Page 52 - Number 2 2021 Volume 74

40 The Society of Malaŵi Journal

opinions and judgement, frequently sought, were invariably incisive, providing a
touchstone guiding thought and action for those around her. In this perplexing
time of covid, we have often asked ourselves “What would Ankie have said?”
Great old age brought infirmities and the attendant indignities.
Physically, she became increasingly frail, but her intellect never dimmed; for this
she was daily grateful, and it was only the loss of her ability to read that finally
eroded her will to live.
Ankie was a complicated, private and multifaceted person: melding
innate self-denial with role of devoted spouse. She was an unquestioningly
supportive mother, (who would literally and metaphorically turn a blind eye to
any criticism of her sons). She nurtured an astute intelligence unshakable in the
face of public opinion, and above all an unwavering professional commitment to
care for the children of Malawi.

Editorial Musings.

Any Malawiana bibliophile, and many researchers, may well have been
struck by the dearth of books written by women as biographies, or about their
daily lives and times, in British Central Africa and Nyasaland.
This shortfall can be explained, in part, by the very small numbers of
women of a literary inclination present in the country at that period; and, in
publisher’s eyes at least, tales of conquest, daring-do and missionary enterprise
written by men of action (or the cloth), were viewed as the more commercial
option of the two. Without delving too deeply into the available titles, three that
immediately come to mind are:

Jane F. Moir. A Lady’s Letters from Central Africa. A Journey from Mandala,
Shire Highlands in 1890. First published Glasgow, Scotland 1891. Reprinted
Central Africana, Blantyre, 1991. Illus. 67pp. ISBN 99908–14–06- 6.

Jessie Monteath Currie. The Hill of Goodbye. The Story of a Solitary white
Woman’s Life in Central Africa. 249pp. London. George Routledge & Sons Ltd.
1920. [The Hill in the title is Mulanje or Mlanje. Ed.]

Hellen Caddick. A White Woman in Central Africa. Illus. 242pp. London. T.
Fisher Unwin. 1900. [A fearless, solitary traveller of the ‘old school’. Ed.]

The stories told in the above volumes will likely intrigue, inform and infuriate in
equal measure for disparate reasons. Explore, learn – and even perhaps enjoy!
D.S-M.