The clock stroke midnight on July 9 sparking an eruption into joyous madness as citizens of Juba broke into dance, song, horn honking, drum beats, blasts of the vuvuzela, and the ululations of women to celebrate the advent of South Sudan’s day of independence.
In the labor room of Juba University Teaching Hospital, Josephina, the mother of three other children was being encouraged: “A little more effort. Push!”
Seconds after, a baby boy was born. The midwife who would only be known by her first name Rose heaved a sign of relief. Certainly one of the very first citizens born into the newly-independent country of South Sudan was letting out his first cries.
