Derik Uya: A life for culture

JUBA – The term ‘fledgling state’ has long been used in South Sudan and has been treated as a country that has fallen from the sky in an empty geographical bouquet, a hazy history of culture and the arts, restricting by this the history of cultural movement in South Sudan just in 12 years. While the sons of the country in Old and Great Sudan was making a glory in presenting and preserving the heritage of the south region, and one of those icons is Derik Uya Alfred, the former minister of culture and the powerful backbone and preserver of the heritage.

Two years ago, Derek passed away, leaving behind the cultural legacy for his people and a flag that should be taken to continue the cultural movement. In his honor, Derik cultural festival is embodied to celebrate his life and achievements yearly in Juba, South Sudan and this month people celebrate the third edition of the festival from 10th –18th November.

And as we go ahead, you will get closer to his iconic character, who he is, what he did, and why are the people celebrating his life and the central value of this festival?

Celebrating other people’s lives is always centered around their influence on society and the memories and changes they have left behind. Oya had dedicated his life for culture, and that motivated him to join department of theatre and acting, school of fine arts at Sudan university of science and technology in 1989-1994, this could count as a first step of following the passion, and incrementally those steps led to markable changes and one of his significant works the contribution he gave as co-founders of Kwoto cultural center which their work was focusing on reflecting the diverse identities of Southern part of Sudan during that time, and this could also count as a step towards integrity.

Kwoto dancing group was the heartbeat of the center, and a good example of unity, several dancers knowing all the traditional dancing and attires of all tribes, no matter where the individual from are and their differences, this great work had been rewarded in 2002 at the International Meeting of the Democratization Movement in Durban, South Africa, the Center was awarded the Medal for Peace and Democracy for its efforts in peace building.

As a director of Kwoto cultural center he played tremendous role in creating space for audience to know the cultural diversity of Sudan to prove the opposite of what identity the defunct regime in Sudan was intended to reflect, and the concept of cultural integration and diversity as a crucial element of national healing, and after South Sudan gained its independence, he worked hardly to link the generation of the nation with their cultural identity emphasizing on cultural dialogue as a way for achieving better future.

On the 6th day of the festival there was a play for Kunouz theatre group, the play entitled Al Ghareeb which means in English the stranger, people came in crowed as every year some of them is the first time and others are loyal attendees, the play put spotlights on social issues regarding integrity and respect for diversity, as what exactly the icon Darick Uya was doing during his life through cultural activities.

“We are celebrating the life of Derick because every time we hear his name, we remember that strong man and kind human who worked hard to show as and others the beauty of our diverse culture,” said Karima Anthony and she is one of the attendees. “I remember the combine performance of Kwoto with Aaghd Al-Jalad, this kind of performances were always making us feeling that we are here sound and seen, and feel as one as we should be and contributing to the heritage.”

She also added “We commemorate all the martyrs from our military and political struggles through national holidays. We forgot to honor the activists in the cultural movement of southern Sudan. The character of Dirk deserves to be celebrated on a wider scale than this, with a national festival hosted by the state to celebrate cultural icons.”

On the 7^th day of the festival, a musical concert done by Al-Rowad which founded by Uya himself in 2004, they performed 15 classic songs from different tribes of South Sudan but in jazz touch, the chemistry between the singers and audience was in a high level and everyone has been feeling his attendance, and that was also seen obviously on the singers as they sang for their one diverse audience, this last point could be the core value of the festival, proud and celebrate who we are and takeover the flag which had given the new generation by Uya and continue the mission  (vision)of delivering this message to the coming generations in particular and to the world in general.