A Long Walk to Water

Southern Sudan, 2008

Nya’s family has moved to the area of a nearly dry lakebed every year when everything else dries up. They only live there during that season because the Nuers and the Dinkas fight bitterly over the land surrounding the lake. Though Nya must dig a hole as deep as her arm only to get a few gourds full of muddy water, this is how her family survives.

Southern Sudan, 1985

After many stings, the band of walkers enjoys the honey, except for one man whose tongue is swollen so badly that he cannot eat. As Salva is walking along, he steps on the hand of a boy. The boy speaks Dinka but with a different accent. His name is Marial, and he understands Salva’s longing for his family. He tells Salva that the group is walking east toward Ethiopia.

Soon, the group arrives in Autuot land. The Autuot people are known as lion people because after death they are believed to become lions who eat people. This part of Sudan is filled with wildebeests, gnus, and antelopes, plus all their natural predators. The wanderers often wake at night to the screams of the predators’ prey.