Date of Birth: 11 - 09 - 1971 Death: 06- 06- 2010
As we all mourn the departure of Vimbai Matekaire Hungwe who passed away in a tragic accident in Johannesburg on the 6th of June 2010, it is worthwhile to ponder on the significance of the life of Vimbai, an outstanding professional gifted with the spirit of love and compassion.
An accomplished Information professional, Vimbai studied Library and Information Science at Harare Polytechnic, Media Studies at Zimbabwe Open University and graduated with an MSc in Library and Information Science at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Zimbabwe. He was a PhD candidate at the University of Pretoria at the time of his passing, and was researching on Evidence-based Medicine.
His professional experience saw him through the University of Zimbabwe Medical School Library, Zimtrade, Ministry of Agriculture's Central Library, Africa University and was a Senior Programmes Officer at ITOCA-Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa based in Pretoria at the time of his death.
Born a leader, Vimbai was elected into the Students Representative Council at Harare Polytechnic in the early 90s where he articulated various issues affecting students at that time. He later became the Editor of the Zimbabwe Library Association (ZIMLA) News between 2001 and 2003, where he contributed immensely to the development of Librarianship in Zimbabwe. Together with other colleagues, who include his long-time friend Lawrence Chikwanha, who is now the Librarian at Great Zimbabwe University they worked tirelessly to reform and develop the information profession in Zimbabwe.
Vimbai was elected President of the Association of Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA) www.ahila.org at its congress in Mozambique in 2008 for a 3 year term till 2011. "Lets all put our hands together to promote good health and fight disease through information", these were Vimbai's words after his election as the President of AHILA. At ITOCA, Vimbai was leading the planning, organizing and conducting outreach and information literacy training workshops. He travelled all over Africa in his quest to impart information literacy skills to researchers and academics. He was invited to various international fora to share his experiences in training researchers in Africa, recently in May 2010; he was at the IAALD International 2010 Congress in France.
He was a keynote speaker at the Outbreak Control and Prevention 2010 Conference on May 19, 2010 in Pretoria. His presentation titled, "Informed Health Workers are Prepared Health Workers" raised a lot of interest amongst the delegates, and indeed it was the last formal presentation of a man who was so passionate about health information.
"Vilo", as he was affectionately known by his friends will be remembered as a brother, friend and colleague who was committed to helping librarians and researchers get the information they need to create better lives in Africa. Our thoughts are with his family. May his soul rest in peace.