One cannot tell by the kind and open face of Benson Deng, that he has witnessed unspeakable horrors in his young life. I have read the book, and I can tell you that you will want to shake this man's hand after realizing that he has been to hell and back and he has survived with his soul intact.

"I learned English by writing the alphabet with a stick in the sand in Ethiopia. Five years later when I reached safety in Kenya I began my education again, but was soon struck with a serious illness, River Blindness. For five years that disease that made it impossible for me to sit and attend class so I taught myself English by lying on my stomach in my hut and copying the essentials of grammar and vocabulary into a composition book.

Since my arrival in America in August 2001, I worked at Ralphs Grocery Store in Hillcrest until the strike in November of 2003. Now I run the computer and digital photography system at Waste Management in El Cajon.

When I arrived in America my brother and cousin and I began writing about our experiences. Our book was published. It is entitled "They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys of Sudan" and was released June 13th, 2005. We hope that the book will allow us to further our education and help our family back home who are still suffering."

A quote from 'They Poured Fire on us from the Sky"

"Our village was attacked by Islamic extremists when I was seven years old. We fled a thousand miles across Sudan to Ethiopia on foot. The traveling was always by night and I hated this very much because we were not allowed to sleep and when I stepped on unidentified things in the dark like thorns, twigs and sharps tones, my feet were sore all the time. But I was not the only one, about twenty-five boys my age shared the same hardships. This stopped me from any complaints or crying. I was not wearing any shirt or jacket, just only my underwear all the way to Ethiopia"