First hand account by Bronte Price

One of the OMB state coordinators, Bronte, wrote this account of one of her experiences at a bone making event.

"Last year I read a book called “They Poured Fire On Us From The Sky.” The book describes the plight of three Lost Boys of Sudan, and their eventual journey to San Diego where they were relocated in 2001. I learned that Lost Boys had been relocated to almost all the major cities in the United States including Chicago. I didn’t forget about the stories of the boys in the book, and the impact they had on me.

 From the Lost Boys Chicago website

When I started planning events for One Million Bones at the beginning of the semester, I remembered their stories and decided to find the Lost Boys in Chicago. Their website shows pictures of events they have participated in, and lists many of their achievements since their arrival in Chicago. I began communicating with Abraham Alier who is the secretary for the group and invited him to come see the work we were doing for the One Million Bones project. He was excited to come to Columbia and asked if he could bring his friend James. I learned that he is also a student because in his e-mails he would tell me he was stressed for midterms and would ask if I was stressed out too. After midterms he made sure to ask how my exams went and informed me that he had done well.

The day before they came to speak at Columbia I thought about whether or not I should show them the bone room we have at Columbia. The room is filled with boxes of packed bones, piles of bones that need to be packed, and drying bones that need to be fired. I wasn’t sure if it was a great idea, or a horrible idea. I thought it might be rude and intrusive to show them something that could potentially be an overwhelming and emotional experience. But on the other hand I felt like they would be glad to see the work we are doing and it might give them hope for the future.

I asked them to arrive an hour early so I could chat with them and tell them about the work we are doing. I described the bone room to them and explained my mixed feelings about bringing them up to see it. Abraham said he understood my dilemma, but he would love to see the room. When they stepped into the room they just looked at everything for a few minutes without saying anything. I was nervous that they weren’t saying anything at first so I began explaining what everything was and how many bones we had and telling them about all the other states that were doing the same work. Abraham picked up a bone and smiled and said “They look so real!” James laughed and said he thought the same thing too.

I asked them what they thought about all of this and if they were glad to see the room or not. Abraham’s reaction was very positive! He was so excited about the project and thought that the approach we were taking was something he had never seen before but he thought it was a great idea. They were both moved by the project and thanked me two or three times each.

We had them speak in two sections an hour and a half each so we could have more classes come see them speak. We filled the room with students for both sections and had Abraham and James stand on the stage and speak. Abraham had obviously done this before, as he was a wonderful speaker with lots of enthusiasm. James was a little more timid and would sometimes struggle to find the right words. He was hesitant to talk about anything too graphic, but Abraham would talk about anything. A few times when James was speaking, Abraham would step forward and ask if he could say something quickly and he would end up talking for ten minutes while James stood behind him waiting to get the microphone back.

Students sat at the table making bones and listening to the speakers. Everyone in the room was silent listening to their story. And everyone was making bones. Four or five of us walked around collecting the bones and distributing more clay. We made sure to thank the students as we picked up their bones and packed them into pizza boxes. There were so many bones being made we lost count halfway through and had to recount all of them at the end.

I was so happy that so many students raised their hands and asked questions! People seemed to be engaged with the speakers and asked awesome questions!! When they were done speaking, Abraham and James came and sat at a table with about six students. They all made bones together and talked about school and work and other things. Abraham couldn’t figure out how to make a bone, so everyone at the table showed him what they had made and tried to explain how to do it.

When the event was over and the students left, we brought the bones and extra clay back up to the bone room together. We counted the bones and left them out to dry before firing them. I thanked them for speaking and participating, and they thanked me for having them and for showing them the room. In total we made over 1,000 bones at the event and we had over 80 people participate! It made me so proud to be a part of this amazing project, and to see the impact we are able to have!"