In class we are reading A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park. We started to talk about what skills you require to become a leader. Being a leader requires you to be brave, strong, to have perseverance and be trustworthy, confident, patient and more. You have to be brave and strong to protect people, you have to prove yourself trustworthy because if you agree to a deal, you can’t break it, people have to trust you and see you as a great leader. Confidence is always needed for a leader without that they might fail at tasks or give up, and they will never be able to face real challenges. You will definitely need patience, have patience, don’t give up if something is hard, work with it even if it takes time. This is what it takes to be a leader.

Salva the protagonist demonstrates these qualities because he is brave and strong. When his uncle died he had no more family members with him, and after that not even friends, he had to beg other people for food until he reached the refugee camp. He never cried along the way to the camp and just kept walking. Salva had also perseverance, confidence and patience, he kept walking to the refugee camp across the desert in the hot weather with barely any water, having some hope that he would find a family member in the camp. Even in the camp after a day he still had confidence and had hope in himself that he could find a family member in the camp. At the start of the book when they split the men and women and children up, he had confidence to go to the men’s side to where he would become a soldier and show he was strong. Salva demonstrates himself as a leader throughout the book.

Salva’s philosophy might help me in my life by setting an example to me of his bravery and persistence and all his leadership skills. My problems would be easier in life to do things bit by bit, also having confidence in myself.

Perseverance is very important in everyone’s life because if Salva didn’t have perseverance, he would have never made it through the desert. Talking about the long one year and a half walk from Ethiopia to Kenya! Salva would never have survived without perseverance. In my life I would have failed in projects, chess, piano and many more without perseverance. This is why perseverance is important.

To better develop my ability to persevere I should gain more confidence in myself, work harder, and having more patience. If I gain more confidence I would be able to tell myself, Alex you can do this, and maybe I will listen to myself and grow my ability to persevere. If I work harder and have more patience, I will be used to working hard and not giving up and that will help my ability to persevere.