Last year, I read a fascinating "novel," What is the What, by Dave Eggers. It's based on the true story of Valentino Achak Deng, one of the "lost boys" in Sudan, told as though from the first-person perspective, after long interviews with Achak.
If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it, both as an intimate view of the tragedy there, and as a brilliant testament to the nature of what it means to be human.
Follow me below the fold for some videos of Achak's recent visit to his home.
from the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation:
Valentino Achak Deng was a victim of the civil war in Southern Sudan.
During attacks by armed janjaweed raiders, he fled home in 1986, walking
800 miles to safety in Ethiopia and then Kenya. He became one of the
so-called "lost boys," growing up without parents in refugee camps. In
2001, Valentino was resettled to the United States, and in 2006, his life
story was told in the novel What Is the What, by Dave Eggers.
Southern Sudan is still recovering from war. Extreme damage to the
infrastructure has left most of the region in poverty, and there are very
few schools or educational opportunities. Valentino and Dave have
established the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, a non-profit organization
which, among other projects, is building the first secondary school in
Valentino's hometown of Marial Bai. The school will open in April 2009,
part of a 12-building educational complex including a library, a
teacher-training college, a community center, and other facilities. The
Foundation is still raising funds to finish this complex.
In September 2008, Valentino and Dave returned to Southern Sudan to check
out the progress on the school. They made three short videos from their
trip:
The first video is a tour of Valentino's family home in Marial Bai,
including an introduction to his family members, who he was separated from
for sixteen years during war.
The second video is a tour of the school construction site, in which
Valentino explains his vision for the educational center.
The third video is Valentino and Dave's interview with three young girls
who want to attend Valentino's school, but who are afraid that they will
be forced into marriage before the school opens.
Please visit their site to learn more, or to donate.
Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend.