The birth of a country.

I'll start with a disclaimer. I am woefully ignorant about the issues/context/situation in Sudan.

But tomorrow, we will have a new country, bringing the count to 196 (depending on who you ask). Tomorrow is the official independence day for South Sudan, a region that has been embroiled in 2 civil wars for much of its post-Egyptian and British history, the first from 1955 to 1972 and the second from 1983 until 2005. In January of this year, South Sudan held a referendum, the results of which will grace our world with another country tomorrow.

I've realized that I don't know much about the root and causes of the civil wars in Sudan, and a quick Google search tells me that there are countless theories from religion to race, but I get the sense it was unimaginably multi-faceted and perhaps wasn't about the same thing at the beginning as it was at the end.

What I do know is that I have grown up hearing about the violence, the countless deaths, the millions of displaced people, the rampant health problems. There are woes enough to fill a hermit monk's lifetime of prayers without praying for the same thing twice.

Tomorrow marks a new day. There is probably still much hurting, anger and pride on both sides of the Sudanese borders, but I pray that this new day marks the beginning of healing.

Happy Birthday, South Sudan.