A Long Walk to Water is a short novel by Linda Sue Park

Linda Sue Park

Linda Sue Park is an American author of children's fiction. Park published her first novel, Seesaw Girl, in 1999. She has written six children’s novels and five picture books. Park’s work achieved prominence when she received the prestigious 2002 Newbery Medal for her novel A Single Shard...

. It includes the true story of Salva Dut, a Sudanese "Lost Boy", and the fictional story of Niya, a young girl living in a village in Sudan. Linda Sue Park is using this book as a platform to support Mr. Dut's program, Water for Sudan.

Salva Dut

Now an American citizen living in Rochester, NY, Salva Dut was a fugitive of the war in Sudan for years, and lived in a refugee camp for ten years. He finally escaped to America and got a college education with a bachelor's degree in International Business.

Water for Sudan

Water for Sudan is a program created by Mr. Dut which drills wells for villages in Sudan. Families had to trek for hours to far away, contaminated water, leaving no time for children to go to school and often infecting villagers with diseases. Creating wells not only gives clean, safe drinking water, it helps with education and economic development.