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Valentino Achak Deng gets robbed
The main character is living in Atlanta Georgia and is a Sudanese Refugee. One night, he opens his door to an African American woman who says her car has broken down. She asks to use his phone but to keep the door open since it will only take a few minutes. After she enters, an African American man walks into the house. Valentino realizes that he has been lied to and that the African-American couple is robbing him. -
Valentino is laying on the floor while being robbed
While Valentino is helpless on the floor,the police was called and Tonya and Powder(the robbers) wait at the window to see if the policeman has left. They have rounded up all the worthwhile items in the home and placed them by the door. Valentino stays silent and wonders if they would continue to rob him if they knew about his life back in Africa. He doubts they would. -
Valentinos Flashback
Valentino wakes up in pain on the floor. A younger boy is watching television in his kitchen. Valentino guesses the boy's age of ten, which is one year younger than when he was in Ethiopia and saw men with AK-47's gun down other bound and gagged men. The boy ignores Valentino, but Valentino does not think the boy means him any harm. Instead, he sees himself in the boy. The way the boy walks around and lays down make Valentino remember being a young boy in Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya. -
Valentinos Flashback pt 2
The boys (in his tribe) were walking in a single-file line at night with Dut Majok, their teenage leader, when a large black silhouette jumped out of the bushes.The lion then trotted off with the boy dead in his jaws. Another boy started running away, and the lion easily caught up with him and killed its second victim. Dut made the boys sit down and rest even with the lions nearby. He wanted to know more about the area due to the proximity of government armies. -
Valentino explains TV boy
Living in Atlanta has been different for Valentino. Even though there is a large Sudanese population in the city, all the factions are separated into their own tribes and are antagonistic towards each other.Valentino resents not being unified like they were during the crisis, but he then realizes he tape on his mouth has become loose. Once it comes off, he tries to get TV Boy's attention. The boy then grabs a telephone book and drops it hard on Valentino's head. -
Tonya
The telephone rings; the boy answers the phone and refers to himself as Michael. Michael and the man on the other end have a conversation, and Michael mentions that Tonya said she would be back, but she has not returned. -
His DAD
When Deng Arou(His Dad) makes decisions about which members of his family to take, he has essentially made a decision about which family he wants to live and which family he wants to leave behind to possibly die. But even though Valentino's mother is upset with the decision, she knows not to air her grievances. -
Valentino Goes to Ethiopia
Back in Ethiopia, Valentino and the other boys are having a difficult time coming to terms with their disappointment. While life is more secure in the Pinyudo camp, there is an increasing lack of food as more and more people seek refuge from the civil war. While trying to fish for food, Valentino meets Achor Achor who shows him how to do it correctly. Valentino was then put in charge of eleven boys with Achor Achor as his second in command. Valentino is also put on burial duty in the camp. -
Valentino gets into a wreck
Valentino eventually gets into a wreck, and he is placed in the hospital. When he returns to camp, he finds out that he has been selected to obtain a visa and go to the United States. Valentino, though, still has not talked to his family. He gets ahold of his father and asks whether he should return to Marial Bai. His father says no, stating that Marial Bay is a pile of ash. Instead, he wants Valentino to go to America and become a success. -
Valentino was called on his bluff
Once the cop drives off, Tonya and Powder leave to pack up the car. Afterwards, Valentino walks around to look at the damage. As he walks into the living room, though, the thieves are back in his house. He says the cops were called again, but Powder calls Valentino's bluff and punches him in the stomach so hard that Valentino thinks he is going to die.
