PHOTOGRAPH BY NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Whatever Happened To ... ... a Sudanese ‘lost boy’
by Kris Coronado Twenty-six years ago, Valentino Achak Deng was literally a lost boy — one of more than 27,000 Sudanese children displaced by a civil war in their country. The brutal conflict lasted more than two decades, until a peace agreement was reached in 2005. In the acclaimed 2006 book “What
Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng,” author Dave Eggers shares Deng’s story. While Eggers classified the book as a work of fiction for the literary license to create conversations and composite characters, the harrowing events depicted — from Deng watching a gang of militiamen kill his people and burn down his village, Marial Bai, to his joining other young children (the “lost boys” of Sudan) walking cross- country through the desert to Ethiopia — are all true. Washington Post reporter Bob
Thompson talked to Deng for a Style article that ran Nov. 28, 2006. Then, Deng was attending Allegheny College and ruminating on his next steps. “I would like to bring up my kids here,” he said. “But then I also, at the same time, want to make a difference in Sudan.” Today, he is doing just that. In
fall 2006, he created the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation (www.
valentinoachakdeng.org), funded by book profits and charitable donations, to build Marial Bai’s first secondary school. Deng spent 2007 promoting
Valentino achak Deng, far left, in front of the school he has built in his sudanese home town of Marial Bai.
the book and his cause. He then moved to Nairobi, where he married his wife, Abuk, in February 2008. Deng now divides his time between
his family — which includes his 16-month-old son, Aru, in Nairobi — establishing the school and touring the United States to promote his efforts. Although the Marial Bai Secondary School opened in May 2009 with 85 students, there’s still much work to do. “I’m operating with a very limited budget,” Deng says. To save money, Deng spent three
months repeatedly driving from Kampala, Uganda, to Marial Bai, to transport construction materials. “We don’t even have lighting in the school,”
he says. “If you were to come to the school at night, you’d see many students lighting candles to read.” He needs books, a librarian, more
teachers and computers. To that end, he has planned speaking engagements in the United States through this month. Deng is already looking ahead. With thousands seeking admission, he hopes to develop more schools in southern Sudan in the years ahead. “We don’t have the ability to do that now,” he says. “But I have hope and determination to do things one by one, step by step.”
for the original story, go to
washingtonpost.com/magazine.
from random house publishing
500,000 // Te number of trade paperback copies printed for “What Is the What”
approach to coaching now: coming every day with the hungry attitude to learn as much as possible during this internship. As a player, you try to master your position so that you can be the best, but now I’m looking at the big picture instead of just left tackle. I mean, it’s just like anything: If you want to be good, you’ve got to put in the hard labor to master your craft. A lot of it is work ethic. I’ve seen guys much more talented than I was just
mess their life up with drugs, or just not being dedicated, or flunking out of school, or something of that nature. When I first got to [the University of] Alabama, I wasn’t really strong enough mentally. They pretty much broke me: We had to do a lot of hard workouts, 6 a.m. mat drills. I’m throwing up. They’d yell at you, fuss at you, but they taught me how to keep going when I think that I can’t go anymore. If somebody gave me a coaching
job right now, I don’t think I would be the best at it, because I haven’t really been trained, haven’t been taught the proper way to coach. I feel like I have to pay my dues, you know? So, at this point, I’m just excited about soaking up the knowledge and getting the proper training, because I know in the long run, I’ll wind up being a good coach. You know, my career got cut short, but at the end of the day, I’m not through with this game; I’ve still got a lot to offer.
september 26, 2010 | The WashingTon PosT Magazine 3
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