It all started in 1985. Salva Dut was making a run for his life. He first heard the gunshots at school. The ‘Nuer’ tribe which are the rebels were going after his ‘Dinka’ village. All the challenges Salva had to face were because of the war. Some of the challenges Salva had to face were walking through the Akobo Desert, staying strong after Uncle died, and crossing the Gilo River.
Uncle was the leader of the group but that doesn't change the pain of walking through the Akobo Desert. Salva stubbed his toe, and Uncle gave him a saying that stayed in his mind forever,”Step by step one day at a time.” From that day forward, it stuck to Salva like glue. Every time Salva learned something new about the war his question to Uncle was “Where is my family?” Salva always wanted to make sure his family was safe. Salva asked Uncle once, “When will I be able to go back to Loun-Ariik, and how will my parents ever find me?” Uncle replied with, “I have talked to the other here and we believe that the village of Loun-Ariik was shot and burned.” Everybody in the group had to go a long time with no water, some men even went motionless. A woman bent down to give the men her water, but another man said, “Stop…show more content… Salva was very confused on why the people were shooting. Salva decided to jump in the water. While he was trying to swim the boy next to him grabbed him by the neck and shoved him under water. Salva had to time to take a small shallow breath. Salva tried to kick to reach to the surface, the boy held him under and there was no time for air. Once the boy’s grip loosened he shot up to get air. He finally realized that the boy let go, and was floating on his back with blood streaming from the bullet in the back of his neck. Salva was to happy to be saved. Once he realized that more crocodiles were being thrown into the river, Salva jumped out and was so grateful that the boy took the bullet for
