This girl, Thuraya, inspired me and broke my heart

[Nada Jung]

This girl, Thuraya, in the white headscarf, both inspired me and broke my heart. I met her last week on the Sudan/Chad border; at 16, she was orphaned by the war and looks after her younger siblings. When there isn’t enough food, as here, she gives them water to fill their bellies. If there is a little food, she gives it to her siblings and goes hungry herself. She says she can’t bear to hear them cry from hunger. Such a brave girl, contrasting with the fecklessness of world leaders who have done little about Sudan. I write about her in my new column.

Nicholas Kristof