Introduction
"We laugh and joke like that. We had to have humor. It is human nature.
No matter how bad the situation is, if you can't find any humor then life is not worth it."
- Alephonsion Deng, They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky
"It's strange to say about such a violent time, but I was happy. I had a daily routine of cooking, games, and building huts and trenches to keep my mind occupied. Corn and beans made a good dinner, and the UN planes also supplied us with fishhooks. I went to the Pochala River and caught plenty of fish. I discovered the constants and variables in the algebra of survival. If I had plenty of food but risked violent death, I felt better than if I had starved in peaceful times. My first rule, every day, was to find enough food to
make it to the next day. Then I could afford the luxury of worrying about the enemy."
-John Bul Dau, God Grew Tired of Us