VALENTINO ACHAK DENG

"I do not believe that I was saved because I am unique, an individual. I believe that I was saved because I have a mission to fulfill."
—Valentino Achak Deng, Elliott Bay Book Company, Tuesday 09 January 2007

Tuesday night brings more tales of the destruction of Marial Bai. Of the armed militias of Arab horsemen, known then as the murahaleen, known now as the janjaweed, who were intent on killing the Dinka, the tribe of which Achak belongs. Of death and survival in the bush. Of the loss of so many friends. Of years living in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya. Of an opportunity to come to the United States, almost thwarted, since he was initially flying here on September 11, 2001, and incoming air traffic was halted due to the terrorist attacks in Washington DC and New York. Of the difficulty of adjusting to a new language and culture and people. Of his being mugged and robbed. The tales were right from the mouth of the man known as Valentino Achak Deng.

The child and I journeyed up to Seattle to hear Achak speak to a room of two hundred people at Elliott Bay Book Company. Achak is the subject of the novel, What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng by Dave Eggers. Achak not only told his story, but also spoke of the way that the book was written. He told us about his initial meeting with Dave Eggers and their trip to Sudan in 2003. He told us about their talks and email exchanges. He told us how Eggers would write a section and have Achak review it for accuracy. He told us how Eggers would write a draft for a section and email Achak questions he had about that particular section. The book truly seems a collaboration between author and subject, between the facts that non-fiction provides and the truth that fiction provides.

So there we sat, a group of mostly young, middle-class, white people listening to this humble, generous man, who feels that he must speak out against the atrocities in his homeland in order that others will know about those atrocities, and also speak out and act to see them stopped. And, I kept wondering if any of us, myself included would actually do anything. I felt paralyzed and impotent to act, just as I did when Yugoslavia was tearing itself apart. I felt paralyzed and impotent to act, just as I did when the Tutsis and Hutus were killing each other in Rwanda, even after reading Philip Gourevitch's We Wish to Inform You that We Will Be Killed with Our Families. I felt paralyzed and impotent to act, just as I did when the United States invaded Iraq for the first time in 1991 during Desert Storm and more recently during our current quagmire known as Gulf War 2.

This time, however, I have met a survivor of genocide in Africa. I have heard his story. I have seen it enfleshed. I have spoken to him. I have shaken his hand. He flirted with the child, and treated her as though she was just as important as anyone else there. In my copy of What is the What he wrote "To Troy! With gratitude, Valentino Achak Deng." He thanked me for coming. I couldn't believe that he was thanking me. I thanked him for his story, at which he seemed somewhat embarrassed. He glanced down at his hands and thanked me again. Then he looked up at the child, raised his brow, and told her to be good. At that we departed.

I can read and inform myself, as I am doing right now, becoming more upset the more of What is the What that I read.

If I do nothing else, however, I hope to direct someone else to some of the story of Achak and the stories of the people of Southern Sudan and the grievous injuries that they have suffered, individually and collectively. Please take some time to visit the following links:

*Valentino Achak Deng—this website is hosted by Achak as he attempts to tell the world his story and to help the people, his people, of Southern Sudan.

*What is the What—learn more about the book.

*Southern Sudanese Community of Washington—an organization that helps the refugees of Southern Sudan who are relocated in Washington State start to rebuild their new lives.

*Eric Reeves—the website for a man who has spent the past seven years researching and speaking out against the atrocities committed by the Sudanese government against its own people. Reeves is considered an enemy by the government of Sudan. He is also a thorn in the side of many other governments that refuse to put an end to the violence, including the United States.

*Save Darfur—an alliance of over 170 religious, advocacy, and human rights organizations dedicated to speaking out against the genocide in Sudan and obtaining some sort of response to the 2.5 million people killed and 2 million people displaced by the violence.