Until last Saturday when the unfortunate incident which claimed the life of Kenneth Akena, many Ugandans didn’t know about Cynthia Munwangari but to us she has been a frequent visitor in Kampal… Why?
Cynthia Munwangari is the Bujumbura Fashion Week Director and a renowned fashionista in Bujumbura, Burundi’s capital city.
She has been a regular in Kampala’s top social events including the annual Arab Money Fab parties of Judith Heard and Sue O’chola from 2014, Rwanda and Burundi nights.
The 26-year-old is a fashion designer behind the Cy’Mun Collection label and model, as well as initiator and founder the Bujumbura Fashion Week. She was born in Burundi on September 8, 1990 to a Burundian father and a Rwandan mother. She is the third in a family of four, including two boys and one girl
She had her education solely in Burundi and is a clinical and social psychology graduate from Hope Africa University. However, her passion for fashion got the better of her. She followed her heart and slowly climbed the ladders to become one of the most recognised faces on the Burundian social circuit.
She became a teenage mother and has an eight-year-old son with a man she married to but divorced before Kanyamunyu came into the picture.
According to an interview with Elle Afrique, her dream man has always been one who fears God and she regarded the early marriage and consequent divorce as her “worst failure”.
Lugogo shooting Incident
Kanyamunyu’s family’s side of the story is that the bullet that took Akena was meant for her because of her political connections, noting that her aunt, former Burundi representative to the East African Parliament, Hafsa Mossi was assassinated mid this year.
The fact that she is politically involved can be corroborated by the 2015 Elle Afrique interview where she revealed that she is nursing political ambitions in her home country after the once peaceful beautiful nation plunged into political chaos and its associated evils.
“I like politics very much and if I have to sacrifice myself I am ready because my plans for the future will not be reached outside the field. I have to be part of the government and it’s that simple. My struggle is to develop the talents of young people (we have all not been made for school or to be a doctor, lawyer or economist…) but each of us is born with a talent and I believe strongly because it goes to boost our economy and hence the end of some problems,” she was quoted. As a famous woman, she has had many women looking up to her.
