A Long Walk to Water
Chapter 13
Southern Sudan, 2009
Nya would watch the men drilling the hole for water. At first things seemed to be going well, but now some of the men were beginnning to get discouraged or upset because some of the machines were breaking.
It looked like the boss kept all of the workers motivated even when the machines were breaking. Sometimes, the boss kept them working by making jokes and laughing, and sometimes he would get very angry.
Nya just kept watching and hoping for water.
Ethiopia-Sudan-Kenya 1991-1992
All of the refugees were waiting on the riverbank. Some of them were jumping in and trying to get across to the other side. But, the current was so strong it was hard to swim. Salva watched a young boy go under the water and not come back up.
Salva also saw crocodiles in the water and saw someone get taken under the water by a crocodile and eaten.
Salva didn't want to jump in the Gilo River because he knew he probably would die. But he realized he had no choice. If he didn't jump in he would be shot by the soldiers. Salva jumped into the water.
He landed next to a little boy who grabbed his head and pushed it under the water so that he could get his head above water. Salva couldn't breathe under the water, he thought he was going to die!
Salva was so scared being under the water, but when he finally got to the top of the river and gasped for air, he realized that because the boy pushed his head underwater he had actually saved his life.
The boy had been shot by a soldier but because Salva had been underwater he hadn't been shot. Salva had no idea how he had gotten so lucky. He couldn't believe he was still alive.
Salva finally got to the other side of the river and began walking again. The only difference was that this time he didn't know where to walk. He knew he couldn't go home to Sudan because it was still dangerous and he knew he couldn't go back to Ethiopia because the soldiers would shoot at him. Salva decided he must go to Kenya because there were other refugee camps there. Salva decided to walk South to Kenya.
Hundreds of boys followed Salva as he began walking to Sudan. He felt like he was in charge because he was the oldest. Some of the younger boys even reminded him of his youngest brother, Kuol.
Salva made it his mission to get all of the boys safely to Kenya. They walked at night to avoid the fighting and Salva gave each of the boys a job. When the younger boys became too tired to walk, Salva had the older boys carry them.
Walking and leading the group was hard. Salva felt like the only reason he was able to keep going was because he kept thinking about his family and how they would want him to survive. Salva was think to himself "One step at a time...one day at a time...just today-Just this day to get through" in order to help keep himself from giving up.
Salva told himself not to give up everyday and he told all of the boys in his group. And one day at a time, the group made their way to Kenya. More than twelve hundred (1,200) boys arrived safely to the refugee camp in Kenya. It took them a year and a half, but they made it.