How Beautiful We Were

Juba would have been happy to keep going towards death if Jakani had not brought him back. He lost and gained something while on the other side. Since that day, he’s seen the world like a surrealist and made sense of it through drawing. Juba questions what it means to be free. He thinks that Thula’s face when she is protesting is freedom. He was with his sister when she first met with Kosawa’s new lawyer, Carlos. The lawyer agreed to work on a contingency—only getting paid a share of any winnings so the village could afford him. His idea is to use the Alien Tort Statute, claiming that Pexton was negligent in its approach to mining. Even if Kosawa wins, they will get little money.

Juba tells Thula that she could stop fighting now, but she does not want to. Juba feels that Thula is sacrificing her well-being, but Thula is more fulfilled by her mission than anything else. She illegally creates a Democratic political party in attempt to force His Excellency into an election. After Liberation Day, Juba untangles himself from Thula’s ambitions.

Once Thula left for America, Juba became close with his stepfather, who put him through the government leadership school.