A month after the country lost writer, poet, editor and teacher Professor Steve Miles Bernard Chimombo, his best friend and wife Moira, has described him as someone who had full knowledge of his culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis knowledge of his culture meant that he made sure that I learned what to do, and he passed on to his brothers and sisters an understanding of the need for me to be instructed on different occasions, such as at weddings and other events,\u201d said Moira.<\/p>\n
She said she appreciates his family at this time, because they are continuing to support her in \u201cour mutual bereavement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am fortunate to have been raised in a family that appreciates the role of language and culture in marriage as well, and that God gave me the gift of language skills, because it is very difficult to learn about another culture without at the same time learning the language,\u201d said Moira.<\/p>\n
She said in many of his writings, Professor Chimombo did not forget to tackle cultural issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s actually very difficult for me to write easily everything about my husband of 42 years, especially at this time. I have so many wonderful memories of our years together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Moira said one of the things that she shared with Professor Chimombo from the very beginning of their relationship, in 1971, when she met Steve on the first day of the first term of graduate studies at Leeds University (UK), was a love of poetry, particularly TS Eliot.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of his writing, I was always my husband\u2019s first critic. I loved reading his poems, plays, novels, and short stories, and probing to help him find the exact right word. However, in no way have I ever been a creative writer!\u201d said Moira.<\/p>\n
She added that she enjoyed serving as the editor of his arts magazine,WASI.<\/p>\n
Moira said Professor Chimombo was quiet and that he did not like speaking in public to large audiences, unlike her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still enjoy presenting papers and engaging with an audience! In fact, when he was at Teachers College, Columbia University (New York), at first, the professors tended to think that because he did not participate vociferously in class, he was not likely to do well.<\/p>\n
They quickly learned how intelligent he was, and how deeply he processed all the information that was presented,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Moira said that her husband was never flashy, nor did he ever have really extravagant tastes, although his favourite meal was Prawn Masala with Aloo stuffed paratha at Indian restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know very few people in this world who have as much integrity as Steve did. This was the solid foundation of our marriage, with love for each other completely independent of race,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Moira also said one or two people have asked if she will go back to UK now, \u201cbut my answer is that Malawi is my home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving been away from UK for more than 42 years, I would find it very difficult to settle there. Steve\u2019s village is my village, and I expect to be buried in the same graveyard as him when my time comes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Professor Chimombo died at the age of 70 and some of the books he published include The Hyena Wears Darkness, The Bird Boy\u2019s Song, The Wrath of Napolo, Napolo and the Python, The Basket Girl, Wachiona Ndani? and The Rainmaker.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A month after the country lost writer, poet, editor and teacher Professor Steve Miles Bernard Chimombo, his best friend and wife Moira, has described him as someone who had full knowledge of his culture. \u201cHis knowledge of his culture meant that he made sure that I learned what to do, and he passed on to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16414"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16420,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16414\/revisions\/16420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}