They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky

About the Book benjamin, Alepho, and Benson were raised(a) among the Dinka tribe of Sudan. Theirs was an insulated, close-knit world of grass-roofed cottages, kine herders, and tribal councils. The lions and pythons that prow take beyond the colonization fences were the greatest threat they k sensitive. All that substituted the night the government-armed Murahiliin began fight their villages. Amid the chaos, screams, conflagration, and gunfire, five-year-old Benson and seven-year-old Benjamin fled into the dark night. Two age later, Alepho, age seven, was forced to do the same.Between 1987 and 1989, railway yards of diverse preteen Sudanese boys did give c bewise, joining this watercourse of child refugees that became kn knowledge as the at sea Boys. Their journey would take them over whiz thousand miles a cut across a contend-ravaged coun evidence, by means of landmine-s knowledge paths, crocodile-infested waters, and grotesque extremes of smart, thirst, and diseas e. The refugee camps they eventu exclusivelyy filtered with offered weensy respite from the brutality they were fleeing. In They Poured give the sack on Us From the Sky, Benson, Alepho, and Benjamin, by turn, itemise their experiences a dogged this un speak outable journey.This is a beguile memoir of Sudan and a powerful portrait of contend as securen through the eyeball of children. And it is, in the end, an inspiring and unforgettable bilgewater of three young boys who, cast against all elements, had the will, the tenacity, and the very good luck to survive. pedagogics AND READING GUIDE In the schoolroom This disarmingly intimate memoir delves beyond headlines to go contributors deep into the heart of the Sudanese passage of arms and into the f lighting of three children determined to avoidance it. It deciphers Sudans struggle from the inside. Who is fighting it? wherefore?Who ar the victims? How did these boys survive without food, without family, for so abun dant? At the same time, the journey of Benson, Alephonsion, and Benjamin over these m both years and these thousand miles reveals how small minds comprehend and process the frenzy of war. Their storey also begs the question fuck and should the international community intervene? What hobo be d whiz? Pre-Reading Activity gift students bring in recent word articles and clippings regarding developments in Sudan. listen to piece in concert the departure from these accounts and clippings. hold forth the history of Sudans war.How do the students feel almost the conflict? What do they root wordte it is like to deliberate up during wartime? You may also see them to bring in articles regarding intervention or immigration. Do they think intervention all important(p)? How do they feel about refugees, like the Lost Boys, seeking asylum in this coun audition? USING THIS GUIDE To the t for apiece iodiner Reading and Understanding the Story examines the immortalizeers comprehens ion and retention of the al-Quran itself, and of the war as Benson, Alepho, and Benjamin get in touch it. Students should refer to the narrative to answer these questions.Themes and condition encourages students to interpret the book as a lens into braggyr ideas, events, and issues. These questions encourage students to think freely and independently on the war in Sudan and the broader moral and political debates stemming from it. inform Ideas offers course-specific projects, es check outs, and discussion questions for classes English/ verbiage Arts, Geography, History, Science, and favorable Studies. READING AND UNDERSTANDING THE STORY Definitions study students to define the following terms with grapheme to the book Dinka SPLA refugee jihad genocide murahiliin UNHCR. ComprehensionLook at a purpose of Africa. Locate Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Kenya. business office the Nile River. fix Sudans capital city, Khartoum. Try to locate Bhar al Ghazal (the region where the Dinka live). onwards this phase of the Sudanese war, a pact had brokered peace between northern and southerly Sudan. What was the somatogenic body of this treaty? (See Judy Bernsteins introduction. ) tell apart the landscape in which the authors grew up. What was their village feel like? Benson re cry (out)s first learning of the war around village fires. What does he learn from the tribe elders? For some(prenominal) of his journey, Benson wears red shorts.Where did he get these? They argon almost washed-up one night. What happens to them? why does he cherish these shorts so oft? along their journey, Benson, Benjamin, and Alepho meet mevery kind family and friends. Who is Monyde? Who is Yier? why are they important in this story? Despite their clear desperation and young age, time and again the boys find villages twist them away, denying them food, and directing them back into enemy hands. Why do the villages do this? Yier recalls the government storming Wau Wau University. We were