The strongest voice: Arts Academy alumna Mwila Keso brings hope to South Africa’s domestic violence survivors
At just nineteen years of age, Keso is teaching classes in Cape Town on financial literacy and human rights. Her time at Interlochen was a proving ground, providing her with knowledge and leadership opportunities that helped shape her into the advocate she is today.
Mwila Keso (third from left) stands with survivors of domestic abuse who have received certifications in cosmetology.
Mwila Keso (IAA 22-23) loves the stage. As a student at Interlochen Arts Academy, Keso found that her bubbly personality and sparkling singing voice had the power to engage student audiences and the local community alike. For many young alumni in her shoes, especially Popular Performance majors like Keso, the years after high school typically include going to college and pursuing a career in performance. But this Zambian teenager has chosen a very different path—one that’s both extremely challenging and deeply meaningful. Keso has returned to her home continent and committed herself to making a difference for survivors of domestic abuse in South Africa.
Keso teaches a class in basic human rights like dignity, privacy, and safety.
Living with “ubuntu”
A typical day at work finds Mwila Keso sitting on the ground, holding a weeping woman in her lap. A black eye, bruised cheek, and painful limp reveal to Keso that this woman has experienced violence at the hands of her husband or significant other. She hasn’t sought out a hospital—because, without health insurance of any kind, the Healing Centre for the Abused is her best chance to get help. This center, where Keso volunteers, provides resources and assistance to women facing domestic violence. As the woman’s tears continue to flow, Keso tightens her arms around her and begins singing softly, hoping to bring emotional comfort as they await the physical care the woman will soon receive.
Keso’s journey to Cape Town began years ago. Even from a young age, she knew she needed to do more than fulfill personal ambitions of stardom. In the Xhosa language spoken in South Africa, the word ubuntu means “I am because you are”, which emphasizes the need to act with humanity for others. Keso chose to make ubuntu the core of her purpose. Whatever she did, whatever success she discovered, had to be found in a way that helped others.
In early high school, Keso studied at the American International School of Lusaka. There, she fell in love with the experience of performing. Her vocal talent landed her a spot in a summer program put on by the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA), but Keso’s family couldn’t afford it. Determined to pursue her dreams, Keso did some research and found out about Interlochen. She applied, was accepted, and received a generous scholarship to support her as she studied voice and popular performance.
My songs and my artistry were always dedicated to causes beyond my own self. If you look at how I spent my time at Interlochen, you’d think I was studying art for activism.
In her time at Interlochen, Keso focused on taking historically meaningful songs and rewriting or reinventing them in fresh ways. Her favorite songs to work with centered on topics like civil rights, women's rights, police brutality, and African liberation.
“I was never comfortable singing songs about just love or my mood that day,” says Keso. “My songs and my artistry were always dedicated to causes beyond my own self. If you look at how I spent my time at Interlochen, you’d think I was studying art for activism.”
Keso also became vice president of the Student Representative Board and founded the International Student Union, expressing her “dedication to forging minority voices.”
It was a passion she’d soon carry far beyond Interlochen’s walls, to the most impoverished areas of Cape Town.
Keso teaches a class in financial literacy for domestic abuse survivors.
Healing a national crisis
After graduation, Keso decided to return to her home continent. But instead of making a home in her native Zambia, she moved to another country where she saw even deeper need.
“I'm not native to South Africa, but I don't see myself as a foreigner to the place because I am African,” she says. “I felt that what I could bring could be more impactful here, because the problems are so catastrophic.”
Keso’s original goal was to provide music for wellness, channeling her artistic gifts into a form of service and healing. But soon after she arrived in Cape Town, she found out that the issues ran far deeper than she’d initially realized. Keso encountered entrenched inequality in a country still reeling from the aftermath of apartheid, an era of mass racial segregation that lasted from the 1940s well into the 90s.
In addition, she realized that the country was facing an epidemic of violence against women: In South Africa, three women die each day at the hands of their intimate partners. The country is also known to have some of the highest percentages of rape in the world. The cycle of poverty and abuse is a vicious one, exacerbated by a cultural emphasis on masculine dominance and heavy levels of male responsibility.
