Features / Bristol Refugee Festival
‘The arts have been a great help – they’ve saved me over the years’
Rachel de Garang was just six years old when she was forced to leave her home as South Sudan was in the grip of civil war.
Her father had been arrested in church for speaking out against the government of the day and her mum was left with no choice but to flee with Rachel and her siblings.
The founder of African Sambistas, who lives in Horfield, has gone on to forge a successful career in the arts and as a champion for diversity and equality, inspiring many along the way, but she says those early painful memories remain clearly imprinted in her mind.
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“I don’t think that anyone who leaves their home imagines that they will never go back,” Rachel tells Bristol24/7.
A family photo with her mum and siblings (Rachel is on the far right) – photo courtesy of Rachel de Garang
Rachel’s mum and dad in their youth – photo courtesy of Rachel de Garang
The family travelled from South Sudan into Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia and Uganda, staying in refugee camps as they sought a place of safety before eventually coming to England when Rachel was ten years old.
The 1972 peace accord marked the end of the civil war and a return home, during which time Rachel went to boarding school in Kenya to continue her education. No sooner had she returned to South Sudan at the age of 17 to get married and war broke out again.
“My late husband was working in London for the Sudanese government, so we came back to England,” recalls Rachel.
“But he got involved in politics and lost his job. We were then refugees again and we had to seek political asylum because of my father’s history as well.”
The couple were granted refugee status and moved to Cardiff for a time before Rachel moved to Bristol with her three children in 1989. She now works as a black and minority ethnic engagement officer for The Care Forum and looks back fondly at 30 years of working in the arts and community sector.
“The arts have been a great help – that’s what’s saved me over the years,” says the dancer and theatre practitioner.
It has not been an easy journey and Rachel says she has faced racism during her time in England. “Bristol is definitely home,” she says. “I work in diversity and equality and have been involved with Tribe of Doris for years, so I have a community around me that has allowed me to be myself.”
Rachel founded drum and dance group African Sambistas about 12 years ago and is passionate about inspiring people of all ages to dance.
“My students now run it,” she says. “I do still do a bit of teaching though – a lot of people stop dancing once they reach a certain age, but we do have our dance body, it just needs somebody like me coming along to say actually you can dance.”
Rachel speaks Arabic, English and Dinka, her native language, saying that helps maintain her connection with the home she left so many years ago.
Rachel with her sister, Akuja, when she was awarded an MBE at Buckingham Palace – photo courtesy of Rachel de Garang
Rachel’s mum, Anna, when they were finally reunited in Bristol after more than ten years apart – photo courtesy of Rachel de Garang
After she returned to England in 1980, Rachel did not see her mum again for 13 years. “That was really difficult,” she says. “It was really painful. Life was hard there for them, so we had to try and support by sending them money.”
In the late 90s, her mother became ill and it took a three-year battle before they were eventually reunited in England under the Red Cross Family Reunion Integration Service.
Rachel has two sons, a daughter and granddaughter. Her daughter went to live in South Sudan at the age of 19 and has recently returned there and got married. Her sister is also there and runs a number of girls’ education projects.
Rachel meeting Prince Charles at a project she managed in Cardiff in the 1980s – photo courtesy of Rachel de Garang
Rachel pictured with her sister, sister-in-law, daughter and niece at a family friend’s house – photo courtesy of Rachel de Garang
A member of Black Women Let Loose Theatre Company, Rachel has just finished writing a piece about when she first left her home in South Sudan.
“It was really emotional sharing that,” she says. “I have always kept away from writing about it because some of those memories are quite painful. They are still clear, like they are imprinted on my brain.
“When I have watched the news and seen children leaving places like Syria my heart goes out to them because I know that feeling. You have left your home and then you have to try to be accepted.”
Main photo by Olumide Osinoke
Read more: Bristol Refugee Festival returns for 2020
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