AZFA, Peter Kuthan

Dear all,

With deep sorrow we have been informed that our friend and Director of Kunzwana Trust Keith Goddard passed away last night, Friday 9 October at St Anne's hospital in Harare, where to he has been admitted two weeks ago with pneumonia.

It seems really impossible to believe that Keith has gone. What a great loss to all of us, foremost to his mother Pauline but also for the gay and lesbian community of Zimbabwe, GALZ, for the promotion of cultural exchange by Kunzwana Trust and for the Tonga.Online project and the Tonga community at large. Keith has always been in the forefront in pushing for tolerance and appreciation of cultural and sexual differences in society but was also actively involved in broader human rights campaigning and in the fight for access to affordable treatment for all people living with HIV/AIDS. And he was a composer and promoter of cultural diversity and inter-cultural exchange for many years.

Just five month ago Keith was with us at the Parade here in Linz / Austria, the Cultural Capital of Europe 2009. We have just completed the video documentary which shows him dancing amongst his Tonga and Austrian friends, not only to the tune of Ngoma Buntibe but to the merger of sounds from different parts of the globe. Together we enjoyed the full fruition of our Parade concept. He was so happy about it that he went to the studios the next day to delve again into the sound recordings with the ambition to create another composition out of it.

I feel very sorry that I could not visit him in Harare hospital on my way out from my project visit in Binga last week. I know that the Tonga.Online project was very close to his heart and he suffered also from the uncertainty cast by recent developments.

Despite all odds in recent years, Keith never gave up. When we heard about his illness this very reason left us hoping still. Now we have to accept the unbelievable: Keith has gone. But he will stay with us in our memories, in our aspirations and in our compassion for his mother, colleagues and friends in Zimbabwe.

We offer our sincerest condolences to all of you and assure you of our continued support and collaboration.

A luta continua.
 

Linz, 10th October 2009

Peter Kuthan                                                                                                                       

Austria-Zimbabwe Friendship Association