Salva Dut fled from his village at just 9 years old. This was at the start of the second Sudanese war in 1983. He had heard bombs and gunmen while learning Arabic at school. The teacher had told them to go into the brush to escape safely. Many people from multiple villages had gathered nearby. Then people started walking. Salva had gotten left behind due to his young age. He eventually found a group of people and later met a new boy. He ultimately found his Uncle who he hadn’t seen in a long time because his Uncle was in the military. Eventually, Salva ended up in a refugee camp in Ethiopia and Kenya. He was one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan”. He led a group of young boys and men from Ethiopia to Kenya refugee camps. It took almost two years to do so.
He had learned English and Volleyball from a volunteer from Ireland. He was instrumental in helping Salva learn new things. This gave him something to focus on in the refugee camps where he was alone without his family or any of his school friends.
Several boys including Salva were chosen to be sent to Rochester NY. It required a long journey with multiple plane swaps. It started in rural Sudan and it took a long time. They had to fly from country to country to reach Rochester. They were sponsored by a church but they had one condition: you had to be healthy and only orphans were allowed. This was one of the best moments of Salva’s life. He got to come to America.
He had a host family and had brothers and sisters. They helped him learn English which was hard for him because he grew up speaking Arabic and English can be a tough language to learn, especially for the first time and in a new country. He eventually got an email from his cousin who was working in a relief agency in another country or Africa. He had seen his father’s name but hadn’t seen him since he was in a clinic. The clinic was in rural Sudan and there was no way to contact the camp to speak to the doctors and nurses who worked there.
Slava eventually made plans to go back home to Sudan. With the help of his new family, he was able to go back and see his father. It had been around 15-17 years since he had last seen him. When he went to the clinic his father barely recognized him. Everyone in the village thought he died.
Salva returned to the US and began to make a plan to help people in Sudan with the necessities of clean water. Thanks to his father he started a charity called Water For Sudan. Today he has helped over 600 people in South Sudan with clean drinking water to improve their quality of life. Before this many women and girls in the villages had to walk an hour there and an hour back just to get unsafe drinking water. Now with these wells, they can focus on basket making, growing food, and caring for their families. His organization has also built schools for every kid in the village to get an education. If you want to learn more about the book or his charity click on this link https://www.waterforsouthsudan.org/.
