From A Long Walk to Water to Living Water: Salva Dut Comes to Prince of Peace
Three years ago, our students met Salva Dut in the pages of a book. This October, they will welcome him to Prince of Peace.
Prince of Peace Catholic Church & School is honored to welcome Salva Dut, founder of Water for South Sudan and the man whose remarkable life inspired Linda Sue Park’s A Long Walk to Water, to the Upstate on Thursday, 15 October. It will be Salva’s first visit to South Carolina, and we are delighted to open his evening presentation to our wider community.
His visit is the culmination of a story that began in a middle school classroom.
When teacher Rebekah deMarrais introduced A Long Walk to Water to her students three years ago, Salva’s story gave them a window into a life very different from their own. As a child, Salva was separated from his family by civil war in Sudan and became one of the thousands of displaced children known as the Lost Boys of Sudan. After eventually coming to the United States, he returned to serve the people of his homeland, founding Water for South Sudan to help provide communities with access to clean, safe water.
Our students were moved by what they read—but they did not stop there.
Through Water for South Sudan’s Iron Giraffe Challenge, they found a tangible way to respond. Year after year, students organized their own fundraising efforts: posters and tag days, Penny Wars, slushies and blue-frosted cupcakes. Small acts of generosity accumulated into something much greater, and this past year, our students doubled the amount they had previously raised.
For us, that is perhaps the most beautiful part of this story. Giving drink to the thirsty is one of the Corporal Works of Mercy, and our students discovered that mercy is not simply something to study. It asks something of us. A novel introduced them to people half a world away; compassion invited them to care; and their faith called them to act.
Their efforts ultimately earned Prince of Peace the Grand Prize in the Iron Giraffe Challenge: a visit from Salva Dut himself.
It is an extraordinary full-circle moment for our students, but we believe it is an opportunity meant to be shared.
We warmly invite students and teachers, families and homeschoolers, readers of A Long Walk to Water, and friends and neighbors throughout the Upstate to join us at Prince of Peace. Whether you already know Salva’s story or will encounter it for the first time, we hope you will come hear from a man whose life bears witness to perseverance, hope and the remarkable good that can begin when one person chooses to serve another.
Meet Salva Dut: The True Story Behind A Long Walk to Water
Thursday, 15 October 2026
5:30p — Book Signing
6:00p — Presentation and Q&A
Prince of Peace Catholic Church & School
Parish Activity Center
1209 Brushy Creek Road, Taylors, SC 29687
The event is free and open to the community.
Large school groups are encouraged to reserve space in advance by contacting Rebekah DeMarrais at rebekah.demarrais@popcatholicschool.org.
Our students began by reading the story of someone who changed lives by bringing water to those who thirst. In answering that story with works of mercy of their own, they became part of it. Now we have the privilege of welcoming Salva Dut to Prince of Peace—and welcoming the Upstate to experience his story with us.