‘Surrogate’ parents see students graduate from Africa University
‘Surrogate’ parents see students graduate from Africa University
June 3, 2004
A UMNS photo by Andra Stevens
Frank and Betty Anderson provided a scholarship for Congolese student Wellman Kavul to study agriculture at Africa University.
Wellman
Kavul (center) poses for a picture with Frank and Betty Anderson
following Kavul�s graduation from United Methodist-related Africa
University in Mutare, Zimbabwe. The Andersons provided a scholarship for
a Congolese student to study agriculture at the university. A UMNS
photo by Andra Stevens. Photo number 04-196, 6/3/04
By Andra Stevens*
MUTARE, Zimbabwe (UMNS) —Twenty-three-year-old
Wellman Kavul pulled a tattered sheet of paper from his wallet and
opened it on the table. It was the first letter he received from Frank
and Betty Anderson, the couple who sponsored his four years as an
undergraduate at Africa University.
In
the letter, Frank Anderson wrote that he and his first wife, Betty, now
deceased, had served as missionaries in the Democratic Republic of
Congo. They had taught school there, and motivated by a desire “to help
educate a person who would give his life to helping others make a better
life for themselves,” they had provided a scholarship for a Congolese
student to study agriculture at Africa University.
On
the eve of Africa University’s 10th graduation ceremony on May 29,
Kavul met Anderson and his second wife, also named Betty, for the first
time. He took out the letter to show them that he’d underlined that
section and taken the words to heart.
“I’ve been keeping it,” Kavul said. “It is something that they gave me, like a ministry, that I am supposed to do.”
The
Andersons were part of a small, excited and proud group of “surrogate”
parents who traveled from the United States to Zimbabwe to attend Africa
University’s 10th commencement.
As
a longtime supporter seeing the campus for the first time, Frank
Anderson said the facilities and the pace of development impressed him.
“I’m
happy to be here and see for myself what a wonderful initiative this
is,” he said. “I have many friends, United Methodists, in the Sarasota
District in Florida, and when I told them that I was coming to visit,
some of them asked, ‘Why should we pay apportionments for Africa
University?’ I can now tell them that things are moving along very well,
the student population is growing rapidly, and it’s a very good, high
standard of education.”
Fellow
United Methodists Marilyn Hurlbut, Barbara Williams and Joseph Moore,
from Highland Village, Texas, came to celebrate with three young men
from Mozambique.
Hurlbut
and Williams have been making mission trips to Chicuque, Mozambique,
for many years. They met the three — Lourenço Manganhela, João Massochua
and Joaquim Muando — in 1997 and were impressed by the men’s desire to
further their education. Hurlbut and Williams worked with others in
their congregation to provide the three men with full scholarships to
study business at Africa University. The three received bachelor of
business studies degrees at the graduation.
“They’ve
worked hard, and we feel very proud of them,” Hurlbut said. “I’m
feeling like a parent again, just as I did when my own boy graduated.”
For
the Andersons, Hurlbut and others, Africa University is a vital partner
in ministries and service to the continent of Africa.
*Stevens is Africa University’s director of information.
News media contact: Linda Green, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org
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