Conference campaigns support Africa University
The Rev. Cynthia Wilson performs Sept. 21 at the Richard E. Reeves
Legacy Society Recognition Dinner, hosted by the Africa University
Advisory Development Committee. A UMNS photo by Linda Green.
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By Linda Green*
Sept. 26, 2007 | NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)
Lamar Wilson announces the 2007 Richard E. Reeves Legacy Society honorees.
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Two United Methodist conferences devastated by Hurricane Katrina are
moving beyond their own needs to addressing a continuing denominational
need: support for Africa University in Zimbabwe.
The Louisiana and Mississippi annual (regional) conferences are among
the U.S. conferences enacting campaigns to endow chairs and sponsor
scholarships, build buildings and engage in hands-on ministry at Africa
University. The Africa University Advisory Development Committee learned
about the campaigns during its Sept. 22 meeting.
In 2005, Louisiana pledged to build a dormitory at the university,
and today the conference's African-American churches are leading the
three-year effort. A conference group will travel to the university in
November to learn more about the university's needs.
Since January, the Mississippi Conference has been trying to endow a
scholarship in the university's Faculty of Theology. Through the Black
Church Initiative, Mississippi also is working to build a dormitory.
Aubrey Lucas, president emeritus of University of Southern Mississippi,
and Ella Lucas, his wife, provided a $100,000 matching gift to the
Mississippi Conference and the scholarship in the Faculty of Theology
will be named in their honor.
The Rev. Lloyd Rollins
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"The church sees in Africa University a physical representation of
hope," said the Rev. Lloyd Rollins, director of development for the
Africa University Development Office.
That is particularly true for church members in Louisiana and
Mississippi, he added. "With all they have been through with the turmoil
of Katrina, the No. 1 thing that I have seen as a native Mississippian
is that hope reigns supreme," Rollins said. "It is hope that says that
not only can we continue to overcome what we have experienced but we can
continue to do what we have committed to do in Africa."
More campaigns under way
In August, more than 425 freshmen and 225 graduate students began
classes at Africa University, the second largest intake in the school's
15 years. Total enrollment is 1,300 students, representing 26 African
countries.
The Desert Southwest Annual Conference is planning to endow a chair
in the faculty of health sciences and will launch a capital funds
campaign. The Memphis Conference is working to establish a "Dream Farm"
initiative at the university to provide a self-sustaining model to serve
as lab and training facility.
A staff/faculty house is the focus of a campaign led by Ed and Cathy
Fry of Laguna Beach (Calif.) United Methodist Church, while the youth
from First United Methodist Church, Birmingham, Mich., donated a million
pennies to assist Africa University in responding to HIV/AIDS on the
continent.
Since 2006, an effort has been under way in the Virginia Annual
Conference to provide a district by district scholarship fund at Africa
University. In Missouri, a three-year campaign will endow a chair in the
faculty of education, to be named in honor of C. Jarrett Sr. and Mai
Gray, recognizing their years of service to the church and the
community. The effort will be publicly launched Nov. 19 with a gala at
Saint Paul Theological Seminary in Kansas City.
Western North Carolina has provided $625,000 to endow scholarships
for two students from the Central Congo Area, the first installment of a
$2 million scholarship and building campaign. The Peninsula-Delaware
and North Texas annual conferences are also planning other campaigns.
A symbol of hope
The United Methodist annual conferences see Africa University as a
"true representation" of hope, which is enabling people to live in
peace, with dignity and the basic necessities, and with good governance,
Rollins said. "Hope is the education that will lead anybody to any
dream that they happen to have."
Aubrey Lucas responds to a question as fellow committee members listen.
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Although news reports from Zimbabwe are often grim, Rollins said that
"United Methodist churches and annual conferences are made up of people
who look at reality and who also realize that today's reality is not
tomorrow's reality."
"This is faith," he said. "We have faith that what they hear about Africa University is the truth."
Bishop Ernest Lyght, president of the advisory committee and the
development committee of the Africa University Board of Directors, said
the hope that Africa University provides is education.
A key component of alleviating poverty is education, he said. As
annual conferences and individuals become educated about Africa
University, they get excited about the institution and about the
difference that their dollars can make in enabling people to have a
different attitude and view of the world, he said.
James Salley accepts a check from committee member
Jen Rooney.
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When Africa University was created in 1988 and opened in 1992, not
everyone expected that it would be what it is today, Lyght noted. "It
continues to be a product of faith in action because there are times
when I wonder how the university is able to do what it does," he said.
"It does what it does because it is a faith-based institution and that
God is our leader."
The development committee, established in 1993, works with the Africa
University Development Office in Nashville and agencies of The United
Methodist Church to raise money for the school's capital, endowment and
operational needs.
In addition to the annual conferences, at least 40,000 United
Methodist congregations have faithfully supported Africa University. In
2006, the university netted its largest percentage of apportionment
payments "in what I see is a sign of the increasing understanding within
The United Methodist Church of the value of this ministry and a
celebration of what we are doing," said the Rev. Ken Bedell, a staff
member of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
Congregations also support Africa University through the Usahwira
program, named after a Zimbabwean-Shona word meaning "a relationship
that is closer than family." The program enables churches to make a
four-year commitment to help a student receive an education at the
university. The program has been a steady source of scholarship funds
since 2002, and churches can contribute up to $5,400 a year in support
of a student.
In other business, committee members:
- Learned that the Africa University endowment had reached $45 million.
- Learned that the St. Jude Clinical HIV/AIDS Trials will begin in Mutare, Zimbabwe, in January.
- Participated in "saturation" events on Sept. 23 and visited 12
United Methodist churches in Nashville to talk about Africa University.
- Created an honorary alumni association to enable high school and
college students to give $50 donations in support of the university.
- Heard that the 12 African bishops committed to sending four students
annually from each of their episcopal areas to the university.
*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Linda Green, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Resources
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Oklahoma City & National Memorial
Africa University Fund
Country profile: Zimbabwe |