ALWTW Summary Flashcards
Discuss the characteristics of the Nuer Tribe
The Nuer Tribe is one of the re-occurring mentions in the novel A Long Walk To Water, these people mostly associate themselves with cattle and shepherds, as they herd cattle for a living and use them to determine the wealth of a family.
This tribe is primarily located in the Northeast of South Sudan whereas also the Dinka Tribe relies upon.
Where the Nuer people rely upon, they are seen to have less water around them and resources, we also see occurrences like this in Nya’s section of the story in ALWTW whereas she is Nuer and lives in the surrounding where water is increasingly scarce compared to the Dinka Tribe.
Fighting for a surrounding where there are sufficient resources for everyone is how the rivalry of the Nuer and Dinka Tribe started, whereas the Nuer took the insufficiently resourceful side and the Dinka took the rather resourceful creating a conflict between the two.
Discuss the characteristics of the Dinka Tribe.
Similar to the Nuer Tribe, the Dinka also associate themselves with cattle, even determining wealth with them and herding them. Hypothetically, the Dinka and Nuer must’ve grown together as two separate tribes but carrying similar traits, due to the fact that they were at neighboring tribal regions, passively carrying the traits of one to the other.
Normally, the height of the Dinka people reached as far as 7 feet, speculation has shown that the Dinka tribe has one of the tallest people in the world, as they frequently eat primarily milk and organic food.
Discuss Nya’s experience before the men drilled
the well.
For most of Nya’s life, she had to take two daily trips to a pond 2 hours away from her village, where she filled a plastic container filled with muddy, sandy water. Her journey was something, not all could do as some ended up injured, bruised, or even scared as a result of Nya’s daily tasks. At some point every year, the rain stops in the area of Nya’s village resulting in the pond, where she normally gets water from, evapourate, this factor triggers Nya’s family to subside to a camp nearby a lake, this camp is a 3 day walk away from her home, fetching water is much easier for Nya in this situation as she doesn’t have to take long walks to a pond but just fetch the water which is nearby the camp.
Overall Nya’s experiences were quite tough as she knew the type of responsibility she had was tasking and stressful, following that her family depended on her chores.
Discuss her thoughts when they dug the well.
Nya at first was questioned, wondering what the men meant by looking for water when she knew water was scarce in her village. As soon as she saw a drill which she identified as an iron giraffe increased her curiosity more, wondering what they were constructing. Eventually, Nya thought what the men were doing was meaningless and funny, thinking that “You had to have water to find water”, knowing water isn’t found in their village at most.
Discuss Salva’s journey (summarize)
Salva walked for months and months across an arid desert to reach safety at a refugee camp in Ethiopia only to be kicked out. Then when he moves to another refugee camp in Kenya, he is chosen among many others to go to America where he now lives with his American family.
It all started when he was in school, having an arabic lesson when suddenly a bomb struck the area. Salva immediately ran away, as fast as he could until he caught up to a group who categorised themselves via villages. The group caught up to the rebels (against the sudanese government) and were separated from all the men, Salva was put in the women group who abandoned him a night later. Salva re-joined another group and makes a friend named Marial. After building a close relationship, they reach the lions territory where they met Salva’s uncle who leaded their group for the majority of their journey. Fastforwarding, Marial disappears and was rumored to be eaten by a Lion. The group leaves the territory with Salva and Uncle Jewiir and they build boats out of REEDS to cross the River Nile.
Salva and the group reach the Akobo desert where Uncle Jewiir is killed by Nuer rebels, and the group is robbed, and looted. After the traumatic events occuring in the desert, they finally reach the Itang refugee camp in Ethiopia only to be kicked out.
hen when he moves to another refugee camp in Kenya, he is chosen among many others to go to America where he now lives with his American family.
Explain Salva’s experience in the refugee camp. Did he learn anything?
Salva met an aid worker who was at the Ifo refugee camp in Kenya named Micheal, he was and Irish man who taught Salva a few vocabularies of English and volleyball.
