Election officials count up ballots at Hai Jalaba Schoo in Juba, Sudan, after polls closed on Saturday, January 15, 2011. Southern Sudanese turned out en masse to cast their ballots to decide the future of their country. Sara Fajardo/Catholic Relief Services
by Renee Lambert, Emergency Coordinator
Young Sudanese polling officials sat inside a small two room school, silently unfolding ballots while national and international observers looked on. It was just after 7 pm, the polls had closed 2 hours earlier. Outside the school the sun was setting, so the polling officials were counting by the light of small lanterns. Shadows of the young officials unfolding ballots bounced off the walls of the small room and goose bumps covered my arms as I realized the significance of what I was witnessing. My eyes had already welled with tears more times in the past week than could be counted on both hands, but this did not stop them from tearing up again. And I knew that what I was feeling wasn’t even a fraction of what the Sudanese polling officials and observers must be feeling. Continue reading
