"A Long Walk to Water" Reading Response

    "A Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park is a dual narrative story based off of two different real life perspectives. Both being told in different times. One in 1985,from the point of view of Salva, at the time he was a young boy was torn away from his village in the Sudan, becoming a "Lost Boy" refugee, forced to cover Africa on foot with other refugees. The other point of view is from 11 year old Nya, who has to go to a pond to fetch water for her family, consisting of walking 8 hours everyday. Both in the same country of Sudan, yet in different time periods. Both with struggle and troubled situations and how they make it through the, to a future they've been hoping for.

       Salva was in school one day, when he heard gunshots, and his teacher told him and the other children to go hide in a bush going farther away from home. What happened afterwards was Salva going with different groups to different camps throughout Africa, only by walking. Salva went through many struggles for years and years from traveling. One way this was shown throughout the story, was meeting people then losing them. First, when he was still a boy in his group, he met a boy around the same age named Marial. He was the only one Salva ever talked to. He was his best friend, until one day where he woke up, and realized Marial was gone, he noticed because his uncle was crying. Feeling guilty, his uncle told Salva what happened, Marial was taken and killed by a lion. Salva had lost his only friend at the time. Another person was his uncle, who I mentioned before. When he was walking with Marial(before he died), he heard someone say his name. He turned around to realize that it was his father's younger brother Uncle Jewiir, who had been a former soldier. Aside Marial, he spent the rest of his time with his uncle, the family member he had with him. Then when they crossed the desert, 3 men with guns killed his uncle. Salva's journey continued with no one. Years later he ended up in a camp for 5 years(he got there when he was a teenager). At the age of 22, he met an Irish aid worker name Michael who taught him English and volleyball. Then he was put on a list to go to America, and then thats where his new life began.

      Nya, was a girl from a different tribe than Salva, called the Nuer, Salva being from the Dinka(who are rival tribes). Her main struggles throughout the story are that she and to walk 8 hours a day to get water for her family. But her main problem is that her little sister Akeer is sick, and needs medical care soon, forcing Nya and her family consisting of her mother, older brother Dep, and of course Akeer, to go to a medical clinic a few days walk away. Yet there they don't have water anywhere because the water is getting too dirty and muddy for anyone, plus people are getting sick from the water. Yet eventually, when Akeer is well, and they get back to there home village. The people there were building a school which Nya was going to go to, and a water pump that provided clean water for everyone. This was caused by a very special Dinka man.

     Overall, "A Long Walk to Water" was a very strong book about the hardships that these people have gone though, but because they never lost hope, they've gotten what they wanted and what they've hoped for their entire lives.