wfn.org | Africa University graduates challenged to be servant-leaders

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

May 29, 1998	Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
{329}

NOTE:  A photograph is available with this story. This story is
accompanied by a sidebar, UMNS #330.

By Andra Stevens*

MUTARE, Zimbabwe (UMNS)--The hammers and drills were still for a few
hours on May 21 as family members and friends joined the Africa
University community for the 1998 graduation exercises, the fourth
commencement ceremony for the United Methodist-related school in
sub-Saharan Africa. 

Eleven students from eight African countries received degrees. Nine of
the graduates were from the Faculty of Management and Administration and
received the master of business administration degree (MBA). Two
students from the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources received
bachelor of science degrees.
 
Africa University, which opened in 1992, is the first fully accredited
private institution of higher learning  in Zimbabwe. It is the only
United Methodist-related institution on the continent.

Simba Makoni, the commencement speaker,  challenged the graduating class
to look to a simpler, more effective model of leadership for Africa.  

"African societies and nations are facing a leadership crisis," he said,
"which arises from the abandonment, by those in high positions, of the
basic mission of leadership, which is to serve, in preference to
themselves being served."
   
Makoni, a consultant and former secretary general of the Southern
African Development Community, said this style of leadership demands
"rote obedience and subservience" from the people; allows leaders to
take for themselves the principal function of doing things for the
people; and breeds widespread corruption.
     
His prescription for better leadership includes letting people do things
for themselves.

"Those who currently lead or who aspire to leadership must get out of
people's way and remove impediments to their self-actualization," he
said.

The graduates hold senior positions in business, industry, the public
sector and churches in Africa, and Makoni asked them to see the central
mission of African leadership as creating conditions for equality,
freedom, justice and security for all the people they lead.
     
Napoleon Adamu, an MBA candidate sent to Africa University by the United
Methodist Church in Nigeria, responded on behalf of the graduating class
with words of appreciation and commitment.  The graduates, he said,
would be tireless ambassadors for Africa University in their countries.
   
In his first public address since taking over leadership of the
institution, Africa University President Rukudzo Murapa described the
graduates as skilled, practical, hard working, creative people who are
willing to serve and to lead wherever they may find themselves.  

"Our hope for them," he said, "is that they will find the space in which
to reach out and grab hold ... that they will sink roots and participate
in building a more peaceful and abundant life for the people of this
continent."
     
Citing John 15:1-2, Murapa likened Africa University to a vine
constantly being pruned so that it will bear more fruit. 

The awarding of degrees of senior managers and administrators who had
completed the two-year MBA program was a moment of personal satisfaction
for Murapa.  He chaired the international planning committee that set up
and negotiated support for the MBA program in 1994.  "Its fruit, the
graduates," he said, go out to "nourish, revitalize and sustain Africa."

However, the university does not plan to rely on the efforts of its
graduates alone. 

Murapa outlined an outreach and academic development plan that will make
Africa University and its programs more accessible to those who need
training throughout the continent. Under his leadership, the school will
work to develop associate relationships with national universities and
other institutions in various African countries, and have those offer
its courses and projects.
     
In addition, areas that need urgent help will be the focus of efforts to
start non-degree programs. The collaboration between Africa University,
the United Methodist Committee on Relief and the ecumenical organization
Action by Churches Together to offer an emergency management training
program for Africa is a key example of the school's determination to be
relevant and to have an impact.
     
"Africa University must and will emerge as a center of excellence in the
community of academic institutions on this continent and, indeed, around
the globe," Murapa said.
     
The graduation ceremony was the first official function to be held in
the Kwang Lim Chapel since its consecration last December.  The chapel,
a gift from the Kwang Lim Church in Seoul, South Korea, will house a
Wesley Fellowship Center for students on its ground level. The Wesley
center is named in honor of Richard and Joyce Reeves of  Decatur, Ill.
Dick Reeves is chairman of the Africa University building and grounds
committee and a member of the school's board of directors.

The eight-sided structure has a sanctuary on the upper level with space
for about 500 people.  The building also houses the office of the
university's chaplain.
    
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*Stevens is Africa University's director of information.

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