On Saturday, March 7, 2020, the Placentia Library Friends Foundation hosted their annual author’s luncheon at Alta Vista Country Club. This year’s speaker was author, Judy A. Bernstein. Judy co-wrote the book, They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky; The True Story of Three Lost Boys of Sudan, with Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng, and Benjamin Ajak. The book was published in 2005 and it is a memoir about their tragic childhoods, epic journey, and heroic survival. She later went on to collaborate with one of her co-authors, Alephonsion Deng; their book Disturbed in Their Nests was published in 2018. The book focuses on Alephonsion’s experience as a refugee living in San Diego and his acculturation into American society.
The event opened with a performance by Nico of DeJembe West African Drum and Dance, who played African drums and an instrument called the Ngoni for the audience. Attendees enjoyed the music and a three-course meal, and then they were educated and entertained by the author. Ms. Bernstein showed several maps of Sudan and discussed the war over oil that sent thousands of boys fleeing from their homes as their villages were pillaged and burned to the ground by Arab militias. Many of the boys were under the age of six-years-old. They became know as the “Lost Boys.” She told us how the boys walked a thousand miles and faced hunger, disease, wild animals and the machinations of war; many of them died along the way. The lucky ones who survived made it to Kakuma Refugee Camp where they were waitlisted for years with the hopes of coming to America.
Bernstein’s co-authors were three of those lucky young men. She said fate brought her and the boys together in 2001 when they were granted refugee status by the United States and sent to San Diego, California. At the time, she was a mentor for the International Rescue Committee. She was asked “to show the boys around.” She told us she took them to Walmart, which was so big, it was like a city to them. Their first fast food experience was at a Burger King, where they were fascinated by the soda machine and the “opulence” of the restaurant. She took them to a baseball game where they refused to eat the hot dogs, as they thought they were made literally from dog meat. Bernstein’s stories were comical at times as she conveyed her early experiences with the boys.
She told us as she got to know them, they started to open up to her and relate stories to her about their homeland, their families, their grueling journey of survival and coming to America. She encouraged them to keep writing down their stories, which in time became the contents of the first novel. When asked, what has been her greatest challenge in dealing with the boys, she responded, “Dealing with our cultural differences has been the most challenging. For example, when I invited them over for Christmas, they said they’d come, and then they wouldn’t show up at all. Or, they would come and they bring ten friends with them.” Despite the challenges, Judy was emphatic that mentoring the boys has been one of the best things she has ever done. It changed her life and theirs.
The afternoon was a captivating one, and the Friends garnered over $8,000 in proceeds from the event, all of which will be used to purchase resources for, and to support programs at the Placentia Library.
Written by Lisa Pacheco