Children Bedtime Stories
Narrated from the Perspective of Ajok Village in South Sudan
by
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About the Book
The booklet contains fifteen short bedtime stories. They cover creation accounts, tales about a giant called Choldit, and other related stories featuring lions, foxes, elephants, and other creatures. Each story is brief and crafted in a way that teaches children or adults, too, certain ethics. The authors point to morals learned at the end of each story. These oral stories, indeed, enable children to appreciate nature and, by extension, teach them lifelong values worth emulating. They teach children to shun out vices, such as deceit, cowardice, and wickedness, among others. These stories are unique too; they come from a remote and unknown village—Ajok. Given that oral stories are from a memory, which is bound to fail, they may not be the same across every village in South Sudan among the Dinka Malual, let alone the entire Jieng. Hence, readers should expect even village variations if they are to read other accounts.
About the Author
BENJAMIN ALIC GARANG
As a fourth grader, Ben lives with his parents in Falls Church, Virginia, and he goes to St. James Catholic School. Like most kids who dream big and modest at times, Ben wants to learn more about computers with an express aim to secure a job with Best Buy, his favorite shopping store for Nintendo’s and other electronics.
MARIA AYAK KENYANG
Maria, who currently lives with her family in Falls Church, Virginia, is a first-year student at Northern Virginia Community College. She aspires to attain a diploma in nursing or public health. This has been her dream since elementary school at Ajok Village and through adult education in Kenya before moving to America in 2012.
JAMES ALIC GARANG
James holds a PhD in economics from University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His research interests are in macroeconomics and development economics with a focus on financial sector development. Serving previously as a Senior Economist at Ebony Center for Strategic Studies, Deputy Dean & Assistant Professor of Economics at Upper Nile University in South Sudan, he is now on leave and working in D.C. A prolific writer whose works have appeared in peer-reviewed journals and popular outlets, he also relishes oral stories, a fact which inspired this collection.