wfn.org | Africa University ends the year

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
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Note 507 by UMNS on Dec. 15, 1997 at 16:55 Eastern (6331 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Green				 695(10-31-71B){507}
	    Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470	Dec. 15, 1997

NOTE: Photos forthcoming

Africa University marks milestones
as year draws to close

by Linda Green*

	OLD MUTARE, Zimbabwe (UMNS) -- Dedication, consecration and graduation were
the order of the day Dec. 14 as Africa University ended the year with new
milestones and farewells.
	Crowds of people worked their way across the 1,545-acre campus to witness the
dedication of a dormitory, consecrate a chapel and participate in the
graduation of 34 students. 
	Africa University, which opened in 1992, is the first fully accredited
private institution of higher learning in Zimbabwe. It is also the only United
Methodist-related, degree-granting university on the continent.
     A small crowd of people attended the early morning dedication of the
Bishop Edwin C. Boulton Dormitory, the school’s first three-story facility.
	The building, which houses 108 students, was named in recognition of the
retired bishop and his support of Africa University as leader of the Ohio East
Annual (regional) Conference.
     He and the conference accepted a challenge to raise $500,000 from the
Peter and Eleanore Kleist Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio. The foundation gave
$500,000 and the conference agreed to double that amount. It exceeded its goal
by contributing $1.7 million –- more than three times the challenge. 
	Following the dedication, the university consecrated the Kwang Lim Chapel,
built by the Kwang Lim Methodist Church of Seoul Korea. Still under
construction, the $1 million chapel will be the centerpiece of the school’s
campus, said outgoing Africa University President John W.Z. Kurewa.
	Based on the traditional African hut, called a rondavel, "the chapel will
enhance the whole of campus life," he said,  and is "intended to create a
spirit of community and bring people together."
	The chapel’s significance, Kurewa said, is that it faces the historic church
located across the valley at the Old Mutare Mission.
	"The two buildings face each other and are partners with each other in
whatever goes on at both campuses."
	It is also significant, he said, because the chapel symbolizes the importance
of Christian life at Africa University.
	The chapel will unite and blend religious activity at the school, which is a
diverse community of students from 18 countries and various denominations,
said Denford Mukundu, a junior agriculture major.
	"The chapel is an added value to the campus in that it stands as a symbol of
the presence of God," he said.
     As a bonus, a Wesley Foundation in the chapel’s will be named in honor of
Dick and Joyce Reeves of the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference. Dick
Reeves is chairman of the Africa University building and grounds committee and
a member of the school’s board of directors.
	Korean Bishop Sundo Kim and seven members of the Korean Women’s Society were
among the witnesses at the consecration. Kim’s 89,000-member church had
donated the money to build a chapel.
	"One of my great privileges has been to help Africa University in the call of
life," Kim said. Although Korea and Africa are far apart in distance, he said,
"we are still close enough to help each other."
	Amid much fanfare, the day was capped off with a  graduation ceremony for 34
students who received bachelor degrees from the faculties of theology and
agriculture and natural resources. Sixteen members of the first class of the
university’s master of business and administration program also received
degrees.
     Honorary degrees were conferred upon Kim and retired Bishop Ralph E.
Dodge, a former missionary to Zimbabwe and the only American missionary ever
elected bishop to serve in Angola, Mozambique and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).
	In his keynote address, the Rev. Roger Ireson, top executive of the United
Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, reminded the graduates that
their lives are not theirs alone, but are molded by a deep purpose. That
purpose is rooted in a source, he said.
	"The center of life is not money. The center of life is not fame . . . not
power," he said. "It is God, the one who can bring meaning to life and give
purpose to your day."
	The world can be a lonely and fragmented place, Ireson noted. Education is
about becoming a branch in the world – a branch that is connected to more than
itself and that transmits the richness of life to other people.
     Performing his last official duty as Africa University’s first president,
Kurewa -- who is retiring Dec. 31 -- addressed the graduates and about 1,000
people at the ceremony.
	The university has been transformed from a fledgling entity into a center of
excellence, Kurewa said. It has remained true to its mission of offering
innovative responses to critical training needs and skill gaps in African
countries.
With more than 600 students, the school offers four schools of study:
theology, business and administration, agriculture and natural resources and
education.
     A fifth discipline, humanities and social sciences, will be launched next
August. The school is collaborating with American University in Washington to
develop a program of international studies. Africa University also offers a
post-graduate program in business administration.
	The existence of Africa University symbolizes "a mountain of ignorance that
has been ordered and rebuked by the United Methodist Church to move, and is
indeed, in the process of moving away," Kurewa said.
     The diversity of staff, students and faculty has provided the university
an opportunity to foster partnerships for Africa’s development, he said.
     "What is happening at Africa University today," he said, "could be a
model for several institutions of higher learning to come, an approach to
education that will enable Africa to achieve some of her unity objectives."
	Kurewa likened his time of leadership at the university to Moses’ wilderness
years, in which the biblical leader faced numerous obstacles.
	"It is time to look adversity right in the eye," he said. "It is time for
Africa University to find its place and unique role among other institutions
of higher learning on the continent."
# # # 
	*Green is News Director of the Nashville, Tenn. office of United Methodist
News Service.
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