While most children would give up in the face of daunting circumstances, one 11-year- old boy confronted them non-stop and heroically. A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park chronicles the journey of Salva Dut, one of thousands of the Lost Boys of Sudan. The Lost Boys fled from their homes because of the Second Sudanese Civil War during the 1980s. To be safe from the dangerous war, they migrated through different countries. Salva’s factual story shows how he survived his journey across Africa to make it to protection. Salva finding cover, finding food, and being a leader are the three factors that made survival possible in A Long Walk to
Water.
One crucial factor of Salva’s survival was finding protection. Salva was having an ordinary day at
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Salva was told to hide and seek safety in a bush, as well as not going into the war-ravaged villages. The bush helped protect Salva because he wouldn’t be seen by soldiers armed with firearms. As well as finding safety, Salva survived his hardships by finding food. Acquiring food was another factor that aided Salva’s survival. There was a scarce amount of food during the war, so Salva couldn’t just gather food by scavenging for it. Consequently,
“Salva now had to beg for scraps.” (Park 66). Salva had nobody to voluntarily give him food.
Therefore, he resorted to supplicating people in the group he was part of for food. He was willing to do something desperate for a beneficial morsel of a meal. In essence, obtaining food furthered
Salva’s ability to survive, along with being a leader.
The final aspect that made survival possible was Salva being a leader. Salva became the head of a group of boys who escaped the dangers of Ethiopia and had to travel to Kenya. But, they were disoriented and lost. Thus, “Salva organized the group of boys with jobs so they could have food, water, fire, and safety.” (Park 81-82). Unifying the group of boys (who are now known as the Lost Boys) and assigning them different tasks helped Salva and the boys
On this journey of running from war he lost his group of people that are Dinka’s that he was with and stayed in a barn with a woman. He also couldn’t find any of his family at this hard time but when he found a new group of Dinka’s to stay with Salva had found his Uncle. He also made a really good friend. Until they both died and Salva was by himself again with nobody he knew. Some hardships that Salva faced during this time in A Long Walk to Water were lots of water problems, wild animals, and no family.
Salva's long journey away from the war, surviving the deaths of Marial, Uncle, and others around him(p.65). He was also nearly killed several times, and he may have felt unhappy and wanted to give up many times. But when he remembered how much his Uncle had cheered him up and how happy he was with Marial, he knew he had to keep going. He'd been through a lot of ups and downs. When Salva is adopted by a family in the United States, he faces the challenge of entering a new world, a new life with the same qualities: resourcefulness and courage, gratitude and perseverance, hopefulness, and a resolve to make a difference.
When the war started affecting Salva and his village it became apparent to him that he may never see his family again. “If I die now, I will never see my family again.” (11) This thought helped Salva strengthen and have the instinct to survive so he could see his family again, which is one of the reasons he did survive. Not only did he think he would never see his family again, but he became friends with Marial, a boy from the group he was in, who was soon taken away from him as well.
This was only possible because the group’s perseverance and they worked through their troubles. In conclusion, we should all persevere like Salva and Nya and we will be rewarded. In the end, Salva makes his dream a reality and Nya gets clean water and can go to school, but only because they worked hard to do whatever they needed to
(pg 73) This shows that Salva is persevering because even though he hates the refugee camp, he
To begin with, Salva was determined to make it out alive while walking through the Akobo Desert. Uncle told Salva that it would take three days to go through the scrub terrain of the Akobo Desert, Salva was determined to go through the desert with very little water from his gourd. Uncle was warning Salva that crossing the Akobo Desert would be a difficult terrain to survive because there was barely any food to survive of, it was almost as
A major theme in the true story, A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park is perseverance. Perseverance is to stay steady in what you are doing or in a purpose, especially when you are faced with difficulties. This is a perfect theme for A Long Walk to Water because the main character, Salva Dut, an 11 year old Sudanese boy, faced many difficulties and kept going. He took things ‘bit by bit, one step at a time’, a lesson he learned from his uncle that helped him get through the desert, and he applied it to his life and kept going and believing his family was alive. Even though he almost died many times, he did not give up, and he went back to his home country and helped many people have better lives by building wells and giving them clean drinking water.
In order to survive people are sometimes capable of doing things that are not as common from day by day. There are many ways we can be successful when trying to persist. The lost boys of Sudan overcame the civil war in Africa by running away and working together; these are things people do to endure just like the lost boys did. The day was silent, the sun was blistering, with the surrounding sound of the shattering bombs, and guns.
It was almost as if they had left their strength with him, to help him on his journey.” Another example is “ So he had to shake the fear of to continue the journey” These examples prove that Salva was determined because he knew that his family would want him to make the trip.
One factor that helps Nya survive is her hard work. When Nya’s family is living at their regular home, Nya has to travel every day to a pond very far away to get water. The trip there and back takes her half a day and she must make this trip twice
When Salva was trying to cross the Gilo River, most of the camps he lived in were closed because people drowned, were shot, or were eaten by crocodiles. Despite these dangerous obstacles, Salva persevered,
Salva’s labor shows he will do anything to survive, and nothing will stop him. Once Salva started walking, another factor of his survival kicked in, He was a very lucky young boy. Salva was very fortunate because he didn’t get shot or attacked by crocodiles. In the text it states “Stunned, Salva realized that being forced under the water had
While his uncle was alive, he helped Salva do everything throughout the journey. Even when he died nobody forgot him and Salva’s memory of his loving uncle gave him the strength to finish the journey. Food and water was the most important factor that led to his survival. He knew that there was barely any water in the desert and that it was hard to find food which taught him to treasure everything he was given. Throughout the book we are led to believe that Salva’s parents and siblings had passed away but he never lost hope that they were still alive.
Salva was thrown straight on into the Sudanese war to fend for himself, so he was all alone without his family. Later on Salva realizes what has happened
The lost boys faced many hazards and physical challenges during their long and hard journey. Many of the lost boys fled their homes during war and became diaspora. From fleeing from their homelands to the camps in Kenya the lost boys faced many challenges. Their biggest challenges were food, water, and walking. They had to walk over hundreds of miles to get to these camps.