“Many of the paradigms that came with the patriarchy are still very prevalent, despite the fact that they're not native to African culture,” says Keso. “When a man can't provide, he asserts his masculinity in different ways, because he's been taught that that's a central tenet of his masculinity. For many South African men, this assertion often takes violent forms.”
As much as she wanted to focus on music therapy, Keso knew she’d have to think bigger if she wanted to make a difference.
“I realized no therapeutic intervention would be sustainable if poverty, the biggest exacerbator of the cycle of abuse, remained unaddressed,” she said. “It became my utmost priority to financially empower the female survivors so that everything else I was doing could be sustainable.”
I realized no therapeutic intervention would be sustainable if poverty, the biggest exacerbator of the cycle of abuse, remained unaddressed. It became my utmost priority to financially empower the female survivors so that everything else I was doing could be sustainable.
Fortunately, Keso wasn’t a stranger to practical financial concepts. While at Interlochen, she’d taken a class in advanced financial literacy. Now, she adapted what she’d learned about budgeting and entrepreneurship to make her own curriculum designed to help South African women build the financial independence they needed to leave their abusers.
“Some of the survivors I serve earn as little as $25 a month with four kids,” says Keso. “My focus has been getting the women out of those situations so that they don't have to worry about what they're going to eat.”
Through Keso’s efforts, dozens of women have now received training in personal finances. 80% of the women Keso works with on a regular basis are now debt-free, and several of them are now starting small businesses as accredited beauticians. Still others are earning their living as seamstresses making bags and garments.
In addition, Keso began teaching a human rights class, educating the survivors in her program about privacy, dignity, free speech, and more. Word spread about her efforts and she was soon invited to speak at Richfield College for International Women’s Day. Though the event was far outside Keso’s comfort zone, her courage paid off: her call to “live a life that’s bigger than your own self” inspired multiple business students to volunteer and help teach the women in her program.
Keso calls her program The Wholeful Healing Journey, because she wants domestic abuse survivors to experience wholeness in every aspect of the word. She hasn’t left her love for music behind; in fact, she’s always finding ways to incorporate it into her work. Keso is passionate about sharing or reinventing the “struggle songs” that originated during apartheid and believes that these historic songs still hold immense potential for empowerment.
Keso speaks to students at Richfield College on International Women's Day.
“I find it impactful to help women make a rendition or write a song about a specific occurrence that will get them through what they're going through,” she says. “I help them realize, ‘This was the song my people used, and we have overcome. Now, how can I create it in a way that matches my own individual journey of healing, so I can overcome like my ancestors did?’”
The art she loved while at Interlochen has now become a tool to help survivors express their resilience. Keso says her time at Arts Academy also served as a proving ground, giving her opportunities to pursue leadership and create spaces that made a positive impact.
“That spirit of creation, following through with a project and understanding the needs of a community in order to create something that caters to their needs, is exactly what I'm doing here in Cape Town,” she says. “I didn't know that my singing voice could be my strongest voice.”
Keso still plans to pursue college when the time is right (her dream school is Washington University in St. Louis). But for now, she feels called to be an advocate.
“I always get so shocked when people say things like, ‘You're so amazing, MK’ or ‘This is good work you're doing’,” she reflects. “To me, this is just how I am supposed to live. It was never an anomaly.”
Keso keeps up an active Instagram presence, frequently urging her audience to donate to The Wholeful Healing Project or find other ways to show support: “There are very well-accredited charities that support survivors of domestic violence. Even $20 can feed a family of two for a week,” she says.
No matter where the coming years take her, Keso is confident that she’ll find meaningful ways to be of service.
“I thought I could call myself an artist after graduating from Interlochen Arts Academy, but serving survivors has shown me that artistry is more than just being able to write a good song. Artistry is about creating to the benefit beyond oneself.”
Learn more about Interlochen Arts Academy.
