Who is Alake Amabo from Diamonds in the Shadow and what is their importance?

Fifteen-year-old refugee, Alake Amabo, was brought to America by a church organization in Connecticut. When she arrived, she was a shattered child. No one in the Amabo family would speak to or touch her. As a result of her experiences in Africa, Alake is completely mute..... either unwilling or unable to speak with anyone. Over the course of the novel, we learn that she was forced to kill her teachers in order to save her sister, and after shooting her teachers, the warlord who forced her into the crime killed her sister anyway. As a result, Alake feels like a tainted human being, a killer, undeserving of love.