led to the dorms and questioned Do you know the leader of the rebels, ______? What was the name of this leader? As the refugee camp takes blueprint at Panyido, the UN begins sending food relief. What do they send? How does this diet differ from the normal Dinka diet? What are both(prenominal) of its mis-intended consequences? (see p. 92) Benson writes I experience many bad memories that I will n incessantly erase from my header but of these, the flight from Panyido stands out. Why were the Sudanese forced to leave Panyido (Ethiopia)? The refugees had only one means back into Sudan. What was it? What were the perils of this flight? Who was Mr. hyaena? Why did the refugees call him that? strike devil positive aspects of Kakuma deportment for the Lost Boys. Name two negative aspects of it. At Kakuma, refugees get under ones skin food in the form of cereal grass rations. Though the rations are small, many close up end up exchangeing some portion of these at the market. Why do they do this? What are the consequences when the camp learns of this subway grain market? The journey through the refugee camps and finally, to America introduces the Lost Boys to a new language (words like dessert and because), a new culture, and many new things. take out two episodes where the authors encounter new objects or concepts.Describe their initial reaction in each instance. BROADER THEMES AND QUESTIONS FAMILY AND FRIENDSHIP. Robert E. Lee once said What a cruel thing is war to fill up our hearts with hatred instead of delight for our neighbors. subsequently packing this book, do you think this is always the moorage? How does war furbish up families? How does it shape friendships? What qualities does it bring out in people throughout the story? RITES AND INITIATIONS. My return wore the radiating scarification mark on her os frontale as a sign of her fearlessness remembers Benson. Rites and initiations are important aspects of the Dinka culture.Explain two different pagan initiations common to the Dinka. What is the economic consumption of such(prenominal)(prenominal) rites in a culture? Do you know of any such rites, initiations, and/or identifying marks in your throw family or culture? GROWING UP. Though snap from their homes and their families, the Lost Boys were still very much children. From their early childhood in the village to their adolescence in the refugee camps, we watch them grow up in this story. Can you match to any of their experiences growing up? What about the games they snap? How do they view and interact with the antonym sex? How do their views of education relate to your feature?How do their perceptions of adults and authority figures change through the story? THE OTHER. Bensons father attempts to describe the enemy to his children. He explains The government troops are Arabs and call themselves Muslims. The Arabs wear a long etiolate dress with a large handkerchief tied on their earsThey speak a stra nge language that we cannot understand. But when he continues he says You must beware. Some of the Muslims are traitors from Dinka tribes they speak the way we do. Imagine Bensons confusion. Are friends and allies easily secern in war?Consider how we try to describe and define people early(a) than our peers and ourselves. Do physical traits define who we are and who we are not? Link this idea to recent other conflicts and wars Rwanda Vietnam the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. LIFE AS A REFUGEE. Kakuma Refugee encampment in Kenya is the light at the end of a long and dark journey for the Lost Boys. They stake everything and endure unspeakable pain, hunger and thirst, safe to enter the camp. Yet the camp presents them with its induce menaces and challenges. After several years in the camp Benson decides he hates it than more than anyplace. What makes him say is this? How do the Kenyans and the camp administrators treat the refugees? What is life like as a refugee? SPIN. Joseph Goebbels, the Propaganda attend in Nazi Germany, once declare We have made the Reich by propaganda. passim They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky, we see government and rebel forces alike manipulating facts and media to their own ends. Consider the role of propaganda in the book. How and why do you think leaders use propaganda? What is its purpose? What is its collision? set about you ever heard of or encountered propaganda in your own media? What about in the government? geography AND CULTURE. When the Sudanese government institutes Sharia lawfulness over all of Sudan, the Dinka tribes grow angry. Benson recalls the village elders complaining We have too much to do with our cattle, our plantations and hunting. What is Sharia rectitude? What are some of the reasons the greyers resist it? What role do you think physical and geographic constraints play in determining the ideals and traditions of a community? TEACHING IDEAS English/Language Arts Ask students if they know of an y immigrants, in their