wfn.org | 2000 graduating class largest in Africa University history

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July 5, 2000 News media contact: Linda Green·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-71BP{315}

NOTE:  A photo is available for use with this story.

By Andra Stevens*

MUTARE, Zimbabwe (UMNS) -- Africa University graduated its largest group of
students July 1, pushing the total of degree holders to nearly 500.

Receiving bachelor's and master's degrees during the school's sixth
graduation ceremony were 265 young people from nine African countries. This
year's graduates outnumber the university's alumni of 220. Most of the
graduates came from the faculty (college) of education. Other faculties
represented included agriculture and natural resources, management and
administration, and theology. Thirteen candidates in the faculty of
management and administration received master of business administration
degrees.

"I got in, got on and now I'm to getting out," said Sapalo Bartolomeu Dias,
an Angolan theology student. He spent five years at Africa University -- the
first learning English -- and four earning his divinity degree. Dias wants
to return to Angola to serve the United Methodist Church in its work on
peace and reconciliation issues.
	
"I want one day to be a mediator ... to challenge those who feel that peace
can only be achieved through war and violence and to tell them no, it can
also be achieved through dialogue, mutual understanding, fellowship, oneness
in spite of differences and the application of the Gospel in day-to-day
life," he said.
	
A sense of community is what Dias' fellow graduate, Munyaradzi Mapota,
described as the most significant and valuable experience of his time at
Africa University. The Zimbabwe native was awarded a bachelor of science
degree in agriculture and natural resources and named best overall student
in the graduating class. He received a trophy, an inscribed shield and a
cash award of $4,000.
	
"If I ever step in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo or Mozambique, I
won't be a stranger because I've lived with and interacted with people from
those countries on a daily basis over the past four years," Mapota said.
"It's a novel experience for any Zimbabwean and one I feel privileged to
have had. I thank Africa University for that."

Graduates came from Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Tanzania,
Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, nine of the 18 African countries represented on
campus. 

The university's vice chancellor, Rukudzo Murapa, praised each graduate as a
source of the ideas, energy and leadership that will transform Africa.

"Africa University's graduates, regardless of their disciplines, have
received a quality education," Murapa said. "They know their theory and
they've had significant exposure to the practical realities of their
fields." 
  
He said the university's emphasis on Christian ethics, sound moral values
and community service produces produce "well-rounded, socially aware and
active professionals."

In his keynote address, Murapa highlighted issues of peace, leadership and
governance. "Both peace and leadership have serious consequences for the
survival and development of African civilizations," he said. 

Plans for the establishment of an Institute of Peace, Leadership and
Governance in Africa, approved by the university's board of directors in
March, were a response to the need for serious education, training and
research in these troubled areas, Murapa noted.

Speaking at the graduation ceremonies, Lydia Makhubu of the University of
Swaziland echoed the need for responsible governance. 

"Institutions of higher learning are being challenged more than ever before
to speak out in support of truth and justice in a continent where such are
easily compromised," she said. "Many have said universities must be vigilant
in their major task of education and training by ensuring that they produce
graduates who will work towards awakening the conscience of society and
towards the consolidation of human rights, democracy and peace."

Africa University's church base, she said, accords it a special position in
the community of institutions because of the church's excellent record in
the development of education in Africa. "Mission schools and colleges have
been centers of holistic learning where many of the region's leaders were
educated, trained, and helped to acquire values and norms to enable them to
confront moral and ethical issues that confront society from time to time,"
she said.

Two of the 119 female graduates -- Sangay Jorgbor of Liberia and Leticia
Nchwali of Tanzania -- are pursuing careers in fields where the majority of
their colleagues are male. They are both confident and excited about the
contributions they can make to their communities after graduation.

"Liberia is just coming out of a war situation, and we are facing so many
challenges as we try to rebuild and develop the country, " Jorgbor said. "In
my bachelor of science degree program, I chose to specialize in natural
resources because I want to help improve food production in a sustainable
way so that we no longer have to import so much food in Liberia."

Nchwali, with a master of business administration degree, is returning to
her job as assistant chief accountant in the ministry of finance in
Tanzania.
	
"Tanzania is not in the same place now as when I left to come to Africa
University to study," Nchwali said. "There are changes occurring in the
economy and in government behavior. I feel that I have much to offer to our
policy debates on strategies to increase foreign and local investment in the
economy, manage our debt and find new markets for our products."

Hilary Chala Kowino and Henry Otieno came to the university from Kenya in
1996. Kowino has earned a bachelor of arts degree in education; Otieno, a
bachelor of science degree in agriculture and natural resources. 

As they leave the university, the community has praised them for making the
valley a better place than they found it. 

The two students developed and looked after a vegetable garden for the
children at the Fairfield Orphanage at the Old Mutare United Methodist
Mission Center near the university. They started a 1.2-acre "Good Hope
Garden" after a nutrition survey performed in 1998 by nursing students from
the Nebraska Methodist College of Nursing and Allied Health found
deficiencies in the children's diet. 

The garden produces greens, sugarloaf and sweet cabbage, cucumbers, carrots,
maize, beans and other vegetables in season which go into meals for the 40
to 45 children, newborn to age 5, who live at the Fairfield Orphanage.
Vegetables also are supplied to other centers, free of charge. Excess
produce is sold to the Africa University Food Services Department to buy
seeds, fertilizer and other necessities. 

Both men give Africa University the credit for bringing African young people
together and helping to increase their sense of social responsibility.

"Africa University has been a blessing in the sense that for the time that
I've been here, I've learned that we are one irrespective of the boundaries
of our various countries," Kowino said.

For Otieno, the garden allows him to apply information from books to the
field and provides a human touch. "When I see how this garden helps a child
who has no mother and father, it really touches me because I also grew up
without a father and my mother endured many hardships as I was growing up."

The majority of university's graduates are already working in their home
countries as teachers, business people, farmers, agricultural extension
officers, pastors and church workers. Some are pursuing post-graduate
degrees at institutions in Europe, the United States and Canada.

"Being in the pioneer class of 1992, I was not sure whether as students we
had the potential, or whether the efforts of the United Methodist Church to
establish the university in Zimbabwe would turn out to be a bad experiment,"
recalls Edwin Ngonyamo.

"When I left in 1994, Africa University was totally transformed, and I was
ready to start my career. I'd earned a bachelor of science degree in
agriculture and natural resources and had mastered the critical analytical
skills and adaptability that comes with a science education."

Ngonyamo is now the technical services manager of Irvine's Day Old Chicks, a
leading poultry production enterprise in Southern Africa.  He is one of four
Africa University graduates employed by the company. Ngonyamo takes every
opportunity to return to his alma mater and he continues to inspire others
with his contributions to the university.

In June, he donated a prize to the faculty of agriculture and natural
resources on behalf of Irvine's Day Old Chicks. The prize -- a trophy, book
voucher and individual shield -- will be awarded annually at graduation to
the best student in animal production.

Africa University is the only degree-granting institution in Africa related
to the United Methodist Church worldwide. The university opened in March
1992 with 40 students and degree offerings in agriculture and natural
resources and in theology. Today, the school's 871 students represent 18
African nationalities. The university offers undergraduate degrees in
agriculture and natural resources, education, humanities and social
sciences, management and administration, and theology. Master's degrees are
offered in business administration and in theological studies.  Planning is
also under way for a faculty of medical sciences.
# # #
*Stevens is the director of the Office of Information at Africa University.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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