Varsities’ cultural festivals kick off

By Maria Kandjungu
IT is that time of the year again when students of the three most prominent universities in the country proudly dress up in their Traditional attires to ex­press their diverse cultural heri­tage to the larger public.
A university’s cultural festival is an annual event that is held at different universities in the coun­try to celebrate student diversity at these institutions. The season serves as a platform to collective­ly celebrate students of different cultures at these universities pro­viding them with space to inter­act and learn more about each other’s cultures.
This year, the International University of Management (IUM) kicked off its 16th cultural festival activities last week, themed ‘add colour to your culture’.
As a tradition, students and staff members from all IUM campuses beautifully dressed up in their different cultural attires and gathered at Palm Tree Park, Windhoek, to witness the official opening of the 2018 cultural fes­tival. The week – long event start­ed on the 30 July 2018.
According to the IUM student representative for culture, Chris­tian Simoes, the theme serves to bring together the different Na­mibian cultures and those from other countries within the IUM community by showing that all cultures are equally important. This he says, creates a sense of appreciation for each other’s cul­tures in the student community.
In the same vein, the Namibia University of Science and Tech­nology (NUST), also kicked-off its cultural festival on Monday 06 August 2018. It will end on 9 August 2018. Theirs is celebrated under the theme ‘celebrating cul­tural diversity as One’.
The University of Namibia cul­tural festival is scheduled to start from the 15-18 August 2018, un­der the theme ‘enhancing diversi­ty and cultural awareness’.
Traditionally, the festivals have different activities by students such as, performances by cultural groups, showcasing of traditional cuisines and the crowning of Miss and Mister University.
Musical performances such as cultural exhibitions, oral story­telling around the fire and cul­tural foods competition also form part of the festival.