. These attacks were called the Harpoon Wars. Benson’s tribe, the Dinka, began to experience increased hostility from the Murahilin after the government declared Sharia law (Islamic law) for all of Sudan in 1983.

Benson remembers how he only owned one item of clothing: a pair of red, nylon shorts that his father once brought back for him from his travels. Benson wore them everywhere, only taking them off when he bathed.

Benson’s great-grandfather once nursed a sick lion back to health, and in return, the lion protected his cattle. To honor this friendship, Benson’s family always offered the lions one of their animals. However, a lion suddenly began attacking the family’s herd and carrying off the animals. Benson’s father offered the lion a live goat to placate it, but it went untouched. Three days later, the lion arrived at the family’s pen and massacred more animals.

Angry at the broken covenant of friendship, Benson’s father decided to kill the lion. When it next arrived in the village, he singlehandedly fought and killed the animal with his spear but was injured in the process. He was taken away to a hospital for treatment and hailed for his bravery by the village.

Deng, Alepho’s cousin, was taken away by the Murahilin before Alepho was born. He returned to the village one day, along with his wife, and told his story around the fire that night. Deng was sold into enslavement by his captors and came to work for a man named Mohammed Zubber, who was harsh and cruel. His daughter, Asunta, however, came to know and love Deng. Once, when Deng tried to escape, he was caught and brutally beaten. Asunta saved his life by intervening with her father.

Eventually, Asunta and Deng decided to escape together, and after a long, arduous journey, they successfully made it back to Deng’s village. Alepho remembers the jubilant celebration in the village on the night of Deng’s return.

When Benson’s father was away at the hospital, a lioness arrived in the village. She circled Benson’s family’s compound at night, trying to break in night after night. When Benson’s father returned home, the lioness left the village, but the family heard her roaring in the wild at night. They knew she was waiting to avenge her mate.

Benson reminisces about the tradition of cattle camp, where Dinka boys and girls were sent when they were teenagers. The cattle were gathered near a place called Toch. One boy was elected the head, and he decided the movement of the cattle. The girls and boys carried out different cattle-tending duties and mixed freely, with many staying at camp until they were married. Benson remembers playing at cattle camp as a child and regrets never actually getting to go.

The Dinka distinguish themselves from other tribes by removing six lower teeth. Benson remembers the day he was sent to have his removed, at his uncle’s place; there were four boys and one girl there that day. All the boys cried in pain as their teeth were removed with a fishhook and were later shamed for it, as the girl endured the pain silently.

Not long after his teeth were removed, Benson’s sister, Angong, got married. When she had a baby, Benson was sent to her house to help care for his nephew and tend to the goats. However, he was unhappy and missed home, and he walked the hours-long distance back home alone one day. His mother allowed him to stay but insisted that he go back in a few months.

While he was home, Benson’s father returned from his travels with news of a Murahilin attack on a nearby village. Besides stealing all the cattle, the Murahilin shot and killed all the men and burned the women and children to death. Benson’s father told his children to beware of the government troops who were all Arabs clothed in long, white robes. If they arrived at Juol, the children were to run.

Attacks on nearby villages continued, and the subject of war became an open topic; the government troops used guns and planes to shoot and bomb the villages. After the village just north of theirs was attacked, Benson’s mother insisted that he return to Angong’s: “No one is safe here. They want to pour fire on us from the sky” (49).

Five-year-old Benjamin, who was living with his aunt to attend school, was pulled out one day, just a few months in, and sent back home. Rebels were coming to defend their town against the government, and Benjamin was promised that he could return in a few months. However, the following week, his aunt’s village was attacked, and the schoolhouses were bombed by government planes. There would be no more school for Benjamin.

While Benson was at Angong’s, his home village was attacked. Alepho woke up in the middle of the night to shooting and explosions and was sent out to hide in the tall grass by his parents. When the sounds finally died down in the morning, Alepho set out to look for his parents and was relieved to find them alive and well. However, he was distraught to discover that his friend Achol did not survive; she was burned to death inside her house. A sobbing Angong arrived the next morning with news that her village was also attacked and that Benson was missing.