It has been a long day.
Every day is a long day.
I live in South Sudan.
And I walk,
Ten hours a day,
I walk.
I wake up early,
and I get off the dirty mat.
I walk two and a half hours,
On the endless desert.
Dry. Motionless. Dead.
I am thirsty.
And now I am here,
At the pond.
A small pond,
dried up and dirty
brown water.
I open my jug,
It is empty, but large.
I fill it up to the top,
now it is heavy.
And brown.
I walk two and a half hours back.
That is my family water,
brown and dirty.
This is my life.
Until he comes.
He says he is Salva Dut Ariik,
here to give us clean water.
He builds.
For weeks.
Then he says he is done.
Brown, murky water jumps out of his… machine.
It is brown.
He promised clean.
He works again.
Some days later,
clean water comes.
Everyone cheers.

My life is different.

I can go to school.