Prof Shitemi: Unsung heroine who fought hard for Kiswahili language

On Saturday, September 28, 2013, at 10am, I was in my office tightening a few ends before a meeting to discuss the media and cultural space. Then the phone rang. “I don’t want you to hear from the media, but we have lost our friend,” was the message from the other end. Images of Westgate, fast moving matatus, lorries and buses flashed through my mind.

“Professor Naomi Shitemi is no more,” came the elaboration, as if to disrupt the images. This news disrupted the rest of my day, especially the cultural spaces meeting because Prof Shitemi has played such a significant part in the expansion of African languages and culture.

She was an outstanding Kiswahili scholar. In 2002 she was part of the team that translated the Draft Constitution of Kenya (CKRC Draft). Later, she translated the popular version of the Waki Commission Report and the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Report.

In addition, she provided service to the Pan-African Parliament as a freelance English-Kiswahili translator. She worked closely with international organisations such as Unesco and was a commissioner at the Kiswahili Vehicular Cross Border Commission at the African Union’s Academy of African Languages (ACALAN).

CHAKITA FOUNDER

She was also a founder member and treasurer of the Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (CHAKITA), and was the first chairperson of the Chama cha Kiswahili cha Afrika Mashariki (CHAKAMA).

At CHAKITA, we all relied on Prof Shitemi to provide leadership, and she did, convening the international Kiswahili conferences and editing a good number of CHAKITA books. She bonded with younger scholars quickly and created many opportunities for joint research projects.

GALLANT FIGHTER
For over two years, Prof Shitemi has fought cancer gallantly in Kenya and India. But even in her condition, she continued writing and publishing on language and social history.

The Goethe Institute will soon release her co-edited book on the mythical ‘Wanjiku’ figure popularised by Gado’s cartoons.

Recently, Prof Shitemi co-authored A Chapter Towards Kenyan Identity and Ethos: Harmony in Differentiated Otherisation in a book edited by the revered philosopher, Professor V.Y. Mudimbe and published by Africa World Press.

Throughout her life, Prof Shitemi has pursued issues of language and identity and her passion to promote inter-cultural understanding has been exemplary.

I first met Prof Shitemi in 1979 when she joined Kenyatta University College to study for a Bachelor of Education degree. She had come from the famous Butere Girls High School, where she sat her A levels in 1978, and before that she had obtained a First Divion in the Form Four examinations that she sat at Chwele Girls High School.

I was to meet Prof Shitemi again at the University of Nairobi in 1988 when she enrolled for a Master of Arts degree in Kiswahili Studies, specialising in translation. Her studies here were clearly helped by the five years she had spent as a graduate teacher at Thika School for the Blind between 1983 and 1988.

But even after she graduated from Nairobi to join the faculty of the newly started Kiswahili Department at Moi University, I continued to interact with her at many forums – as External Examiner, at conferences, research partnerships and professional bodies like CHAKITA.

She was not just a scrupulous teacher and mentor, she was a tireless student. She attained her PhD from Moi University in 2007, having spent a year as a Senior Commonwealth Research Fellowship at Lancaster University.

While there, she teamed up with her German colleagues to establish the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studes (BIGSAS), through which Moi University and other Kenyan universities have trained several junior scholars at PhD level.

By the time she rose to the position of Full Professor at Moi University in 2009, she had contributed so much to both scholarship and administration as Head of Department, Dean School of Arts and Social Sciences, and Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Research and Extension.

The Bachelor of Arts in Kiswahili and Bachelor of Arts with Education degree programmes are among her many unique programme-designs in the time she served as Dean. Her mentees from the Department of Kiswahili and African Languages include Prof Nathan Ogechi, acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Student Affairs at Moi University, and Dr Mwanakombo Noordin, director, Mombasa Campus.

A few months ago, when I called her as she was undergoing treatment in India, she told me with such firm conviction: “I will not let cancer dampen my spirit.” She wanted us to discuss CHAKITA affairs and she was giving me updates on several of her writing projects, one of which was a book on her struggle with cancer.

RELENTLESS LEARNER

Prof Shitemi was a relentless learner. Before she fell ill in April 2012, she had enrolled for a Masters degree in International Research Ethics at Moi University’s School of Medicine. She took her studies seriously, linking them to her work as a researcher on the traditional medicine project undertaken by a team from Moi University, Indiana University Purdue, USA and the University of Missouri.

This year she co-authored a groundbreaking article, ‘Is There ‘Therapeutic Misconception’ in HIV/AIDS and Clinical Research in Western Kenya?’ published in the Journal of Aids and Clinical Research.

As I sit looking at her notes on recent CHAKITA activities, the sheer volume of publications that bear her mark strikes me.

Her own writing on Kiswahili poetry, women studies, translation and interpretation stands at over 50 articles, book chapters and books. Additionally, she was editor and reviewer of several journals including Maarifa; Journal of the School of Arts and Social Sciences. In 2003, the Tanzanian Kiswahili Council (BAKITA) recognised her as one of the top scholars in Kiswahili in East Africa.

I know from her friends and family that her life was not all about universities and books. She was a real grass-roots person, deeply immersed in the St Matthew’s Parish of the Eldoret Diocese, where she had served as chairperson of the Mothers’ Union and member of the Provincial Synod of the Anglican Church of Kenya amongst other community roles.

Born on 12th July 1959 in Butere, Naomi Luchera Shitemi was married to Prof Bobby E. L. Wishitemi of Moi University and they were blessed with two daughters – Mercy and Rose – and two sons, Ken and Mike.

A pillar in her community and her family, she is described by her colleague Prof Eunice Kamaara, as “a focused professional, loving mother, reliable friend and indomitable woman of faith. At her feet I have learnt to thank God even in the most difficult situations.”

Her untimely death is a big blow. The number and quality of tributes and mashairi that have flowed in since her death is a testament of our grief and loss. We have lost one of our most distinguished and committed scholars but we also recognize and celebrate the rich legacy that she has selflessly built for African Languages and Culture.

Prof Kimani Njogu is the executive director of Twaweza Communications and the chairman of CHAKITA. [email protected]

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BY PROF KIMANI NJOGU