 October-December 2005
They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky
by Judy A. Bernstein
I had a chance to talk to the aforementioned Judy A. Bernstein, the boys’ mentor, and she gave me insight on why she felt that she had to get involved in helping to tell this story. I caught up with her just before she flew out on a promotional tour to market the book and she allowed this interview: |
ACR: Judy, please introduce yourself to The Romer Review reading public by describing who you are, what you do, and why you do what you do?
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| JAB: I am a volunteer mentor and chair of the advisory committee for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in San Diego. IRC works world wide in refugee camps and across the USA as a resettlement agency for refugees. I became a mentor because I heard about the extraordinary experiences of The Lost Boys of Sudan, and I wanted to work directly with people. I do this because I love it and love them! |
| ACR: Just who are the Lost Boys? |
| JAB: In the mid 1980’s mostly villagers in Southern Sudan, faced ferocious attacks by Northern government troops and locally armed militias in a genocide that resulted n 2 million people dying. Many of the men and women were killed or raped, and the girls taken into slavery. The boys had been told to run to escape death, slavery or induction into the northern army. Thousands of little boys, many only 5 or 6 years old fled their homes and families and crossed thousand miles of lion-infested war zones without food, water or parents. Thousands didn’t make it, but the survivors eventually reached relative safety five years later in a refugee camp in Kenya where they lived on a half cup of flour a day for nine years. |
| ACR: THEY POURED FIRE ON US FROM THE SKY, is a unique title for the book that is causing quite a stir in certain literary enclaves…what precipitated naming it as such, and did The Boys have a say in it at all? |
| JAB: It is a quote from Benson Deng’s mother as she warns him about the trouble coming to the village. It refers to the Antenovs dropping bombs and helicopters spraying gunfire from above before the militia attack on horseback. |
| ACR: Other than having the world stand up and acknowledge the situation in Sudan, are their any other needed solutions or initiatives you feel necessary to bring more attention to the other possible ‘Lost Boys’ and/or girls? |
JAB: I hope this book brings attention to all Lost Boys and Girls, and that people in turn will look to their own communities where Lost Boys and Girls are living and embrace them. I would like to see our communities help out with better jobs, education and healthcare. Sometimes just a bit of advocacy can make a huge difference. The Lost Boys and Girls are resilient and hard-working, but coming to this whole new culture all alone is a tremendous struggle and challenge. A little help can go a long way.
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| ACR: Why did you opt for this type of literary effort as opposed to any other venue that could have publicized the boy’s plight on a larger scale? |
JAB: This book did not begin with a mission. Rather, it evolved from small personal efforts. From the day I met them, my co-authors indicated that they liked to write. I had been writing as well. When I saw their writings I encouraged them to do more, thinking it would be a good outlet for them. We did what we knew how to do.
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| ACR: This is such a poignant and provocative story, what did you see in the boy’s eyes that made you feel that this story needed to be told? |
| JAB: What I saw in their eyes were hope. But what I knew from reading, and what they begin to tell me is that they were victims of the worst kind of hate and prejudice, a terrible holocaust, and it was going on in near silence! I felt for them and the world…these kinds of stories needed to be told over and over and over until they stop happening, and there are no more stories to tell. Sometimes we seem to be getting further away from those days. |
| ACR: Based on the sheer magnitude of publicizing the plight of what the boys went through, at what point were you just chomping at the bit to get your idea moving? |
JAB: Actually I was more chomping at the bit to help them get their lives here established. That was a struggle. They wanted to go to school, but working for entry level wages full-time, often graveyard shifts left little time or energy for education. I knew it was a long shot and didn’t want them to put too much hope into it, but a book seemed like one way to help them get that leg up. Moreover, I knew what a powerful story they had, and it was my challenge to figure out how to tell it. No one can tell it better than they can, so that is the format we decided on. I would imagine every writer beginning a book is chomping at the bit to get to the end product -- publication. In the end, it’s one foot in front of the other. It took over three years from the time we started.
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| ACR: I’m amazed at what transpired in this ordeal in reference to logistics and the transformation process. Are you still in constant contact with them collectively or individually concerning their progress? |
| JAB: I’m in daily contact with my co-authors and their cousins, Joseph and Lino. I’m honored to say that they are family. there are a hundred Lost Boys and one Lost Girl in San Diego. I see them around town and at the IRC offices. Most of my time not spent with the book are on fundraising efforts for The Lost Boy and Girl Education Fund www.theIRC.org/LostBoysEd through IRC. |
| ACR: Let’s talk about the book in terms of cause, effect and solutions. The next set of questions will concentrate on those issues, but first, let me ask you - Why would a woman so far removed from any cultural affinity to align yourself to this situation? |
JAB: Maybe that is exactly the reason. Like the book, I did not start down this road with a mission in mind. But I have to say I was at a point in my life that I was open to possibilities. I had been away from the working world for 10 years and was a student advisor at San Diego State University in the Community Economic Development Department. I’d been helping a student each year culture small businesses in the mid-city area. My student in 2000 was Sudanese and by day he was a caseworker at IRC. He asked me to mentor some of the Lost Boys just arriving. One thing led to another.
I’m very thankful I took that opportunity. It led me to extraordinary experiences and some of the finest people I’ve ever come to know. One of the great things about so many of our cities nowadays is that we don’t have to travel around the world to meet people from exotic places. In many cases, we can travel a few minutes and experience an entirely different cultural experience. |
| ACR: We place great emphasis on The Lost Boys, what about The Lost Girls….I’m sure that their stories are just as poignant? |
| JAB: Their story is just as poignant, yes. There are far fewer of them here in the U.S, perhaps a hundred. Fewer fled the villages and as a result many girls were captured as slaves and taken to the north. Those who did survive the walk and made it to the refugee camps, lived in the general community and were not living in separate groups like the boys. So these factors and perhaps the familiarity of the Lost Boy name, have cast more attention upon Lost Boys…but the girls that endured certainly deserve equal credit and attention. |
| ACR: Isn’t there a monetary fund that has been spearheaded to alleviate the great cost of easing problems and aiding the relocation of other refugees? |
| JAB: The UNHCR (United Nations High Commission on Refugees) http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home oversees the refugees in camps around the world and helps to decide who has little hope of returning home and should be relocated. From that point it is their destination country who takes over. Once refugees come to this country they are given several months of training and monetary support to get established. Beyond that, I do not know of any other monetary fund specifically for refugees. In San Diego we established an education fund through IRC for Lost Boys and Girls, and it has had a substantial beneficial impact. This year a national one was begun and now the fundraising needs to be done. |
| ACR: Are there efforts ongoing to assure any and all monies will actually get to its intended sources and destination? |
| JAB: I’m not qualified to answer that for the UNHCR, but I do have faith in the organization. As far as the IRC education fund, I can tell you that 100% of donations go directly to those Lost Boys and Girls furthering their education. IRC administers this fund free of charge. It has been a tremendous blessing for a new fund like that. |
| ACR: What can concern individuals and corporations in ways to do more to help the boys and the foundation(s)? |
| JAB: Advocate for the boys and girls. Help them to find good jobs, seek educational opportunities. Raise money for the education fund, and should you want to do much more, go to http://www.theirc.org/index.cfm/wwwID/2151 and make a difference! |
