In the novel 'Long Walk To Water' By Linda Sue Park, I chose the character Nya because she is Kind caring and hardworking, She has a long story about her life and how her family survives with very little to no water and how she goes without any education.
isn't allowed to go to school because she is a girl. She spends her day collecting water at a very murky water hole that everyone goes to, even most livestock drink from it. It is the only source of water in the whole area. Nya will sometimes go to the water hole twice a day, a four-hour walk. Two hours there and two hours back. Some times Nya will go to a camp with her family and she will dig for hours just to get a small cup of muddy water.
Nya is very busy but still finds time to look after her younger siblings. When she gets home from collecting water she will usually play a game or chat with her younger siblings. She will help her mother with cooking or the washing of clothes or dishes. Nya will wake up before the sun rises and walk before it gets too hot, but before she gets home the sun will reach its highest point and there will be no place to go but under the blazing sun.
Nya has to stay focused and patient while she is collecting water because if she gets impatient and starts to walk faster she may spill water. If she spills too much she will have to go back to the water hole. She has to concentrate on her path just in case she steps on thorns or sharp rocks that may leave open wounds that will be painful. She cannot stop if this happens, she has to keep walking otherwise her family will not get water for simple uses.
Nya is very resilient and shows every day that she knows and understands that her family relies on her. She takes her job very seriously. Without her commitment her family would be without water and die due to dehydration and hunger.
When Nya's sister gets older she will have to do the same process as Nya. She will have to walk to the water hole and collect the same amount of water. She too will have to get up before the sun and start walking very early on.
Nya shows that we should appreciate that we have simple technology that gives us freshwater in an instant. We should be grateful for the little thing we don't take note of during our every day lives. Even though times were tough Nya had to keep going even when things were tough.
