Mzuzu Museum to resume Ngoni lessons

Mzuzu Museum says plans are underway to revive Ngoni lessons at the institution after what the authorities say increased public demand for such lessons.

Speaking in an interview on Friday, human resource officer for the museum Omah Mwenda said there is an increased demand from the citizenry to revive the lessons.

“We receive requests every day to revive the lessons, but first of all, we want to find the right tutor and plan effectively on how to organise the lessons,” said Mwenda.

He could, however, not commit himself as to when the lessons will resume.

“The lessons are part of the museum’s programmes to safeguard the endangered language and promote cultural identity. The lessons were suspended due to insufficient tutors. But we will resume them any time after proper planning,” he said.

In a separate interview, retired officer-in-charge of the museum Aupson Thole, who was also the tutor, corroborated Mwenda’s claims that there is demand for the lessons, saying people approach him daily for the resumption of the lessons.

He added that over 300 people benefited from the lessons, which were conducted between 1996 and 2004.

“The problem, however, was that people were just interested in the basics of the language. They would drop out after acquiring them,” he said.