Marial Bai is a village in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, South Sudan. It is the real-life hometown of Valentino Achak Deng, the protagonist of the Dave Eggers book, What is the What. Devastated during Sudan's second civil war, Marial Bai now benefits from the efforts of the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, which has constructed a new Marial Bai Secondary School.