We chose to celebrate the 4th of July in South Sudan. It is not that the day would have felt incomplete without a celebration for our family (like Easter or Christmas) but because we longed to affirm in our children how special they are. Our kids are third culture kids, they are a little bit American a little bit Southern Sudanese and a little bit Kenyan. Even after only a few months we see this in their vocabulary and how they assimilate life. You cannot live somewhere and then leave unchanged, the land, the people the ideology shape yours. South Sudan celebrates their independence day in just four days so we wanted to celebrate America’s independence day and talk about what freedom is with our kids, we don’t want them to feel ashamed of where they come from or overly proud of where they were born we want them simply to embrace each puzzle piece that forms them. We want them to cling to the blessings, let go of what is bad and have open arms to embrace what is good in each culture they have the privilege of learning from, including their passport country.
I put the chairs in a circle and we chatted, a nice deep conversation (considering most of the kids were under five). They decided America’s best freedom was eating good food. We talked about how special they are that they get to celebrate and rejoice at America’s birthday and South Sudan’s birthday.
PJ is on day two of malaria so everyone’s energy level was a bit slow today. I had grand plans for an interactive history lesson but instead the girls did American artwork and I made a cake that if you squint sort of looks like an American flag. Eating the cake was fun, listening to a circle of TCK’s talk about freedom, food and life was better. Happy July 4th we are so grateful to the many sacrifices that have been made that enable us to eat good food (remember we were discussing this with early elementary…trust us good food is worth celebrating!), and worship freely in our nation.
Flower girl’s picture. Age 5