National Staff Separation Celebration Party

A good thing cannot be celebrated enough - so while the Welfare Committee arranged a party on Saturday, the National Staff Association arranged for a second party on Sunday... with food, music, speeches and the works. And off course they hadn't bought enough drinks, so we had to open the bar halfway through the party... by the time we closed the bar again (at one in the morning) we were sold out of everything except the hard liquor.

 The MC for the evening was one of our language assistants.

 Many people wanted to tell us how happy they are to live in their own country.

Our BanBat doctor, relating how he vividly remembers when his country achieved independence.

Dancing with joy.

 More dancing.

 Still dancing.

Yes, still at it - their drum was an upside down garbage bin.

Another video of the dancing.

 And so on.

 They kept going - even if dancers came and went, the dance kept going.

 Apparently the broken off branches symbolise something or other... but no one could tall me what.

 Last of the dancers.

 Parties is for everyone, even if we're fast asleep on Mummys back.

 Lots of people.

 We had to move the foosball table outdoors, but people played at it anyhow.

 Just some shots of the crowds

 It was a nice evening with no rain for once.

 Lots of people indoors too.

 The DJ - African music all night, turned up so high that the speaker sounded like crap.

Didn't stop people from dancing though.

Celebration in the Blue

Saturday we had a Independence Party in the Blue, with lots of food, music and happy people. Started out with a nice bonfire too... Quite successful, and just the first of two we had this weekend. Pictures of Sundays party tomorrow.

New nation, new flag, new anthem and more

A new nation needs a new flag and a new national anthem. So allow me to present them for y'all's education:

The flag of the Republic of South Sudan, previously used as the flag of SPLM/A. it is very similar to the flag of Kenya, which is to show the strong ties between the nations. It is a white-fimbriated horizontal tricolour of black, red, and green with a blue triangle at the hoist charged with a five-pointed gold star. The black is said to represent the South Sudanese people (Sudan means "land of the black"), the white stripes symbolises peace, the green is for the fertility of the land, the red stripe the blood shed for freedom and the blue triangle symbolises the Nile. The golden star shows the unity of the states of South Sudan.

The new national anthem is officially called "South Sudan Oyee!" - a phrase that could be translated as "Hurrah for South Sudan". The lyrics is as follows:

Oh God,

We praise and glorify You

for Your grace on South Sudan,

Land of great abundance

uphold us united in peace and harmony.

Oh motherland,

we rise raising flag with the guiding star

and sing songs of freedom with joy,

for justice, liberty and prosperity

shall forever more reign.

Oh great patriots,

let us stand up in silence and respect,

saluting our martyrs whose blood

cemented our national foundation,

we vow to protect our Nation

Oh God, bless South Sudan.

The official version with music and song can be found here, or at least could be found when I wrote this. Or just look at the embedded YouTube video below:

And lastly, you can't have a new nation without a coat of arms. And while I'm admittedly is biased towards the Norwegian lion rampant on a red shield, brandishing the Axe of St Olaf... well, the one approved by the South Sudanese Government isn't bad looking at all:

An African fish eagle looking towards it right shoulders with outstretched wings, standing against a traditional shield and crossed spears, and holding a scroll in it's claws with the name of the new nation. The eagle symbolises strength  resilience and vision while the shield and spears represents protection of the new nation.

So there you go - three interesting factoids about the worlds youngest independent state.

South Sudan Independence Day Parade in Yei

As promised, here is the video I made of the Independence Day Celebration at Yei Freedom Square yesterday. I had to render this as a fairly small size to be able to upload it in a timely manner over my somewhat flaky connection... it's almost one hour long, so you might want to grab more than just a cup of coffee before sitting down to watch.

And while no one in the parade would win a marching competition anytime soon... well, that is not what this is all about. This is about a people and a country that have struggled for more than 50 years to have their voices heard, and now they are the masters of their own house so to speak. Sounds like a pretty good reason to throw a parade  to me - and Your Excellency, our Parade is endless!

Pretty much everyone in town was at Freedom Square - it was packed.

Separation celebration

As the Team Site Leader and local VIP from UNMIS, I had to go down to Freedom Square and take part in the official program to celebrate the creation of the 54th independent country in Africa. They managed to only run 30 minutes late on their four hour program - partly by cutting out every single break... so it was four and a half hour of standing / sitting and watching. Very interesting though, and I wouldn't missed it for the world.

A movie will be uploaded later; after I made it.

Tonight we will have a party on the team site for the UN and invited NGOs.