Refugees show horrors of war

THE LOST BOYS OF SUDAN: AN AMERICAN STORY OF THE REFUGEE EXPERIENCE, by Mark Bixler, the University of Georgia Press, 261 pages, $24.95.

During the civil war that has enmeshed Sudan for more than 35 years, 2 million people have died and 4 million have been displaced since 1983. Approximately 20,000 of those who have suffered are the so-called "lost boys," many of whom were torn from their families when they were as young as 5 or 6 and driven a thousand miles or more to refugee camps in other parts of Africa.

Beginning in 2000, as many as 3,600 lost boys were relocated to the United States with the help of the government and various refugee relief organizations. After that they endured a major acculturation process as they tried to adjust to American ways and the English language. Needless to say, their experiences were not all positive. Many were victims of American violence when they were accused of not fitting in.

Now two books have been published that offer a valuable peek into the experiences of these refugees.

"They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky" is written by three of the lost boys themselves, now in their mid-20s — Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng and Benjamin Ajak, who suffered in refugee camps in Africa before landing in San Diego. The book draws heavily from memoirs of life in Sudan, which they wrote in composition books.

Today, Alephonsion works in medical records at Kaiser Permanente and takes classes at San Diego City College; Benson attends community college while working for the city's waste-management division, maintaining its digital-computer system; Benjamin has a Class A license and drives a truck for a construction company while working toward GED equivalency.

"The Lost Boys of Sudan," written by journalist Mark Bixler, focuses on four other boys who were resettled in Atlanta. Having never turned on a light switch, used a kitchen appliance or ridden a subway train, they were disoriented in the extreme. Most important, they had no relatives in the United States for moral or financial support.

The Atlanta boys are Jacob Magot, Peter Anyang, Daniel Choch and Marko Ayii. Jacob and Peter attend Georgia Perimeter College, Marko is in high school and Daniel is studying to be a priest. They all work for their sustenance outside of school.