Tag Archives: Sudan Referendum

Children targeted in attacks in South Sudan

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Michael Arunga in Disaster Relief

Michael Arunga, a World Vision emergency communications advisor for Africa, is on assignment in South Sudan, which became the world’s newest country last July after a referendum that established its independence from the rest of the country. In this report, he calls attention to a tragic situation that is taking shape as conflict continues....

South Sudan: Transformation, progress in the world’s newest nation

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Michael Arunga in Conversations, Stories

Juba, the capital city of South Sudan, has changed. Even before my plane from Kenya touched down here yesterday, I could tell that the world’s newest nation is undergoing transformation. It is definitely not where it was this time last year....

Rich Stearns on Independence, God, and South Sudan

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Lindsey Talerico-Hedren in Conversations

Pre-independence celebrations in Juba. ©2011 Abraham Nhial/World Vision

God wasn’t the first thing on my mind on Monday, the Fourth of July. Truthfully, the only credit I can give myself is that I was thanking God for the three-day weekend. It’s not far-fetched to say that most Americans likely think of Independence Day as more of an outdoor show than an obvious reason to thank and honor God. That’s why articles like Rich Stearns’ in the Huffington Post are kind of a divine challenge for me — a reminder that peace and freedom are reasons to thank God, and that with Independence there is struggle, but also hope. May South Sudan’s first Independence Day be that of the latter. And may Rich’s article challenge you as it has...

South Sudan: Countdown to independence [video]

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Laura Blank in Conversations

South Sudan: Countdown to Independence | World Vision Blog

You can almost feel the excitement in Juba from half a world way here in our office in the United States. As I talk to our staff from South Sudan’s capital city nearly every day, I hear it in their voice and the stories they tell me. The city is on edge, eager for tomorrow’s independence ceremony, colorful banners hang in the streets and people wear t-shirts emblazoned with the new country’s flag. As the world watches and waits, I’ll be watching and waiting too, praying for a safe transition and peace for the children of South Sudan. South Sudan will become the world’s newest country tomorrow, July 9. As the South Sudanese prepare for their grand celebration, children are...

A new hope through independence

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Nate Jones, World Vision U.S. in Conversations

Southern Sudan preliminary results announcement celebration in Juba, South Sudan on January 30, 2011. ©2011 Abraham Nhial/World Vision

It’s a long journey from the backyard barbecues and fireworks of our own Fourth of July festivities to the Republic of South Sudan, a new country that will be born in just days from today on July 9. I’m willing to bet, though, that our traditional summer celebration will seem downright routine compared to the life-changing nature of South Sudan’s first birthday. At first glance, it may seem as though future citizens of South Sudan don’t have much to be grateful for or much to celebrate. They will be receiving the poorest corner of one of the poorest countries on earth — a place beset by hunger, disease, and war. According to a 2007 government study (pdf), mothers in Southern...