Just in case you’re ever tempted to think you’ve got it hard (as I do when, for example, a child won’t go to sleep at night, or when I miss the bus): these kids have an incredible story to tell.

I just finished reading They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan

It’s a first-hand account of refugees from the civil wars in Sudan, and it pulls no punches, points no fingers, and does not take sides. It merely gives a voice to three young men who walked thousands of miles, from parched deserts to deadly jungles, through lion-infested savannahs and crocodile-infested swamps, dodging AK-47-wielding enemies and more.

I was looking for something else, as I was working on something related to boy soldiers. After a few pages it became clear that this wasn’t my book. These kids are only refugees, after all.

But even with my very limited time, I kept reading. I was never sure just how much I could trust their accounts, but in the end, I had to. They were, after all, in many cases the only survivors.

Now: I do have a gripe here: the editors’ unbending choice to cut our editorializing. I realize that these three boys are not experts. They experienced the hellish conditions, but they didn’t necessarily understand the context of the war. Still, I wish at times I’d heard opinions, rather than merely stories about why they had to flee, why they were driven from camp to camp, etc.

But, on the other hand, sometimes it’s nice—if a little stomach-turning—to hear first-person testimonies. And this book is certainly that.