Describe his journey to the US
When we rejoin Salva, he is twenty-two years old, and living in the Ifo refugee camp in Kenya. Michael, an aid worker, teaches him English. Michael tells him that 3,000 men will be chosen to go to the United States. Weeks later, Salva’s name is among the list of the men chosen.
On Salva’s journey to America, he took 3 planes to the final destination to America, one from Nairobi to Frankfurt, Germany. Another from Frankfurt to New York, America, and the last plane from New York to Rochester, America.
On the journey to America, Salva learns that he is a Lost Boy, one of the many who have lost their families and homes in the war. Six years later, Salva is living with his adopted family in Rochester, New York, going to college, and studying business
Describe his journey to the US
When we rejoin Salva, he is twenty-two years old, and living in the Ifo refugee camp in Kenya. Michael, an aid worker, teaches him English. Michael tells him that 3,000 men will be chosen to go to the United States. Weeks later, Salva’s name is among the list of the men chosen.
On Salva’s journey to America, he took 3 planes to the final destination to America, one from Nairobi to Frankfurt, Germany. Another from Frankfurt to New York, America, and the last plane from New York to Rochester, America.
Salva learns that he is a Lost Boy, one of the many who have lost their families and homes in the war. Six years later, Salva is living with his adopted family in Rochester, New York, going to college, and studying business
What made Salva return to Sudan? What did he find? What came about because of his trip?
After finding out his father was alive and was under the care of a sponsored WHO healthcare centre, Salva knew he had to go back and visit his ill father. He came about how his father being ill as a result of waterborne, whereas where contaminated and dirty water is consumed it causes issues in the human body.
Once reunited with his father, he tells Salva that he never gave up hope that Salva was alive and shares news of the family. Mother is alive and well in the village. Salva wants to visit her, but war ravages the area. If Salva returned, he surely would be forced to fight. Salva’s sisters are with their mother. Ring is alive, but Ariik and Kuol are both dead.
How are Salva and Nya connected? How?
Salva is a member of the Dinka tribe, while Nya’s family are from the Nuer tribe. These two tribes have a history of violence towards each other. When Nya and her family live by the lake, they live in fear of the Dinkas attacking them, and those men who killed Salva’s uncle were from the Nuer tribe.
These two characters eventually meet in the final chapters of the novel as it was Salva, himself that dug wells in Nya’s vilage
How did Salva overcome many of his challenges? Be specific with three examples.
He survived because of his uncle, his teacher also with his so called auntie, and his own knowledge, patience and persistence. Salva’s uncle also helped Salva survive with advice and assistance.
An example of this was when Marial died, Uncle Jewiir gave him reassurance that he was safe and he is protected. Which gave Salva something to not intensely sulk about.
Example 2:Salva’s uncle helped him walk the desert and gave him advice. He also helped with Salva’s emotional breakdowns.
Example 3: Where Salva has lost everyone and everything in the Akobo desert is where the knowledge his uncle gave him, what his family taught him, and his prior morals helped him survive and reach the Itang camp
Describe what it means to survive using the perspective of Salva or Nya.
The concept of survival through their own perspective is to keep going, and provide for only yourself. Conveying from Salva’s situations whereas he was tasked to either give someone his water, which was his only chance of survival, or keep it to himself..
Can one be shaped by their culture? Explain.
Our culture shapes the way we work and play, and it makes a difference in how we view ourselves and others. It affects our values—what we consider right and wrong. This is how the society we live in influences our choices.
It greatly contributes to the development of our beliefs and values. For this reason, both cultural psychologists and social anthropologists believe that culture affects one’s personality. In addition, gender differences also influence the personality traits a person possesses
Can one overcome issues in their culture? Explain.
Yes, people can overcome issues in their culture, by accepting each others differences, overcoming language barriers and stereotypical classification. People can overcome issues in their culture. Nevertheless, overcoming issues in one’s culture may not be easy as everyone won’t have the same opinion as the other about it.
