wfn.org | Zimbabwe's political climate thwarts university fund raising

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Sept. 21, 2001 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn. 10-21-31-71B{421)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- Political unrest in Zimbabwe and concerns about
the safety of Africa University staff and infrastructure are impeding fund
raising for the school.

"The church's investment is one of the greatest challenges we face this year
in raising friends and funds for the university," said James Salley, the
university's associate vice chancellor for development.  He gave his
assessment at the Sept. 8 meeting of the Africa University Development
Committee.

Africa University, located at Old Mutare, is the only United
Methodist-related, degree-granting university on the continent and is the
first fully accredited private institution in Zimbabwe.

The 50-member 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.

A number of major donors are delaying their gifts to the university until
Zimbabwe's political climate in the country improves, Salley said.  He
expressed appreciation for United Methodist churches that were not sharing
that "wait and see" attitude.

 The 2000 General Conference did not increase apportionment dollars for the
2001-2004 quadrennium to help the university meet its bottom line needs,
noted Sandra Kelly Lackore, top executive of the denomination's General
Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA).
Contributions to last year's apportioned Africa University Fund were
$200,000 short of the $2.5 million goal, she said. 
 
"I want to see Africa University paid 100 percent ...," Lackore said.
"Let's get that money. We'll do it. I need everyone's help."

She encouraged the committee members to pay particular attention to the
church's 9-state Southeastern Jurisdiction because it provides 50 percent of
the funding in the church.

Much of the turmoil in Zimbabwe is occurring in the capital city of Harare
and surrounding areas. Africa University, three hours away, has been safe,
but donors and United Methodists across the United States are concerned
about conditions there.

"Africa University is holy ground," Salley said. "We have not had any
invasions on our farms."  

The country has been engaged in a land and political crisis for the past
four years. In 1997, President Robert Mugabe said his government planned to
seize approximately 4 million hectares of land from white farmers and
redistribute it to blacks. More than 1,500 large commercial farms were
earmarked for seizure. 

The country's currency collapsed, and Mugabe told the farmers that they
should look to Britain, Zimbabwe's former colonial master, for compensation.
Groups of renegade blacks took over the lands of commercial white farmers,
sometimes with violent and fatal results.  The country, formerly known as
Rhodesia, received independence in 1980.

Land disputes can be traced to the 1950s, when the white colonial government
allocated land on the basis of race. Blacks were forcibly removed from
fertile to arid areas, and whites received the most productive land.   

Mugabe has allowed veterans of the war for the country's independence to
occupy hundreds of white farms since February 2000 and has not adhered to
court orders to evict them. Some farmers were killed. 

In addition to the land problems, the country's economic environment is
characterized by an inflation rate of 70 percent, a 400 percent increase in
utility costs, a 400 percent increase in postage and a persistent fuel
shortage. 

The country has a critical shortage of foreign currency, which depresses
general commodity prices. The country also is experiencing nearly 80 percent
unemployment as well as a pandemic of HIV/AIDS and other social
difficulties.

On Sept. 7, the BBC reported that Zimbabwe committed itself to a
Commonwealth-brokered deal to end the violent occupation of white-owned
farms by restoring the rule of law. The deal, signed in Nigeria, came after
African nations added their voices to international concern about the
situation in Zimbabwe. 

Britain and other commonwealth countries agreed to provide compensation for
any land transferred from white farmers to poor blacks. The Commercial
Farmers Union, which includes many of the large-farm owners, has expressed
hope that the land agreement will restore peace and justice to the country.

The Zimbabwean government has committed to free and fair elections next
year. U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has sent a proposed "Zimbabwe Economic
Recovery Act" to the Senate, which would provide financial assistance to
help Zimbabwe if the elections are free and fair.  

"Hopefully the climate will now change and the unrest will cease," Salley
said. People at Africa University are "eternal optimists," he said. 

As the development committee was meeting, the university's president,
Rukudzo Murapa, was leading a workshop on peace and reconciliation,
sponsored by the United Nations and the university's Institute of Peace,
Leadership and Governance. Participants included representatives of the
Commercial Farmers Union, government officials, community and war veterans.

"We are trying to bring people to the table," Salley said. "It is a
wonderful time and it is a challenging time."

The development committee eagerly awaits the 2002 launch of the sixth
undergraduate department at the university-- a faculty of health sciences.
The new academic discipline will include programs of nursing, environmental
and public health and health sciences.  Enrollment in the program will begin
in 2003. 

USAID, through its American Schools and Hospitals Abroad program, is
continuing its capital investment in Africa University by providing a $1
million grant to the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry
to fund the faculty of health sciences. USAID also provided funding for the
university's library and agricultural building.

Critical to the new faculty of health science will be links and
collaboration between the university and Methodist Healthcare and St. Jude
Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Three people from the health care
organization made a fact-finding trip to the university early this year to
see what role they could play in bringing Zimbabwe's health education and
health sciences into alignment. 

Methodist Healthcare is seeking to determine how it might help Africa
University improve the lives of those affected by poverty, a declining
social system and the country's AIDS epidemic.  Earlier in the year, the
system arranged for an Africa University nurse to spend two months at St.
Jude focusing on AIDS.  The university has created a task force to design a
policy and implement strategies to combat AIDS within the school and the
surrounding area.

The Rev. Elvernice "Sonny" Davis, chaplain at Methodist Healthcare, told the
development committee that his team is recommending that the two Memphis
institutions and Africa University develop a distance learning program on
the campus and, where feasible, assist the university in its development of
a school of nursing or applied health sciences.  The team also is
recommending support for improving the pediatric services at Old Mutare
Hospital, which could be the precursor to a children's hospital at Old
Mutare mission.  

"Africa University is uniquely positioned to respond through education to
the health needs of sub-Saharan Africa," said Davis, who also serves as
Methodist Healthcare's senior vice president of health and welfare
ministries.

While strategies are being developed, he said, "we are positioning ourselves
to do what health care institutions do best. God is blessing us to be a
blessing to others."

Applauding the United Methodist Church for its involvement in Zimbabwe and
other parts of the African continent, Davis said Methodist Healthcare, with
its longtime partnerships with the United Methodist boards of Global
Ministries and Higher Education and Ministry, could help resolve some health
care problems.  The task can be accomplished through cooperation with other
health care institutions and corporations and resources from the university,
he said.  

Salley praised Davis for capturing the committee's vision of a faculty of
health sciences at the university that can provide humanitarian aid to the
region and beyond.
 
In other actions, the committee learned of:
7	The creation of the Richard E. "Dick" Reeves Legacy Society to
recognize, honor and thank those who, like the late United Methodist layman,
reach beyond their own lives to build bridges of dreams for future
generations at Africa University.
7	A developing partnership between Habitat for Humanity International
and Africa University and other collaborative agreements.
7	United Methodist Communications sending staff member Celinda J.
Hughes to serve as the interim director of information at the university.
7	The November dedication services for two three-story dormitories
built by the South Indiana Annual Conference.
7	The Northeast Jurisdiction's challenge to each of its 13 annual
conferences to provide a building or endow a scholarship or faculty chair.

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