‘Don’t Look Back’: Refugee, plant worker writes of survival

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — When hundreds of Achut Deng’s colleagues at a South Dakota meatpacking plant were sickened by COVID-19, Deng spoke out to tell of the fear gripping the Sioux Falls workforce. Now, Deng is telling her whole story through a memoir that she hopes will bring awareness of both the hardships, as well as healing, for refugees. Her book ranges from detailing her flight from massacres in South Sudan, to the trauma she experienced as a refugee in the United States. The book for young adults, co-authored with Keely Hutton, draws its name from the words Deng’s grandmother uttered as they fled when their village came under attack: “Don’t Look Back.”