Alephonsion Deng Reflection

I came out with a lot to think about after Joseph Jok and Alepho Deng's visit to Poly during a high school assembly and an afterschool event.

Unfortunately, since Judy Bernstein, the co-author of Disturbed in their Nests, was unable to attend these events, Joseph Jok helped Alepho introduce information on Sudanese history that gave an effective description of politics and geography during the events of the Sudanese Civil War. I found this section of the event particularly important for my understanding of the subsequent description that Alepho gave of his experiences in Sudan as well as cementing the events described by Alepho both in the talk and Disturbed in their Nests in a greater historical context.

Before anything, I want to express my admiration for the fortitude of Alepho in talking to us. I am aware that Alepho during the day talked to the middle school, the high school, interested students at lunch, and gave a presentation after school, which must have been extremely taxing for him, yet he was still willing at the end of the day to share his opinions, perspectives, and views on the events he lived through. Alepho is a great storyteller and I found myself particularly interested in the stories he told about his past life in Sudan, something I had not yet heard or read about, as I have only read his book Disturbed in their Nests, which primarily focuses on his adaptation to his life in the US. I found myself wondering what adaptation to life in the US must be life, as well as being uprooted from a life he enjoyed in Sudan.

What I took away from this event was primarily the fact that Alepho's description of his life and adaptation to the United States stood in stark contrast to the 60 Minutes we were shown as an introduction to the event. As many of my peers thought, I felt that the 60 Minutes episode unfairly depicted the US as pretty much heaven or a "safe haven" to the Lost Boys. One of the most memorable lines that exemplifies this idea concerned the travel of the Lost Boys from "nowhere to somewhere." Alepho's struggles in adapting to the wildly different customs and landscapes in California, as well as his attempts to find work, are clear evidence against the US being the wonderful, money-filled paradise presented in Disturbed in Their Nests. I felt that this event mostly gave me a greater understanding of the consequences of the Sudanese Civil War, how it affected ways of life present, and a different lens on the 60 Minutes that told the story of the Lost Boys from a skewed perspective to so many.