What are the particles that keep protons close together?

i remember a kid from africa moved to our school and she didn't speak no english. well she did but it was very limited but all the kids including me would ask her question like has she ever hunted a elephant or ever been hunted by a lion. to us she was so interesting even thought she was ordinary but by the fact she was from a different country we thought things were different. (honestly i asked her if she lived in a mud house on the savanna.) do i feel bad about approaching her yeah but do i feel bad about asking her question no because i would have never found out all the cool things about africa that aren't true