A cultural colossus, a man of many abilities, rituals, words, symbols and incarnations, who treasured Malawi to the core and always wanted the finest for the country – Father Claude Boucher breathed his last on August 26, 2024, at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe after a long illness. Born in 1941, Boucher just celebrated his 83rd birthday on August 2. Boucher was such a giant of a missionary, a man of stories and histories, who was born in Canada but left his original home to journey to Malawi in 1967 where he would later establish Kungoni Centre of Culture and Art at Mua in Dedza in 1976.
Since founding Kungoni, Boucher, who was laid to rest on Thursday, never looked back, He devoted his life to researching, promoting and preserving the country’s culture and through his feats, he linked religion with culture showing the world that the two are inseparable. Boucher has left a legacy that will live on at Kungoni, a home that gave him contentment. His eloquence in Chichewa language was exclusive no wonder he won admiration from many people that visited Kungoni during educational trips or annual open day outings.
“Many people feel culture is useless and the country has completely neglected it. This is why today, we have people, who are know-it-all (nzeru zayekha) , people and leaders, who are corrupt and have no love for Malawi. We need to go back to our culture and bring back our umunthu,” he told The Daily Times in 2013.
Boucher, as a man of many faces, also used hi.