Employee's book chronicles life as he flees Civil War; Lost Boys of Sudan share journey with the world

SAN DIEGO — Not everyone who works with Benson Deng at Waste Management in San Diego knows his story — and even if they did, few would be able to comprehend it. Benson is one of the Sudanese Lost Boys, who were forced from their homes as young boys and endured a death march of 1,000 miles, facing the threat of death from starvation, crocodiles, bandits and soldiers. Most of the boys who started on the march didn’t make it. Benson, his brother Alephonsion Deng and their cousin Benjamin Ajak were three of the lucky ones.

The three young men have written a memoir of their childhoods, entitled “They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky,” scheduled to be released on June 15. The book has been selected as a June 2005 Book Sense Pick by the American Booksellers Association and has been praised by Publishers Weekly for its “depictions of unbelievable courage.”

Benson Deng was 7 years old when the Sudanese government sent armed Murahiliin soldiers into his small village in southern Sudan. As the families in the village came under attack, the young boys fled, knowing that they would either be slaughtered or conscripted into the Murahiliin army. Benson joined thousands of homeless boys running for their lives from village to village and refugee camp to refugee camp.

Benson and his cousin, Benjamin Ajak, reunited with Alephonsion at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. After nine tough years on their own in the camp, where they ate starvation rations and desperately tried to acquire an education, they were sent to the United States as part of an international refugee relief program, arriving in 2001.

Waste Management’s San Diego residential and commercial customers may have met Benson in his role working in the Snapshot program. Drivers in the Snapshot program take pictures of overloaded carts and bins and then contact customers to educate them about recycling programs or encourage them to increase their trash capacity.

“We are unbelievably proud of Benson Deng,” said Jason Rose. “It is inspirational to have this young man working with us. I look forward to reading his book, although I already know that the strength of character that we see in Benson every day will undoubtedly shine through the pages of the book.”

More information on “They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky,” to be published by Public Affairs Books, is available on the book’s Web site, http://www.theypouredfire.com.