by Dominique Thach

Malith's Siblings:

Malith has one older brother and one older sister. His older brother is named Kimlan, He works all night fixing the road. His sister: Akima works each day cutting the heads of chickens off, sadly she works in hot conditions in a big iron shed. Soon, her boss is going to teach her how to take the insides of the chickens out, however; Akima already knows how to do this but she will keep that a secret considering, i quote: "to use a knife is not so clever.” Malith's sister sleeps in the night after a whole day of working in the shed, while Kimlan sleeps in the day after a whole night of fixing the road. 

About His Parents:

Due to the fact that his parents are dead, Malith has trouble sleeping. I quote: "I try all the time to sleep, but i see my mother and my father when i close my eyes, so i cannot sleep." When Maltih closes his eyes, he see's his parents dead which isn't a good sight. Men came into his village and raped his mother while his father helplessly had no choice but to watch. Then after they finished, the men killed her. Next was Malith's father, the men killed both Malith's parents the same way his sister kills chickens: by chopping their heads off. 

This is some info about what rape is, it is what the bad men did to Malith's mother in the village before killing her.

http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/problems/rape_what_to_do.html and http://www.apex.net.au/~samssa/rape.html

Differences About Malith:

His siblings and him have different coloured skin compared to most of the other characters in the story Town. I quote: "Some of the children at the church look at us in a strange way, for they have not seen skin as black as our skin". They also speak Dinka, which is an uncommon language in the new country they are currently living in.

a muddy river.

Malith and his siblings aren't as rich as the other characters. Which is a difference, some people are rich, and some are poor. Back in Malith's old village (the old Katule), he didn't even have a house to stay in for many days after his siblings and him came to the border from their country. Unfortunately, they also went days without food. The river was also a long way away, and it was very dirty. I quote: "Many people got sick from the water." 

Grain: Malith and his family had to work hard for this.

Back in his old village, Malith, his brother and his sister were so desperate for food that for money they, i quote: "gathered wood and tried to sell it to the people who lived in the villages close to the camp." Sadly they didn't get much food in return, the grain they had in return for the wood had small creatures living in it. Nevertheless; they had to live with what they had considering they didn't have very much. They were desperate for food. They were hungry: http://www.wfp.org/hunger

Another reason why Malith and his siblings are different is because they speak another language other than English, people can differ in what language they speak in. In Malith's case he speaks a different language to most of the people in his neighbourhood. 

About the language Dinka:  http://home.vicnet.net.au/~agamlong/language/index.en.html

Drinking dirty water can cause disease, sickness and even death: http://www.pacinst.org/reports/water_related_deaths/water_related_deaths_report.pdf

Here is a site about poverty: http://www.poverty.com/

And:  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/poor

There are others like Malith and his siblings, who have dark skin and this website tells us about racism: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/racism-against-african-americans.html 

And also: http://www.globalissues.org/article/165/racism

About Malith:

The language Malith and his family speaks

Maltih speaks Dinka, he doesn't know much English, and he lives with his two siblings: Kimlan and Akima. Kimlan, his older brother suggests that he goes to school but Malith prefers not to because: i quote, "my brother and my sister are given very small money for the work they do, so i wish to work also." Every Sunday, Malith and his siblings go to church where people give them boxes filled with food, i quote: "They give us beans in a can, and meat and fish in a can also. They also give us fruit, such as bananas." Malith has never tried these sorts of food before.

His parents died back at his old village, he lived a rough lifevback in Katule, he lived without any room or house for many days and he skipped many days without food. But now he has a new life, in town, where the government has given him home and he attends a church where they provide his siblings and him with food.

The house that Malith now lives in with his siblings thanks to the government to him is pretty big, despite the government man saying it was pretty small. It is most likely because Malith isn't use to having his own room and a lot of space. 

With the idea that Malith and his siblings now live in a very big house, he is willing to ask the government to let more Dinka people to come stay, i quote: "they can live in our house. We have much space." Also, if more people from Dinka would come, Akima's boss would be more than happy to offer them jobs so that they could work at the shed.

The money that is earned by Akima and Kimlan is mainly used for food from the supermarket, there is a lot of food there to choose from but Malith finds it hard on what to buy because he cannot read. This is why Kimlan finds it a necessity for Malith to go to school, so he could read and know which food products to buy.

Thanks to the government, they have provided Malith and his siblings many things that would help them live a better and happier life than before.

Malith's Past:

Malith lived a harsh life in his old village, his parents got murdered by men, he lived in poverty, and he hardly had food and went for many days without shelter. The only shelter they ever had was what Malith and Kimlan made by hand. I quote: "Me and Kimlan made a frame from some of the wood we had gathered. We tied it with strips of bark. Then we put the plastic on the frame. It was our house." It kept the rain out while Malith slept; sadly he had trouble sleeping anyway due to the fact that he kept thinking about his parent's death while he was asleep. Later however; their handmade house got stolen while they were at the food tent - Kimlan was angry when it dawned on him that they then had no house, and on top of that no food too.

It was three weeks after Christmas when Malith's parents were killed. Luckily the rainy season had not started when they ran away, i quote: "It took us many days to reach Katule. Akima believed that i would die, for i was very weak." It took a lot of effort for Malith to go for days without much food, but when they finally reached Katule that was when they started to collect wood to sell in return for food and this was when their handmade house got stolen. I quote: "When they took away our house, it was very bad for my family. My brother wished to kill. My sister wished to die."  It was very depressing, what Malith wished for was to have some sleep, but sleep wasn't easy for him because he missed his parents very much.

The Issues:

Some of the issues that Malith and his siblings are facing is that they have heard that some of the people do not like them in the town they are staying in. i quote: "They have told the mayor that we are eating their food." Although, this is unfairness because Malith and his siblings take the money that they have earned to buy food for themselves from the supermarket.

I quote: "The people told the mayor that we are taking away their work." But this is not true because Akima's (Malith's older sister) boss stated that no one would want to work at a place where chickens are killed anyway. Therefore, they are only taking unwanted jobs. http://www.ldspreppers.com/showthread.php/16-How-To-Butcher-A-Chicken as you can see, it is not very easy, and i'm sure most people wouldn’t want to butcher chickens for a living. 

It is money that they have earned themselves; unfairness is an issue with difference. People are unfair to different people, just because Malith, his brother and his sister are different in many ways it doesn't mean they are having things easy. They have to work very hard for their food. 

Fairness: http://www.goodcharacter.com/pp/fairness.html

And: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/unfairness

Malith's Future Goals:

Now, thanks to the help and support Malith's family is getting from the government, Malith's brother Kimlan is strong again, so is Akima. They no longer feel depressed, Akima doesn't wish to die, while Kimlan no longer wishes to kill.

I quote what Malith says: "I too am strong once more, and will be soon attending school". Malith's wishes are to make new friends and his goal is to learn English and many other things, like learning more about 'New Katule' and the things in it, including everyone in it. 

Bibliography: Roy, J. University of Queensland Press. Queensland, 2008, 2010. Pp. 251-259