NAKS
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| Abbreviation | NAKS |
|---|---|
| Formation | 4 May 1947 |
| Founder | Eugène Drenthe |
| Type | Afro-Surinamese culture |
| Headquarters | Paramaribo, Suriname |
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Chairman
|
Siegmien Power-Staphorst |
| Website | nakssuriname.com |
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Formerly called
|
Na Arbeid Komt Sport |
NAKS (Na Afrikan Kulturu fu Sranan) (English: Our African Culture of Suriname) is a social and cultural organization which promotes Afro-Surinamese culture and expression in Suriname and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1948 with Eugène Drenthe as its first president, when it emerged as the successor of association football club T.O.P. (Tot Ons Plezier) which was founded a year prior.
Originally a multi-sports club, NAKS (then known as Na Arbeid Komt Sport) eventually evolved into a social and cultural organization promoting language, sports, music, arts and crafts of the African diaspora. Headquartered in Paramaribo, it also runs the NAKS Volkshogeschool (formerly known as the Volkshogeschool Kofidjompo) located in Lelydorp.
NAKS was founded in Paramaribo, Suriname as an association football club in 1948. The club had been renamed from T.O.P. (Tot Ons Plezier) to N.A.K.S. (Na Arbeid Komt Sport) only a year after its foundation on 4 May 1947. The team played their home games on the Gouvernementsplein, competing in the SVB Hoofdklasse, the top flight of football in Suriname until the organization ceased to pursue sporting endeavors. Over the years many of the country's top footballers have played for NAKS, including Frits Purperhart, Leo Schipper and Roy Vanenburg.
Aside from Football, NAKS also had a korfball, and a gymnastics team as well as a theater group and a music and dance school. The clubs first president Eugène Drenthe described the atmosphere at the club as not merely a sports club, but a social club promoting a healthy lifestyle. Drenthe was a man who grew up as a kid on the streets who could relate to the troubled youth, and had made it his mission to provide a platform and a vision for the youth of Suriname, purchasing their first building in 1958.
Inspired by the close proximity in which the Afro-Surinamese and Hindustani people lived together, Drenthe made his first attempt as a playwright, writing "Rudie, het voetbaljongetje" (English: Rudi, the football boy) in 1959. Soon the success of the NAKS theater group was recognized in the Netherlands. In 1964 the Stichting voor Culturele Samenwerking (English: Foundation for Cultural Cooperation) funded the travel of Dutch puppeteer Henk Zoutendijk to visit the organization and teach the group.
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