From Sudan to Sioux Falls, refugee, pandemic survivor publishes memoir nationwide

You wouldn’t know how strong Achut Deng is when you see her on the street.

She’s strong enough to raise three boys on her own while working a full-time career at Smithfield Foods.

She’s strong enough to establish a home in Sioux Falls, separated from her family living in South Sudan.

She’s strong enough to have survived at 6 years old a terrorist attack on her village and to have walked barefoot for months to reach a refugee camp in Ethiopia.

She’s strong enough to have overcome starvation, exploitation and abuse — all before she was an adult.

She’s strong because of her faith and conviction that only she can decide her fate.

“My past was not something that I chose,” Deng said. “Somebody else made that for me. I just happened to get stuck with the consequences of growing up in a war zone, going to sleep starving, being alone in the world as a child.”

Deng is sharing her full story for the first time in her newly published memoir, “Don’t Look Back: A Memoir of War, Survival, and My Journey from Sudan to America.”

The memoir chronicles her childhood through adulthood when she earned citizenship to the United States and was able to reclaim a part of herself she was determined to get back.

“‘Don’t Look Back’ is everything that I have lost — starting with my name,” Deng said. “I hope that readers will learn that you can live with hope, but not just hope alone. You must ask for life. Hope takes you to tomorrow and shows you a light at the end of the tunnel but will eventually fade away. I knew life in the refugee camp was only hope: I was only breathing and nothing more. I asked for life, I asked for more, and I came here.”

While the book is available for purchase through Target, Amazon and Barnes & Noble, Smithfield Foods is hosting a book launch event Oct. 22 to celebrate Deng’s success.

Deng hadn’t planned to write a book about her life experience. The 37-year-old kept her story hidden from everyone, even her three sons now age 15, 14 and 8. While her struggles weren’t things she was able to prevent or control, Deng had grown ashamed of what had happened to her.

Now that she has shared her story in her memoir, and especially with her sons, she’s proud of how far she has come and her journey to reclaim herself after years of hardship.

“I hope that people in Sioux Falls after reading my story will see a woman who is strong and capable of doing anything and bringing people together,” Deng said. “I hope they see a leader.”

Deng first publicly shared her story in early 2020, when the Smithfield meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls became a COVID hot spot in the early days of the pandemic. She was one of the first 80 employees who contracted the virus, and she shared her experience with national outlets, including The Seattle Times, The New York Times and “The Daily” podcast.

Her testimony of fighting for life resonated with thousands. After hearing not only her perseverance through her COVID illness but also her strength since she was a child, a representative with a book publisher reached out to Deng to publish her story, aiming to inspire others to not only hope for better days but also to demand life.

“April 4, 2020, I thought I was going to die from COVID,” Deng explained. “Death had visited me — and this wasn’t the first time — so I moved from my bedroom to the living room of our two-bedroom apartment. My biggest fear was that my kids would go to my bedroom in the morning and find my dead body, which was exactly what happened to me and my grandmother.

“My other fear was that if I died, my children wouldn’t know anything about my past. They know their mother, who is busy with work and cares for them and is a strong mother, but they don’t know what is behind this strong mother.”

Deng spent months writing the book’s 37 chapters in between working full time at Smithfield as a safety coordinator, caring for her sons as a single mother and toting them to basketball practice, school and other activities.

Each week after she finished writing a chapter, Deng would sit down with her boys and read it to them. They were the first ones to hear her full story, and they play a central role in helping her reflect and heal from her past.

Sharing her story brought her family closer together, she said.

“It was a chance to talk to the little girl inside who had been damaged her entire life, heal and move forward,” Deng said. “I wanted to connect with my boys, and I hope all the parents will look at my life story and say, ‘OK, it is OK to connect with your children instead of feeling ashamed or like you can’t share something of your past with your kids.’ When I talk to my boys about my history, I feel so light. I feel good that I decided to share my past with my kids so I can finally close that part of me and work on myself.”

The memoir is  co-authored by Keely Hutton, a children’s book author known for her novels “Soldier Boy” and “Secret Soldiers.”