It happened without warning, you’re always told it will. Horns were blaring, sirens wailing and people shouting. Chaos erupted around us seemingly out of nowhere. My security training told me - you shouldn’t be here - but what do you do when you are already in the middle of it.
But as quickly as the muscle memory of my security training was kicking in, I knew, or maybe just felt, that there was nothing to fear here. Apart from the fact that people and vehicles were coming from all directions - nothing unusual in Juba - flags were waving, and vuvuzelas blasting. This was not a belated World Cup celebration, this was a celebration protest.
The colours of Ethiopia and Eritrea, flags not often seen together in recent years, were leading the smiling, singing people. This was a celebration of the recent peace deal between Eritrea and Ethiopia (of which there is a large population in Juba).
For the first time in years the closed borders are open. 20 years ago families were torn apart by the conflict between the two states - today, my colleagues tell me they are planning trips into Eritrea to visit family they have never met.
So, as I sit on the banks of the White Nile discussing South Sudanese politics, its terrible impacts on millions of people and World Vision’s part in response, I hear myself praying that maybe this could be a sign of hope for the people of South Sudan - can we dare to pray that peace and hope could spread across the continent?
