What Is the What

A new arrival in a foreign city is often given two pieces of paper. The first is a map, a grid of streets and landmarks that promises order and direction. The second is a blank sheet, an empty space on which to write a new story. But what happens when the map is useless, its lines and symbols unable to capture the winding, unmarked paths of a past filled with chaos, flight, and unthinkable loss? And what happens when the blank page feels like an erasure, a demand to forget the very experiences that forged who you are? For many, the act of telling their story becomes a battle to draw their own map, one that connects the ghost-haunted landscapes of memory to the bewildering grid of the present, forcing the world to see the terrain as it truly was, not just as it appears on official charts.

This is the precise challenge that animated the creation of What Is the What. The story belongs to Valentino Achak Deng, one of the “Lost Boys” of Sudan, who survived a horrifying civil war and a perilous journey across Africa to eventually reach the United States. But his voice finds its form through a unique collaboration with the author Dave Eggers. After Valentino shared his story in countless interviews, only to see it fragmented and simplified, he sought a way to present its full, devastating, and resilient truth. Eggers, an acclaimed writer and founder of literary projects that amplify unheard voices, worked closely with Valentino for years. He acted as a conduit, helping to structure the sprawling, traumatic narrative into a novel that could carry the weight of Valentino's life, ensuring the map of his past would not be forgotten or redrawn by others.

Module 1: The Enduring Weight of Trauma

The book opens with Valentino, now a refugee in Atlanta, being robbed and assaulted in his own apartment. This present-day horror doesn't stand alone. It acts as a trigger. It pulls him back into the deepest traumas of his past. This reveals a fundamental truth about surviving extreme violence. Trauma is a persistent psychological state. The past and present bleed into one another. They form a continuous, exhausting struggle.

During the robbery, Valentino’s immediate wish is to be back in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. This is a place of incredible hardship. Food was scarce. Shelter was poor. Yet, in that moment of terror, Kakuma feels safer than America. The evil he faces in his apartment feels more personal and chaotic than the systemic suffering of the camp. His trauma has completely rewired his perception of safety. What should be a safe haven, his American home, becomes a place of profound danger.

This brings us to a crucial insight. Present hardships constantly trigger vivid memories of past suffering. When one of the robbers, a man called Powder, assaults him, Valentino isn't just in Atlanta. He is simultaneously back in Sudan, a boy being hunted by an Ethiopian soldier. That soldier pretended to be a savior. She offered help before shooting his friends. Powder does the same. He calls Valentino "brother" before turning violent. The betrayal is identical. The memory isn't just a memory. It’s a live event, replaying inside the current one. For Valentino, survival means navigating a world where any moment can fracture, revealing the ghosts of his past. The challenge for anyone processing trauma is learning to exist in a world where the past is never truly past. It's about finding ways to anchor in the present, even when the echoes of history are deafening.