A Long Walk to Water

Southern Sudan, 2008

After a trip to the medical facility, the medics inform Akeer’s mother and father that the dirty water she was drinking caused the sickness, and they should boil all water before drinking it. The family has grave doubts, since the tiny amounts of water taken from the lake would boil away before being purified. Nya looks forward to returning to their regular home, but she knows that because she herself is so thirsty when arriving at the well, Akeer would be too, and that she would never prevent her from drinking the contaminated water.

Southern Sudan, 1985

Finally, the group reaches the island in the middle of the river, and Salva is amazed at all the food—fish, hippo meat, and crocodile, as well as, sugar cane, yams, and cassava. No one has any money, so they have to beg, but for some reason, food is freely given to Salva’s uncle, who shares with him.

Salva looks back on his life with his parents at home, where he had plenty to eat because of his father’s comparative wealth. Father would go by bicycle to bring home beans, rice, and sometimes mangoes, to supplement their sorghum porridge.