Al Imfeld (1935-2017) – writer and journalist, tropical agronomist, religious scholar and storyteller, expert on Africa and mediator of African culture and literature, at home all over the world – and especially in Switzerland and on the African continent.
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“The fact that Al Imfeld would complete four degrees, is at home on all four continents and has a broad knowledge like a Renaissance man was not sung into his cradle. The son of a small farmer from the Napf region is one of the most original bridge builders between cultures.” (SRF Swisstipp 18.1.2010)
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“I’m like a watchdog that smells something. Even if it’s nothing dangerous yet, it has to get up and start barking. Idealistic movements in particular very often and quickly slide into self-righteousness. In contrast, I constantly have my fears. It is then my job to warn: “Be careful now! Don’t play the better ones!” (Interview with Willy Spieler, Neue Wege 3/1995)
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“Dogmatism was alien to Al Imfeld, he distrusted pure doctrines. Instead, he believed in the right mix: of tradition and the new, ecology and industry, Africa and Europe, Christianity and animism. Or city and country, as in his latest book “Agrocity. A city for Africa”. He learned how to mix from African cooks and shamans. He wrote about the emancipatory power of the Maggi cube and a healer who relied on the magical power of Coca-Cola – a drink that came from such a powerful country had to have some of this power in it.” (Bettina Dyttrich, WOZ, 23.2.2017)
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“Al Imfeld created a final monument to his lifelong longing for Africa and his knowledge of the continent and its people in 2015 for the 800-page anthology “Africa in Poetry”, an impressive inventory that provides a colorful and standard-setting picture of African poetry. This will remain – and the memories of a person who unwaveringly stood up for his convictions and did not just assert his commitment, but lived it.” (Urs Bugmann, Kulturmagazin 2017)
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“It’s the same at my weekly Wednesday and Saturday meetings: Laughter goes hand in hand with seriousness, and the news is followed by chatting over wine and food. All of this holds us together, strengthens us and shows that no one is alone. The world is only lonely if we take ourselves out of it and believe that the world will be different when we cry and mourn.” (Al Imfeld: Annual letter 2013/2014)
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“Perhaps all this inhumanity in the world has also made me ill. And yet: I continue to fight! And it helps when I think of my long fight for Africa. Yes, we have made progress since 1960. Goodness is sleeping everywhere. You have to awaken it and encourage people to carry on.” (Al Imfeld: Annual letter 2016/2017)