Happy Independence Day South Sudan!

South Sudan's National Anthem

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.

Independence Day celebrations are being held in Seattle at the Church By the Side of The Road, and also in Portland. Kent Lutheran also has a booth at the Kent Cornucopia Days fair on Saturday to spread the word about independence day.

Kent International Festival

Thanks to all who came to meet us at the Kent International Festival today! I'll post photos as soon as I get them. We appreciate all of the support and excitement about the planet's youngest country and it's amazing people and culture!

If you missed the coloring contest and you (or a little person in your household) would like to submit your artwork, you can download the page here and send it to the church. (Click the photo to get the full-size version.)

We need to receive entries by July 1st.

Entries can be scanned (color please) and emailed to klcsouthsudan+art@gmail.com or mailed to KLC COLORING CONTEST 336 2nd Ave S Kent WA 98032.

Be sure to include the following:
Artist's name
Artist's age
Parent's contact info (in case the artist is a winner) Email or phone is fine.

Prizes will be awarded in age groups up to 6th grade, but older artists are welcome to submit their artwork as well. We will try to display as much of the artwork as we can during Kent's Cornucopia Days, which coincides with South Sudan's independence day.

Independence Day, July 9, 2011

July 9th will be South Sudan's independence day. In the sates, we celebrate our independence with fireworks, but South Sudan will be celebrating with song.

There will be singing, dancing and drums I am told. Here are some Sudanese drums (thanks Gatch D. for the photo!).

Also, the new national anthem will be sung.

I don't know the lyrics, but YouTube tells me this is the anthem. Someone tell me if I'm wrong.