Benjamin Ajak

In 1987, Alephonsion and Benson Deng, along with their cousin Benjamin -- not one of them older than seven -- fled with thousands of other children during attacks on their rural villages in southern Sudan, walking hundreds of miles over many months to escape the conflict, which followed close in their footsteps. With only a handful of grown adults to guide and encourage them, the boys were compelled to forage for their own food and build their own shelters, all the while at the mercy of the hot, arid environment and hazards of local wildlife. Shunted from refugee camp to refugee camp, they ultimately saw many of their brethren succumb to starvation, disease or violence, before finally -- after fourteen years in refugee camps -- Alepho, Benson and Benjamin were approved to enter the U.S. in hopes of rebuilding their lives and healing themselves.

The plight of refugees, fragile lives stuck in impossible, unrelenting limbo, are described in frank and painful detail. There could not be a more timely or heartbreaking read for 2017.… (altro)