CHAPTER 1
Southern Sudan, 2008 Nya, an eleven-year-old girl, carries an empty container easily as she walks under the hot sun. Southern Sudan, 1985 Salva, another eleven-year-old, daydreams during an Arabic class about going home. He's lucky to go to school, but sometimes he misses the carefree days of herding cattle with his brothers. A sudden fire disrupts the class, and the teacher tells everyone to run into the bush to escape the war that has reached their village. The war started two years earlier. Salva didn’t understand much about it, but he knows that rebels from the southern part of Sudan, where he and his family lived, have been fighting against the government, which was based in the north. Most of the people who lived in the north were Muslim, and the government wanted all of Sudan to become a Muslim country—a place where the beliefs of Islam were followed. But the people in the south are of different religions and didn’t want to be forced to practice Islam. They began fighting for independence from the north. The fight was scattered all around southern Sudan, and now the war has come to where Salva lives. Everyone runs—men, children, women carrying babies. The air, full of dust, gets kicked up by all those running feet. Some of the men shout and wave guns. Salva sees all this with one glance. Then he starts running, too. Running as hard as he could, into the bush. Away from home.CHAPTER 2
Southern Sudan, 2008. Nya takes a break from carrying a container and tries to remove a thorn from her foot. Southern Sudan, 1985 Salva witnesses a war-plane dropping bombs near his school. He joins a crowd fleeing the violence and finds temporary refuge with strangers from his village. Later, they encounter rebel soldiers, and Salva is separated from his family but narrowly avoids being mistaken for a man by a soldier. The soldiers force the village men to carry supplies: guns and mortars, shells, radio equipment. Salva watches as one man protests that he did not want to go with the rebels. A soldier hits him in the face with the butt of a gun. The man falls to the ground, bleeding. Following that, no one dares object. The men shoulder the heavy equipment and leave the camp. Everyone else startsUnlock Knowledge with Wizdom App
Explore a world of insights and wisdom at your fingertips with the Wizdom app.
1 Million+ App Download 
4.9App Store Rating
5000+Summaries & Podcasts
