Cry of the Fish Eagle

Citation

Harrison, K.C. (1999), "Cry of the Fish Eagle", Library Review, Vol. 48 No. 2, pp. 95-111. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.1999.48.2.95.8

Wilfred Plumbe is an English librarian with a remarkable record. Without having had the benefit of a university education himself, he became university librarian of no fewer than six universities in Commonwealth countries in Asia, Africa and South America. This book has the rather cumbrous sub‐title of “experiences in Malawi from initiation to deportation, with an interlude in Morocco”, and let it be said at once that it is an account worthy of a better publisher. Misprints abound: at first one can overlook them, but towards the end they become intolerable. The illustrations are rather muddy and the one map of Malawi is woefully inadequate.

But the reader who can forget these annoyances will find a vivid account of a man and his wife who spent nearly seven years in Malawi working hard for a young university, only to be deported in December 1972 with no reasons given. However, Malawi’s loss was Guyana’s gain, for Plumbe, who had already been an academic librarian in the Sudan and Nigeria, and university librarian of Fiji and of Malaysia (when the University was in Singapore), went on to serve in Guyana and Papua New Guinea.

Plumbe has already recounted some of his lifetime experiences in such books as Tropical Librarianship (Scarecrow Press), and The Golden Pagoda Tree (Grey Seal Books), but if this book on Malawi is anything to go by, he should attempt a full autobiography and have it issued by a reputable publisher with worldwide agencies. It is true, perhaps, to say that to appreciate Cry of the Fish Eagle fully, one should have been to Malawi and know something of the country. However, Plumbe writes so vividly and compellingly that even those who do not know the country cannot fail to enjoy the book. He went to Malawi in 1965 to become the librarian of a university which had only been founded less than a year earlier. Five institutions had to be merged to form the University of Malawi, these being Chancellor College, Chichiri; the Malawi Polytechnic in Blantyre; Soche Hill College; the Bunda College of Agriculture; and the Institute for Public Administration, Mpemba. None of these institutions were more than three years old themselves, so it was virgin territory for Plumbe to work on. There were no library buildings, no trained staff, and not many books, so a real challenge was posed.

The main part of the book, some of which is in diary form, tells of the progress that the author made in creating the university library, planning library buildings, appointing and training staff, appealing for funds from the British Council and various trusts and foundations, educating committee members on library needs, and organising all the professional work common to all librarians. But it must not be thought that this is a book of interest to librarians only. Far from it. Plumbe has some fascinating tales to tell about life in Malawi, and he has an unerring pen for describing the people, the scenery, the wild life, and the botany of the country. He and his wife are revealed as extremely practical people, able to cope with storms, floods, broken‐down vehicles, failures of electricity and other domestic disasters. What a story this expatriate librarian has to tell!Hippos in the back garden, crocodiles on the lake shore, leopards, lion, elephants and other wild animals in the vicinity. They set up a cottage on Lake Malawi against daunting odds, drove up and down the country in all weathers, and were generous to a fault in their dealings with the Malawians.

He was responsible for training and arranging the further library education of people like Rodrick Mbomba, Foster Howse and others known to me. Commuting between Blantyre, Zomba, Bunda and Lilongwe to oversee the growth of the college collections into a recognisable university library, Plumbe survived more than six years in Malawi before, as he says: “the volcano finally erupted on 2 December 1972.” He and his wife were given three days to get out of the country. With the help of many friends they did so. He was then 57 and many a librarian might have called it a day. But Wilfred Plumbe did not. He went on serving libraries in the third world in Guyana and Papua New Guinea. One of these days we may hear about his experiences in these countries: Readers of this book will surely hope so.