The Bread Loser

The Bread Loser is a story about a girl, Achol Mabior, who becomes a breadwinner, contrary to the common belief in her village that a man is often a breadwinner. Achol’s brother, Deng Mabior, only completes high school and joins police training to become a policeman. After graduating from the police training centre, he is deployed in the headquarters of the Vice President as one of the diplomatic police personnel. Deng is fearless. He saves ministers held hostages by armed criminals. He gets promoted because of his bravery and starts caring for the Khartoum family. His success ends quickly after the president who respects him is overthrown. The new president still respects Deng but cannot respect his ethnic southern Sudanese, who are accused of siding with rebels in the South. They are murdered in cold blood every day. Deng is not happy with the killing of innocent civilians. Not long after overthrowing his former president, Deng left Khartoum for England, so his wife could pursue a Master’s Degree in Law at the University of Oxford, where his sister Achol is already pursuing a Master’s Degree in Medicine. He then never goes back to Khartoum. He decides to fly to Ethiopia and join the rebels’ training camp. After graduating with others, he goes to the battlefield in Sudan as a captain. His bravery again leads to his fame among the rebels. However, he cannot care for his family and parents since the insurgents are not paid. Achol becomes the sole breadwinner in the family. She gets a job immediately after completing her master’s at Oxford. She gets married too and still cares for her parents and her brother’s family. This is contrary to the belief that a girl is an education liability who takes away her education from her parent’s house to her husband’s home. Parents at Baping Village are reluctant to educate their daughters because of this. Deng and his parents understand now that Achol has become a breadwinner and Deng has become a loser. Deng says, ’My parents seemed to think I would be the family’s breadwinner. My sister wondered whether she was a bread loser. The reality now is that I am the bread loser.’