Fashion show spreads knowledge with style

On Feb. 25, the Ruzivo Foundation benefit fashion show was held. The show was split up into five segments, three of which were runway shows featuring eight volunteers wearing casual to dressy attire. In-between each portion of the fashion show were dance routines first provided by the Sassy Cats and secondly by the Salsa and Latin Dance Club. The show also featured members of the GCSU men’s basketball team, who provided a pick-up line showdown. All of the proceeds from the show went to the Ruzivo Foundation, which provides books for children in Zimbabwe. It was founded by two GCSU students – Christopher Chenga and Will Harris.

“The word ‘ruzivo’ in my native language means knowledge. I am from Zimbabwe and I went to a private primary school. But even with the private system, I remember having to share three textbooks among thirty other kids,” Chenga, a senior accounting major, said. “So when I came here, I just decided to collect the extra textbooks that we have and ship them back home.”

Chenga and Harris currently have collected 500 books, almost doubling their initial goal. Will Harris, senior international business major is determined to see the organization grow and reach as many people as possible.

“I’ve known Chris since freshman year,” Harris said. “And because we are both business majors, we thought, how could we buy these books to ship to Zimbabwe?

So, for the past two years we have been doing extensive planning. We’ve asked T & N bookstores to have a book donation box available where students can put old books so we can send them to Africa. We have been going through Christopher’s old junior college (high school) called St. George’s.”

The GIVE Center has since partnered with Ruzivo and connected it with Delta Zeta and Zeta Tau Alpha, which led to the idea of a fashion show. The show was also helped by businesses around Milledgeville like Maurice’s, located in the Milledgeville Mall, and The French Vill’edge, on Hancock Street, which lent a helping hand by providing the clothes for the models to wear.

Kayla Jones, a junior psychology major and co-captain of the Sassy Cats and a member of Zeta Tau Alpha, was more than willing to entertain with the rest of the team for the fashion show.

“I work with The GIVE Center so I’m glad we got to do something and raise money for Ruzivo,” Jones said. “I’ve been at this school for three years and I have never seen anything done like this.”

Others to contribute were friends and fellow Zimbabweans like Nigel Sanyangore, a junior math major who deejayed the event. He performed under the name DJ HD iSanya.

“I am from Masvingo, Zimbabwe, which is near the capital city,” Sanyangore said. “When I left Zimbabwe in 2007, definitely there were book shortages, especially with the public schools.”

Sanyangore contributed with a wide mix of tunes that kept the crowd involved throughout the show. Because he has experienced what it is like to go without something as basic as school books, he said he was happy to contribute to the cause.

“Coming here, having books is definitely something I appreciate every day,” Sanyangore said.

Posted by Joanna Sullivan on Mar 5 2010. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry