March 23, 2007 — It is one thing to listen to war stories on the radio or TV, but it's an entirely different experience to hear them live and unedited from someone who experienced them.
Thursday evening at UVI's Little Theater, a story of hope and inspiration, born of the horrors of war and a Sudanese refugee’s struggle, mesmerized the capacity crowd of 150.
The occasion was a chance to meet author David Eggers and Valentino Achak Deng, the subject of Eggers’ latest work, What is the What, the highly acclaimed book that tells the story of the suffering and survival of one person, while representing the stories of millions.
Deng spoke quietly, eloquently and at length about the ongoing plight of the people of Sudan. “I am the voice of many,” said Deng, who is one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. In 2001 the International Rescue Committee began a program to resettle to the United States over 4,000 Sudanese refugee boys who were displaced or orphaned during Sudan's 21-year civil war.
Girls of the same period were killed, raped, sold into slavery or adopted within the country, so a relatively small number went through the refugee camps. Together with the boys, experts say they represent the most war-traumatized children ever studied.
The event was presented by The Forum and moderated by local writer Tregenza Roach, who began the evening by reading the first paragraphs from the book’s preface.
“As you read this book, you will learn about the 2.5 million people who have perished in Sudan’s civil war. I was just a boy when the war began. As a helpless human, I survived by trekking across many punishing landscapes while being bombed by Sudanese air forces, while dodging land mines, while being preyed upon by wild beasts and human killers. I fed on unknown fruits, vegetables, leaves, animal carcasses and sometimes went with nothing for days. At certain points, the difficulty was unbearable. I hated myself and attempted to take my own life. Many of my friends and thousands of my fellow countrymen, did not make it through the struggle alive.”
In telling Deng’s story, Eggers has woven reality with fiction to describe the suffering, disillusionment, hope and successes of the people of southern Sudan. His book has drawn rave reviews and been nominated for several awards including the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Roach, who led the discussion throughout the evening, described the book as “lyrical, poetic and haunting.”
Deng gave historical perspective to the long civil war (1984-2005) but spoke more on a personal level, describing the human results from political actions. The son of a businessman, his family was intact at the beginning of the conflict, but split apart by the war, reunited only after 16 years of horror and struggle.
Forced to leave his home for fear of persecution or death, he told of the burning, raping and destruction of his village. “I had to walk for four months, saw more death, more desperation, more killing and I asked myself, ‘What is becoming of my family? What is becoming of my people?' But I did not give up.”
After years in various refugee camps and an arduous application process, he finally received approval for resettlement. His flight to America was scheduled for Sept. 11, 2001, but was delayed for weeks.
Upon arrival, he discovered that New York was not accepting immigrants, so he went to Atlanta, which was to be his home for the next five years. He spoke about the many cultural adjustments, like living in a large city and hearing English with a heavy southern drawl.
He told of humorous times, his first rent payment. “What is this? I had never paid rent before in my life.” And at his first NBA basketball game, he found himself wanting the cheerleaders to stay on the court longer than the players.
He worked several jobs and was eventually accepted to college. Deng is now an international diplomacy major at Allegheny College in western Pennsylvania.
Eggers worked with Deng for five years and visited most of the locations in the book. “I had to become Val’s voice, and we spent so much time together and went through so much, I was able to do it, but it was a stretch.”
Eggers is widely published and has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. He founded McSweeney’s, an independent book-publishing house and 826 Valencia, a writing lab for young writers that has branches in seven cities. The Forum has collaborated with 826 in running workshops in the territory.
Eggers’ latest venture is the Voice of Witness book series that empowers those people most closely affected by human rights crises to speak for themselves. As a part of the program, Deng will return to Sudan to gather the stories of women whose lives have been torn apart by the civil war.
Deng is able to speak about the Sudan and the African conflicts in geopolitical terms.
The country is split by the Nile River and is Africa’s largest. In it there are tribal, ethnic, religious divisions and natural resources, especially oil. Deng calls oil “the curse” because it has provided money to continue the conflict. Currently, China is investing heavily in Sudan’s oil industry.
“The book is not about my life as Valentino,” he said. “It is about my life as a microcosm of the 2.5 million people who died, the 4 million permanently displaced, the 200,000 Sudanese who are dead or dying in Darfur.”
After the book tour Deng plans on returning to Sudan. He said, “I will return to my country, but what can I do that will change the lives of many people? I will build schools, libraries and community centers.”
He hopes to use his share from the proceeds of What is the What to fund an educational center in his hometown of Marial Bai in the Sudan.
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