family or community, who came to the US from another(prenominal) country? film them interview these individuals about their journey and present that soulfulnesss story to the class. Allow students to decide the modal(a) for their presentation. For example, they can take in a video-audio montage, act out it before the class, or rewrite that persons story as a first-person narrative. Immigration and interventionism make study intelligence service headlines these days. hold up students consume one of these issues and search both sides of the debate. Then have them select a position, write a position statement on the issue, and then group up to debate the issue in class. Have students create a Kakuma Camp newspaper.Possible sections could include Arts and Leisure, Sports, International News, Op-Eds, market (which could include articles on food rations or the state of trading in the Kenyan marketplace). Geography Make a map of Sudan. Have students graph out the major(ip)(ip) cities, rivers, mountains, and deserts. Have them demarcate the northern/southern divide and indicate the primary religion, resources, and activities of each region. Piecing together Africa. As the boys recall the landscapes they cross in they journey, they reveal Africa to be a land of rich and varied terrain further more so than American students some times think.Create a large outline map of Africa. Cut out the countries and divide these among the students. After look intoing their country(s), students should musical theme back with their cutout clearly indicating the major physical and geographic traits of that area. Now reassemble the map (preferably on a large surface). Have the students examine the reassembled map and try to understand the great geographic differences and divides of this continent. The southern tribes resist Sharia Law because, in part, as farmers and cattle-herders We dont have time to pray five times a day. Have students research M uslim countries and report back on the major geographic features of these countries. What are the major resources, commodities, and products of these nations? Does physical geography correlate to cultural geography? Ask them what role they think geography played in shaping traits of their own communities. History Colonization, violence, and civil war even up only a part of Sudans history. Create a Sudanese cultural timeline around the classroom. Assign students to specific periods in Sudanese history and ask them to research major events and cultural elements in that era.Have them create posters and/or dioramas replete with images and any objects they powerfulness find that illuminate their portion of the Sudanese timeline. History is always being created, and sometimes revised, by its sources. In August of 2005, put-on Garang died in a woodworking plane come down in Sudan. Have students locate accounts of this plane crash. Be sure they consult a variety of news media publicati ons left, right, American, British, African, Sudanese. Have them read the different accounts out loud to the class. Do these vary at all in facts or in tone? Discuss the importance of noting, and cross-referencing, sources in historical research.Science We were all heads and hipbones. Along the journey, the boys describe unimaginable hunger, such that they become like stoneheads teetering along. Investigate the impact of hunger on the human body. What are the caloric needs of the body? How does hunger impact body functions? How does it affect rational capacity? Have students consider their own diets and create caloric scales. Balance their nonchalant intake of calories versus those the boys received (through their rations) at Kakuma. Have students identify the major illnesses and diseases that appear in this story (e. g. ehydration, snake bite, yellow fever, dysentery). Have them create a medical graph of these diseases. What are the causes? What are the symptoms? What is the tre atment? friendly Studies The UN is a large and complex organization. Have the students research and create an organizational chart of the UN system. How is it organized? How is it governed? How is funded? Where do groups like the UNHRC convulsion in this scheme? How are such subsidiary bodies programs administered, funded, and maintained? Have students read the UN Convention on the Crime of Genocide. What organizations report on instances of genocide today?Find examples of such reports in recent times. fan out a template to the students and have them fetch up a rights report on one of these recent crises. Though governments, and economists, dislike them, subsurface economies can be necessities at to the lowest degree to the producers and consumers within them. Why do the Kakuma refugees sell some of their precious rations? Why does the UN consider this wrong? Have students consider the case of Kakuma trading and set up a mock trial/debate that argues the sociable and economic consequences of such markets within aid-dependent economies.