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Obadiah Moyo
DR Lawton Hikwa was a man who subscribed to the creation of a just society where libraries and information services are made available to all people, including rural communities, as a matter of right and not charity.

In 1990, at the founding of the Rural Libraries and Resources Development Programme (RLRDP), Lawton joined the ranks of RLRDP and offered free of charge, training courses in Basic Skills of Librarianship, to Rural Teacher and Community Librarians.

He produced simplified training handbooks that were used in the training sessions. Lawton became a regular visitor to Nkayi (Matabeleland North), Nyanga (Manicaland) and a few other districts in various provinces where he took his trainings.

This led to the establishment of a number of viable library projects within mainly primary schools, a few at secondary schools and some at community libraries initiated by Nkayi Rural District Council under the leadership of Phillip Ndlovu and Nyanga Rural District Council.

The work of the RLRDP quickly spread and in 1992 we opened our first administrative offices in Bulawayo. In 1994 we opened two field offices, one in Nkayi and the other in Nyanga.

In 1995, Dr Hikwa joined the RLRDP Secretariat as Head of Training and Publications, where he developed an impressive rural libraries training programme that became an envy of other African countries.

He travelled the breath and length of Zimbabwe offering training courses to communities that had started library projects, regardless of size and volume of books found in their shelves.

He took a keen interest in the revision of our Rural Libraries Manual that was developed in 1992 by librarians Bonani Hadebe and Elisha Chiware. A new revised version of the manual done in 1999 has an additional chapter by Dr Hikwa.

A number of countries, including Ghana, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, among others, sent their librarians on attachment to RLRDP and received mentorship from Dr Hikwa.

He represented RLRDP at conferences and presented papers at various library conferences in South Africa, Ghana, UK, and Germany just to mention a few.

Being in charge of book purchases, Lawton promoted the buying of locally produced books with funding from NORAD, DANIDA and Book Aid International. He was able to provided relevant and appropriate books to rural school/community libraries.

In the year 2000, he produced a Training Package, “Rural Library and Information Services Management,” a self-help training package for rural librarians and their management committees.

When he left RLRDP in year 2000 to join the National University of Science and Technology on a full time basis, Dr Hikwa had trained about 3,000 Teacher Librarians, Community Librarians and Library Management Committee (LMCs) members in the provinces of Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, Midlands, Mashonaland West and Manicaland.

Dr Hikwa later joined the RLRDP board as its secretary, a position he held up to his untimely death.

The RLRDP chairman, Timothy Chiganga, who is an Education Officer with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in Nyanga and also board chairman of the Nyanga District Library, had this to say on the passing of Hikwa:

“We have lost a pillar of rural libraries, who as we re-structure our operations, had a big role to play, especially in the area of integrating Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) within our rural libraries. Indeed, he will be missed by all his friends and colleagues scattered all over the country.”

In my soon-to-be-published handbook on the impact of rural libraries, Dr Hikwa gives an introduction to the handbook. I present to you below some of his views captured from the introduction:

“The handbook situates the challenge of the information gap between urban and rural communities and how humble efforts such as the provision of library and information services can assist in minimising and/or closing that gap.

“Access to information and knowledge as a basic human right is emphasised. Academics and library and information professionals are challenged to take cognisance of the contribution of library and information services to satisfactory livelihood and also to advocate for the support of such services as a public good.”

Dr Hikwa was by all means one of the sharpest academics in the field of libraries and information services that this country has ever produced.

Above all, he was an expert in the field of rural libraries and community information services, a skill he gained through his work and association with RLRDP and rural communities.

A critical thinker and role model to many, we will forever remain grateful to his contribution in advancing the cause of rural libraries and information services.

It is my wish to see Dr Hikwa honoured by having a rural library named after him. It is also my wish that I, or any representative of RLRDP, will in future, be able to present books and computers to this library.

May His Dear Soul Rest in Eternal Peace. Good-bye colleague, brother and friend!

• About the writer: Obadiah Moyo is the secretary-general, Rural Libraries And Resources Development Programme (RLRDP).