South Sudan Independence Day

Written by Charles Busch, Executive Director

Government Ministers and hundreds of people gathered in Kitale, Kenya, on July 9, to celebrate the birth of their nation on that day in 2011. Bior Garang, a Fields of Peace teacher and activist among the 64 tribes South Sudan, was a featured speaker. He presented each Minister with a framed copy of A Promise to Our Children, asking them to make the 48-word pledge their own, and solve the nation’s conflicts through nonviolent means. Mr. Garang also read this greeting from Fields of Peace to the people of South Sudan.

We celebrate the birth of your nation, and each tribe and each person who join hands to make you a people.

We celebrate the Grandmothers and Grandfathers among you. They hold the wisdom. They know that peace is possible, and begins with the gift of onenpeaceful thought, one peaceful act at a time.

We celebrate the Mothers among you. They know how precious each life is. They know that true power, the power that prevails, is the soft power of selflessness.

We celebrate the Fathers among you. They know to open the fist and extend the hand of welcome. For the fist has only one use, but the open palm a thousand.

We celebrate the Children among you, each one beautiful and shining. They knowtheir true nature is peace, and friendship their greatest joy. May your nation be about them, the nurturing of their goodness. May you fly the flag of their future.

On this day of celebration, we at Fields of Peace stand with you. May it be a day of new beginnings and the fulfilling of ancient promise. May the nation of South Sudan be a light to us all.