A Long Walk to Water

In an author’s note, Park explains that the war taking place in the story is called the Second Sudanese Civil War. While the war was complex and involved many competing factions and shifting alliances, its fundamental conflict was between the Arabic-speaking, predominantly Muslim government in the north and a coalition of non-Muslim tribes in the south. The war began in 1983 and continued for nearly 20 years, during which time many people millions of people were killed, tortured, or enslaved. It ended in 2002 when the United States passed the Sudan Peace Act, accusing the North of killing over 2 million people. The South was granted a referendum as to whether to secede.

The current Sudanese war in Darfur is separate and not covered under the peace act, but its underlying ethnic and cultural tensions are the same. Sudan is the largest country in Africa and the 10th largest in the world.

Salva’s real organization is “Water for South Sudan,” and it has drilled dozens of wells for the Dinkas and the Nuers. The first well was for Salva’s village, and he currently spends half the year in the United States collecting money and the other in Sudan drilling wells.