Students gathered in the Lion’s Pause on Nov. 8 for Karibu’s annual African Caribbean (AC) Night to celebrate and support St. Olaf College’s students from the African and Caribbean diaspora. 

Hosted by Karibu, the African and Caribbean Student Association on campus, AC Night is a colorful celebration of cultures and traditions through music, dance, and art. As noted throughout the night by the program’s host Karibu Public Relations Selwe Mbingo ’26, this celebration is important for a diasporic community like theirs, located in rural Minnesota. 

“Tonight is a celebration of the African and Caribbean diaspora on campus,” Mbingo said at the event.

“It’s a time for us to support one another in a place like Minnesota where we aren’t really represented.” 

Coming into the Lion’s Pause, UPRISING, an organization dedicated to sharing Black culture and history through the arts, had a table set up where guests and participants could partake in the creation of a “serenity” word art piece. The finished project will be showcased in February at the organization’s annual art exhibition. 

The night carried on with various performances from a vocal piece about nomadic life sung by Gelila Bessufekad Lemma ’27 to a Western Sahara Performance. Crowd favorites from the show were the final dance performance by Martha Katamba ’29, Esmeraldo Okoudjou ’29, and Kirumi Okoth ’29 and a mini set performance by the underground student band The Band. Both performances got the crowd up on their feets dancing and grooving. 

Finally, AC Night concluded with a flag walk highlighting the African and Caribbean countries represented on campus, and a traditional Jamaican dinner in the Gold and Sun Ballrooms. Overall, like most cultural celebrations at St. Olaf, AC Night was a successful event for multicultural students to come together to celebrate and support one another.