Oct 8, 2026 · 19 min · 9 segments
How does a student from Malawi end up at one of America's top liberal arts colleges? In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Coach Scott Martin sits down with David Manguluti, an African student and…
So to give you guys my full backstory [laughs] or just a tidbit of it, I was born in Malawi.
I was raised in a mixed household, so my mom is Malawian, my dad is from Botswana, and that kind of already shaped the kind of ideals that we had as a family.
And even though my parents got divorced later on, I think we still kept those, like, internationalist ideals where everyone was a global citizen in the household.
And it really meant, like, thinking about global citizenry as, like, commitment to the service that you do for a community, and I think very, very early on, like, as early as, like, six years old, my mom was very, very adamant in teaching me, like, you need to care about people in your community.
We used to go and volunteer to feed prisoners too because she just really wanted to instill this, like, lesson of, like, service to community.
And as of right now, I, I ascribe to communitarianism as, like, a core belief of mine, where I really believe that community and the group over the self is very important for, like, a holistic society, and that has, like, led me throughout a lot of the experiences that I've had.
So after spending some time in Malawi, I went to South Africa for the African Leadership Academy, and it definitely was a journey.
I think there was a lot of times where I wasn't sure that I would be able to make it in such, like, a prestigious environment, and it was very competitive.
I remember I had like three rounds of interviews, and I had to write five essays, and it really was...
It was a lot, but I think it was really worth it because then you get into, like, this mission-driven aspect of it.
Because I already had the community side, and I already knew that I really enjoyed community.
And so now coming here to a school like the African Leadership Academy that really valued, like, identity.
So being African, what does it mean to be African? What does it mean to be a global citizen in Africa? What does it mean to be young in this day and age and care about the future? So it really equipped me with the tools to essentially learn more about the world in a critical lens, and then also how do you take what your worldview is with the skills that you learn, whether in class, in-- I did an internship with the African Union during that time, and all these different skills that you learn, how do you critically apply those? And so that kind of really shaped what I wanted to do in the future, and I, and I knew that at the core of what I want to do is I want to help people, and that's been a very guiding presence in my life ever since I graduated.
And now here at Macalester, I'm an economics and legal studies major, and I've really kind of put most of my work and, um, efforts into trying my best to help people in the different ways that turns out, whether it's fundraising for refugees in Malawi or thinking about how do I help people who are wanting to get into higher education, who want to, like, earn scholarships, who want to earn honors or awards, or just get into a school that they know will provide them with the resources they need to be the best version of themselves.
That's another way that I've really, um, tried to help in the past, like, two years.
Uh, and I, I can see why I was drawn to your post 'cause we, we have a lot of stuff in common.
I was a, an economics political science major, also at a small liberal arts college.
We have these, this kind of parallel life experience that I think lead us, and I think my parents did the same thing in terms of instilling, uh, service, kind of servant leadership, and I, I see that coming from you as well.
So to give you guys my full backstory [laughs] or just a tidbit of it, I was born in Malawi.
I was raised in a mixed household, so my mom is Malawian, my dad is from Botswana, and that kind of already shaped the kind of ideals that we had as a family.
And even though my parents got divorced later on, I think we still kept those, like, internationalist ideals where everyone was a global citizen in the household.
And it really meant, like, thinking about global citizenry as, like, commitment to the service that you do for a community, and I think very, very early on, like, as early as, like, six years old, my mom was very, very adamant in teaching me, like, you need to care about people in your community.
We used to go and volunteer to feed prisoners too because she just really wanted to instill this, like, lesson of, like, service to community.
And as of right now, I, I ascribe to communitarianism as, like, a core belief of mine, where I really believe that community and the group over the self is very important for, like, a holistic society, and that has, like, led me throughout a lot of the experiences that I've had.
So after spending some time in Malawi, I went to South Africa for the African Leadership Academy, and it definitely was a journey.
I think there was a lot of times where I wasn't sure that I would be able to make it in such, like, a prestigious environment, and it was very competitive.
I remember I had like three rounds of interviews, and I had to write five essays, and it really was...
It was a lot, but I think it was really worth it because then you get into, like, this mission-driven aspect of it.
Because I already had the community side, and I already knew that I really enjoyed community.
And so now coming here to a school like the African Leadership Academy that really valued, like, identity.
So being African, what does it mean to be African? What does it mean to be a global citizen in Africa? What does it mean to be young in this day and age and care about the future? So it really equipped me with the tools to essentially learn more about the world in a critical lens, and then also how do you take what your worldview is with the skills that you learn, whether in class, in-- I did an internship with the African Union during that time, and all these different skills that you learn, how do you critically apply those? And so that kind of really shaped what I wanted to do in the future, and I, and I knew that at the core of what I want to do is I want to help people, and that's been a very guiding presence in my life ever since I graduated.
And now here at Macalester, I'm an economics and legal studies major, and I've really kind of put most of my work and, um, efforts into trying my best to help people in the different ways that turns out, whether it's fundraising for refugees in Malawi or thinking about how do I help people who are wanting to get into higher education, who want to, like, earn scholarships, who want to earn honors or awards, or just get into a school that they know will provide them with the resources they need to be the best version of themselves.
That's another way that I've really, um, tried to help in the past, like, two years.
Uh, and I, I can see why I was drawn to your post 'cause we, we have a lot of stuff in common.
I was a, an economics political science major, also at a small liberal arts college.
We have these, this kind of parallel life experience that I think lead us, and I think my parents did the same thing in terms of instilling, uh, service, kind of servant leadership, and I, I see that coming from you as well.
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