BWW Blog: Help Jok Abraham Thon on His Mission to Change Minds from Bullets to Books

The creative team of the documentary Bullets to Books - Andy Truschinski, Gail Prensky, and Sean MacLaughlin - want you to know the story of Jok Abraham Thon and his mission of peace in South Sudan.

Inspired by his story, the team set out to South Sudan to film a documentary about Jok's campaign, "Changing Minds from Bullets to Books''. It is directed and written by Truschinski, executive produced by Truschinski and Prensky, and additional producing from director of photography, Sean MacLaughlin, as well as orchestrations written by Augie Haas and performed by Yair Evnine. As Truschinski eloquently sums it up on the Bullets to Books episode of Stars in the House, "[Jok] has a global mission for a type of world peace by ending gun violence."

Adorned with a hauntingly beautiful cello-based score, the documentary recounts a story that begins in Juba, South Sudan. When Jok was young, he endured a deadly attack on his village and fled to Uganda as a refugee. He saw that illiteracy was tearing his country apart, and built the Promised Land Secondary School as a way to promote peace and education in South Sudan.

"Jok stood up one day and announced in church that he was going to build a school, and by sheer willpower, wanted to stop gun violence in his country. He has been slowly but surely emulating how he wants the education system to look across the country with his starter school." Truschinski says.

South Sudan is the youngest country in the world, and has an extremely low GDP (Gross Domestic Product), and as a result, there is virtually no infrastructure. Because of water and termite damage, Jok's original school buildings are on the verge of collapse. Truschinski and his team are fundraising to help Jok repair the buildings. The clock is ticking, and they need your help. The tagline of the documentary explains it the best:

"If his buildings fall, the dream fails."

If you'd like to donate, you can do so directly here. Also, consider joining the Facebook group, Friends of Bullets to Books. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out via bulletstobooks@gmail.com, or the Bullets to Books Instagram page, @bullets2books.
I highly recommend viewing the documentary for yourself when it appears this summer at the Manhattan Film Festival, June 17-27th.

It is a beautiful story of resilience, perseverance, and hope. Jok Abraham Thon and the creative team of Bullets to Books are certainly doing their part to make the world a better place.