Ruvimbo Mangoma ’11 brings the sounds of her native African continent to the St. Lawrence University campus with her singing group, Manstwe Amantle (Beautiful Voices). Originally from Harare, Zimbabwe, Ruvimbo co-founded the group with another Zimbabwean student, Lina Chiwara ’12 during the fall 2009 semester.

While officially separate from the African Student Union (ASU), Manstwe Amantle’s mission is to “showcase culture [by] singing African songs or songs done by Africans,” says Ruvimbo, who is also on the executive board of the ASU.
The group of 20 hails from all over Africa, the United States and even Poland. Ruvimbo and Lina brought their collection of African music to the group and had members borrow CDs to learn songs.

The economics and global studies double major remarks, “The group is a lot of fun, we’re colorful, we’re definitely diverse…. It’s a unique group of students and we’ve all added to each other in some way, shape or form.” She adds that new members are always welcome and that the group is eager for more male participants. The desire is also to incorporate more dance, which is of great interest to the current members.

When she is not practicing songs in a variety of languages, ranging from Shona to Sotho to Zulu, Ruvimbo is busy with her various other activities. A student manager of the Brush Alumni Houseas well as a student assistant for the University’s advancement services, she also contributes to the online blog The Weave. There, she often discusses issues specific to Africa and its relations with the international community.

Ruvimbo says of herself, “I am Zimbabwean, was born in Switzerland, lived in South Africa for the better part of my teenage life and am now studying in the U.S.” She has added another country to her international repertoire; she’s studying abroad this semester through SLU’s France program.