A CONVERSATION WITH DR IRMA ALLEN
llIIIIIIIIIIIIIllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
D RIrma Allen is a world-renowned Environmental Specialist whose career has spanned many decades, mostly in Africa, though her work and influence extended across the world. Even in her ninth decade of life, her views as a consultant are still sought by various institutions. A terrible tragedy in the later part of her life caused her to put a story to text, sharing it with family, friends and anyone who wants to share the memories of a very full life.
Q. Dr Allen, what caused you, at a time when you had earned a relaxed retirement, to decide to proceed with this memoir?
A. It was an accident that happened and had a traumatic effect on me and my family. It was the death of my husband, Dale, when he slipped and fell into the nearby waterfall on the Malagwane Hill, one May evening in 2020. Dale’s love and support was such a positive impact on my life and work. I felt the need to write the memoir to capture his beliefs and style of living, while writing about my life and our love for each other before it was too late. I also wanted to talk about how I became a Baha’I, as well as drawing attention to the need for us all to protect our planet.
Q. You made Swaziland, now Eswatini your home many years ago. How did that happen?
A. When Dale was my boyfriend in the United States back in the late 1950s, he pursued as romantic an approach to securing my hand in marriage as you could wish for, except for one thing – he struck a deal
Q. Chris Morgan, you have also spent many years in Eswatini. What was your reaction to the request by Irma Allen to share production of her life story?
A. I was delighted and, of course, honoured that this eminent environmentalist had chosen me to help write her life story. It’s always going to be fascinating to put together, in a reader-friendly manner, the story of a young Mexican girl who simply loved nature and went on to become Dr Irma Allen, who would give so much to the cause of saving the environment.
Q. Weren’t you technical adviser in the Office of the Prime Minister? What got you writing his own autobiography?
A. He – that’s the late Dr Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini – wanted it done but was far too busy in his PM duties to have time to write it himself. He had an incredible memory, which helped
Dr Irma Allen.
that insisted on my trying out life in Swaziland. This was in 1957 and I didn’t even know where the country was at that time. His family, devout Baha’i followers, had already come to Swaziland a few years earlier to establish the faith here. Dale had lived here too and loved the country. So I agreed to try it out, and have never regretted doing so. We have had a wonderful life together here.
Q. But you haven’t been in Swaziland during your entire married life, have you?
A. No. We arrived in Swaziland in 1960 and had a wonderful nine years here. During that time Dale enabled and trained many pineapple farmers in the Malkerns area, and had further developed the cannery in Malkerns. enormously, and especially in the personal journey part of the first volume. The remainder of that volume and much of the second volume were at the professional level, drawn from reports and speeches over the years and thus especially valuable to the student examining the achievements and challenges over the Barnabas administrations; it provided an economic and social history of those times.
Q. How did you find working on Dr Allen’s autobiography?
A. Fascinating and rewarding. Her life has been full of achievement and even at the ‘tender’ age of eighty two, that lady is still firing on all six cylinders. To the extent that she was recently invited to join a government delegation to an environment conference in Tanzania. That’s the respect she still commands. And we became great friends during the assignment.
Q. You are now retired? And still
But a deeply disappointing incident in 1969 caused us to decide to pack up and leave with only a couple of suitcases, an elderly VW Beetle and two babies. We headed for Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and later to Kenya. But we had stayed in very close touch with family that had remained in Swaziland and, following two fulfilling episodes, we came back to Swaziland in 1980.
Q. And your link with Swazi Wire came from that?
A. Yes, immediately after we returned here, my husband Dale set out to build up his own company to provide for the family. After considering a number of option, we established Swazi Wire which met Dale’s passion for business and enabled me to take on a number of overseas assignments in Environmental Science and related activities.
Q. We see that your work has taken you to many countries, especially in Africa and Latin America. What has been the focus of your work?
A. The focus of my work has been on improving the quality of life and promoting sustainable development. This focus has enabled me to work in both brown and green environmental areas; from solid waste removal and management, to the promotion of more sustainable income-generating livelihoods, and more effective urban management practices. Yes, this has given me a rich variety of experiences with target audiences of many levels and ages. Not to mention a great deal of travel and marvellous episodes in various countries. I greatly enjoyed working as a technical adviser to the municipalities, here in Eswatini, for a World Bank report. busy?
A. Yes, I spend quite a lot of time writing – fiction and non-fiction, the latter including biographies and auto-biographic ‘assists’. I have five novels on Amazon, four in my own name and one under a pseudonym to avoid potential misunderstandings. I also have a weekly article in the Times newspaper. The pleasure from reaching out to people through the written word almost certainly came from the speeches that I wrote for the PM as part of my job. ‘Infotainment’ is the name of the game for me, wherever possible. Writing has a further appeal - no one can interrupt you. Or disagree with you; until later, of course.
A small number of copies of the autobiography of Dr Irma Allen – Many Lives in One – will be available at Websters, Mbabane from next week, or through icm18245@gmail.com.
Q. Any highlights?
A. Do you include being caught in the middle of a revolution? Of course, and that was certainly interesting. But a really special highlight of my professional life was working with the nomadic Rendille people of northern Kenya. It was so rewarding to work with people who lived in such a harsh desert environment, but who were so willing to share what they had with one another, and with others; and who had such a zest for life itself.
Q. We see that you have partnered with Chris Morgan on this assignment. How did that happen?
A. Our paths crossed when he was writing the autobiography of Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini, both volumes of which were ultimately published, as well as during his biography of another prominent member of Swazi society which never got to print. Chris and I got on so well, and clearly shared the same approach to writing a life story.
Q. Was it enjoyable recapturing the experiences, including the challenges of life?
A. Oh, absolutely. When you talk about an incident or reflect casually on an event or time of one’s life, I think you tend to go somewhat superficially. You may not have time to do more. But when you’re writing about it, the capturing on paper involves a significantly deeper focus of thought. The experience is truly rewarding. It can also be a bit scary when, for instance, one remembers personal experiences such as being faced with a group of freedom fighters in Rhodesia, and later having a rather unusual encounter with a male lion in Kenya. Scary? Terrifying; but only in retrospect. You’ll read about it.