Tuesday morning, during my usual reading routine, I was reading The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared — hilarious and surprisingly heartwarming. That book led my thought to A Man Called Ove, and then one book led to another: The Sweet Orange Tree and A Long Walk to Water.

I paused for a moment when my thought reached A Long Walk to Water. I had read it years ago, so I started looking it up again, searching for it again.

Later in the afternoon, I re-visited the bookstore in my office building to pick up an old copy of Little Women I found yesterday. The book was slightly damaged, and it was the last one, so the price was discounted.

Then, in a small corner of the shelf, I spotted the last copy of A Long Walk to Water.

Life really is full of coincidences, isn’t it? I had thought about it that morning, and suddenly it appeared in front of me — even though I spent almost an hour in that exact corner yesterday and didn’t notice it at all. That moment inspired me to write about the book.

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I love A Long Walk to Water because it feels meaningful — partly based on real history and partly a true story, which makes it even more touching.

It’s a short, easy read, but emotionally powerful. Two separate storylines run in parallel, letting me follow two lives at once. And at the end, they connect in such a meaningful way. The ending isn’t exactly surprising, but what I really appreciate is how both characters fight for survival — through war, fear, loss — and rebuild their lives around the most basic necessity: water.

Salva (1985) — a real person — was an 11-year-old boy in school when war broke out. He was separated from his family and walked for days and months across different dangerous regions. He witnessed hunger, death, and the loss of people he cared about.
Life takes unexpected turns — everyone chooses a different path, but Salva chose to help others. As an adult, he founded an organization to build clean water in Sudan.

Nya (2008) — a fictional girl who represents millions of girls in South Sudan. At the same age as Salva, 11 years old, she walks eight hours a day to fetch water. Her whole life revolves around this one task — the most basic human need: water — instead of going to school like many children in the world.

It teaches empathy and global awareness. In some parts of the world, the biggest need is simply clean water, something many of us don’t even think about.

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Salva later founded Water for South Sudan, building clean water wells in the very places he once walked through as a child. His work directly supports Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation — a goal that, according to The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025, is still far from being achieved.

And if anyone feels inspired by his book and his work — whether through Salva’s organization or any group working toward Goal No. 6 — it’s a reminder that clean water, something so simple and ordinary for many of us, can completely change someone’s life.

Thank you.