When it comes to Ruth Mutana, writing is not just storytelling but a tool for fostering positive change in the world. To paraphrase some of Kwekwe based social advocate’s exact words, she writes to amplify the voices in the margins. It’s no wonder the young author, poet and blogger finds her strongest inspiration from people’s lived experiences.
Although she can’t point to a particular point in her childhood that led her to desire putting words together, Ruth Mutana has had a long relationship with writing. However it wasn’t until last year (2022) that she truly felt it was something she could pursue.
As she recalls it, writing was mostly a personal outlet until she won an essay award from the African Jesuit AIDS Network (AJAN). Mutana received the awards for the essay contest in Harare, Zimbabwe and Bujumbura, Burundi. This was the moment a light flickered for Ruth. She realised writing was something she could actually pursue beyond just being a hobby. The desire to raise her voice as an act of service to the world has become a strong source of inspiration to Ruth’s writing career
At the beginning of this year (2023), Ruth was part of an Art Residency with NGUWOapotheca. The residency, which was geared towards art and it’s social impact, enhanced Ruth’s poetry writing skills. It culminated in her performing one of the poems she came up with, “To the man I first loved”. A poem that celebrates the noble men who see the immense worth of their daughters and encourage them to succeed in life.
It almost coincided with Mutana making her debut as an author, in the anthology “Not Forgotten: Remembered with Love”. A collection of mental health poems from several authors, in which Mutana contributed ten of her own. One poem in particular, Monster Man, which was one of the contributions to that book holds a special place in her heart.
I feel so connected to that [Monster Man] poem, some days the words just come to me as I kind of internalise the words of that poem. So the poem explores the story of a man who’s struggling with a mental health affliction which is making him a menace to his family, to his wife and to his daughters. He deeply wants to protect his family but something within him is causing chaos in his life.
Ruth Mutana
In July (2023) Ruth was featured as Global Citizen’s Emerging Creative for July. The Global organization which resiliently works to eradicate extreme poverty across the world shared Mutana’s short story “Life in the Camp”. It also stated that young creatives and writers like Mutana are crucial for telling the stories of vulnerable communities. The story “Life in the Camp” encapsulates the experience of two Malawian boys navigating life after a series of destructive climate disasters.
Mutana regards the feature by Global Citzen as one of the highlights of her young literary career. Alongside her words being published in the “Not Forgotten: Remembered with love” anthology.
In October this year Mutana was part of the Caravan of Hope Tour in Malawi. During the tour she perfomed poems of hope and healing to local communities in Phalombe, Chiradzulu and Blantyre. These communities are still grappling with the impacts of climate change, especially Cyclone Freddy which ravaged the country in February 2023.
The author has expansive hopes for her future. These start with publishing her own anthology and then earning recognition on a national, continental and eventually global level. From Zimbabwe which is the place of her roots, to Africa which she calls home and the globe of which she’s a part of. Ruth aims to overcome all the fears that have held her back from taking advantage of opportunities in the past.
I envision myself writing out everything that I always felt the urge to write on and that maybe I hesitated at some point but I wish and hope I’ll be able to overcome those obstacles which made me fall back from expressing myself fully.
Ruth Mutana
Mutana also works as a contributing writer for a local NGO, Community Climate Action Trust under the Writers for Climate Justice Initiative. She wrote the short story “Ticharwa, the Lone Survivor” which vividly captures life in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe post Cyclone Idai and is part of the Anthology of Climate Impact Stories which was lauched at COP 28 in the United Arab Emirates.
Ruth Mutana is part of ‘Tha Plug In’, a Creative showcase by the British Council in partnership with #enthuse Magazine.
