Retired community liaison officer Joseph Mbuce says financial constraints have hampered his dreams of becoming a renowned author. Mbuce published his only books the Chisubia-English dictionary and the Chisubia Orthography in 2019.
He was born on 7 April 1958 at Nsundwa in the Kabbe South constituency of the Zambezi region. He attended his primary education at Nsundwa Primary School, and junior secondary education at Sanjo Senior Secondary School. He completed his formal education at Caprivi Senior Secondary School.
He has a Diploma in Public Management obtained from the Polytechnic of Namibia, Diploma in HIV and Aids management and counselling obtained from the University of Namibia.
He also has a postgraduate Diploma in HIV and AIDS management obtained from Stellenbosch, a BA degree in English and Political Science obtained from Unisa, and a Master of Philosophy Degree in HIV and Management obtained from Stellenbosch University.
According to Mbuce, he developed an interest in writing in 2003, during an official visit to Tanzania.
“I struggled to fit in during my visits to Tanzania so I bought a Swahili-English dictionary. After reading it, I thought to myself perhaps I can also write something for my language,” said Mbuce. However, it was only in 2018 that Mbuce started working on the Chisubiya-English dictionary, which was published in 2019.
“I first wrote the Chisubiya Orthography which assisted me in writing the Chisubiya-English dictionary. I later introduced my work to the National Library and it was accepted,” stated Mbuce.
However, he says lack of funding has prevented him from further publishing books in the local language. “I have already written the English-Chisubia dictionary and Cifwe-English dictionary, but due to the lack of funding, these books are yet to be published,” said Mbuce.
Mbuce concluded that his dream is to make a meaningful contribution by writing more local language books, however, financial constraints remain a stumbling block.