It is with profound regret that we bid farewell to Geoffrey Chalungumana who died on the 25th June 2021 from a COVID-related illness. We extend our deepest sympathy to all who knew him, but most particularly to his wife, Marjorie, and his sons, Lombe and Musonda.
Geoffrey has been an integral part of the IDC Technologies teaching team for many years and will be truly missed.
When we first met Geoffrey, he had begun working as an independent technical engineering consultant, having already garnered 30 years of experience in industry. His broad technical and engineering skill and knowledge were accumulated from stints in broadcasting; aviation telecommunication; petroleum instrumentation; biomedical engineering; satellite telecommunication; digital signage; auto electrical, and renewable energy in solar and micro-hydroelectric plants.
Geoffrey and his wife, Marjorie, have been based in South Africa for some years, but he was born in Zambia where he read for his Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics and Applied Physics, at the University of Zambia. And Zambia has remained very close to their hearts.
For his postgraduate studies, Geoffrey completed a Certificate in the field of Satellite and Microwave Communication, at the Technical University of Graz, in Austria. And then, a few years later, having returned to Africa, he completed the Management Development Program at the University of Pretoria, in South Africa.
Geoffrey started training for IDC Technologies (sister company to EIT) ten years ago. His significant breadth of expertise meant that of our 120 professional development courses (across the engineering disciplines) he had the capacity to present half. He drew on his vast knowledge and experience to train many hundreds of working technicians and engineers across Southern Africa, Mauritius, and Nigeria.
He consistently delivered outstanding results and received glowing feedback from his course attendees. Geoffrey was an accomplished communicator and a reliable and personable teacher. Not only did he excel at passing knowledge on, but he also did so with passion and humor, such that he engaged every individual as though each was the only one in his class.
It was clear that Geoffrey was a talented, driven, and motivated engineer, but he was much more than this; he was a loving husband and father. It was for the benefit of his family that he directed so much enthusiasm and energy into his teaching.
And despite having a busy career and being a dedicated family man, Geoffrey ensured he gave back to his community: as part of a church program he conducted empowerment counseling to jobless adults living rough. It is not only his engineering skill and knowledge but also his humanity, humility, and contagious enthusiasm, which makes our friend and colleague, Geoffrey Chalungumana, impossible to replace. He will be sorely missed.