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Alumni fund helps Africa University students stay in school

Nov. 17, 2005

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Report
By Andra Stevens*

MUTARE, Zimbabwe (UMNS) - Nineteen students have officially returned to
classes at Africa University following weeks of uncertainty about their
financial status. But that's just half of a group of 38 undergraduate
students who were in danger of dropping out this semester due to
financial hardship.

Eleven weeks into the semester, the students, from five of the school's
six academic disciplines, could not pay their fees. They'd applied for
financial assistance from the university, but with the regular
scholarship and financial aid funds exhausted, the school could not
provide the level of help needed. Unable to register, the students
remained on campus, praying for a miracle.

For 19 of the 38, that miracle came in the form of grants from the
university's Honorary Alumni Fund, created in 2000 to assist financially
challenged students.

"It's amazing," said education student Mercy Mwanyisa. "I'm so
emotional, I can hardly believe it because it's such a breakthrough for
me."

Mwanyisa is one of five Zimbabweans who got a reprieve. The other 14
students are from a variety of countries, including Angola, the
Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.

Some, like Neide Teresa Epalanga, an Angolan student in the faculty of
management and administration, had been counting on receiving a
scholarship through the United Methodist-related school. She'd received
a scholarship for each of her first three years at Africa University,
but one was not available for her this year.

Although Africa University receives additional scholarship funds every
year, an increasing number of donors are designating their gifts to
particular students. When the funds are provided with a name attached,
the university does not have the money and the flexibility it needs to
help students it deems most in need.

Epalanga's parents, a mathematics teacher and nurse working in
government institutions in Angola, have seven children. Four of them are
younger than Neide Teresa, and the family's means don't stretch very
far. Epalanga is expected to get a job and begin helping to educate her
siblings as soon as she graduates next June.

Other students, faced with the negative impact of economic decline,
inflation and changes in their family circumstances, could not put
together the amounts required for fees.

"I really thought that I'd be able to manage," said Nomazulu Ngwenya, a
teacher and single parent. She looked after her daughter and mother and
paid her own way at university for two years, before running into
difficulty with her fees. With no salary and both living expenses and
fees going up, her dream of becoming a counselor was threatened.

Faced with losing so many students to financial hardship, the university
turned to a fund set up by its Advisory Development Committee in 2000.
The idea for the fund came from retired Bishop James K. Mathews, who
proposed that the university invite supporters to become honorary alumni
association members. The honorary members give $50 annually, which is
designated for scholarships. In the past five years, they have raised
$49,000, which the university used to make special grants available to
the 19 students.

The university gave priority to two categories of students: those in
their final year and those who had previously been supported with
scholarships. The grants were tailored to need, but most covered
tuition, accommodation and two meals a day.

The other 19 students, mainly in their first or second year, could not
be assisted.

"There's no question that higher education costs are escalating around
the world, and that's why Africa University puts so much effort into
finding ways to assist those students and their families who just can't
make it on their own," said James Salley, associate vice chancellor for
institutional advancement.

"The best gift that anyone can give to Africa University is scholarship
funds with no strings attached ... funds that can be utilized to assist
the neediest of our students, and that's what we have with the Honorary
Alumni Fund."

Mwanyisa, who is pursuing a bachelor's degree in education, has
struggled to pay her fees. It's taken a lot of sacrifice for her to get
to her fourth and final year.

Her father lost his job in 1990, when she was still in primary school.
He turned to informal trading of agricultural produce to support his
family of six and eventually returned to his rural home and peasant
farming. When he couldn't earn enough for the fees, he started selling
off his cattle. As the fees increased, the proceeds from selling the
livestock weren't enough anymore. Mwanyisa's older brother withdrew from
a university last year so that all of the resources could go to her.

She went on teaching practice in the area schools and used her earnings
as a trainee teacher to pay off arrears left at the end of her third
year. In August, she had only Z$1.5 million (US$125) saved for the final
year's tuition fees, which were Z$30 million (US$2,500). She'd worked
hard, earned a GPA of 2.9 and put every cent she could raise on the
table, but it wasn't enough for her to register.

"All along, my family has been motivated by my performance," Mwanyisa
said. "To come so close and not finish this degree because of money
would have been heartbreaking for us."

Binwell Mdoso, an agriculture student from Malawi, also talks about the
stress of trying to maintain a strong performance when his tuition isn't
paid and he barely has the funds to eat two meals a day. Mdoso, a member
of Galilea United Methodist Church in Blantyre, was sent to study animal
science by the United Methodist Church in Malawi. Once he graduates,
he's expected to return to work in a church-run poultry production
project.

"Up to now, I've been supported through fund raising by my home church,
but in August, no money came for my tuition or other costs," Mdoso said.
"I wrote to my church and I waited, but it was just too much stress."

Helping Mwanyisa, Mdoso and the rest of the group of senior students has
exhausted the Honorary Alumni Fund. Thirteen of the students are in
their final year, and their grants will take them up to graduation in
June. The rest have one or two years before graduation.

Mindful of the continuing need, Africa University is launching an online
campaign for student scholarships with the Kintera Web fund-raising
program. Kintera, based in San Diego, helps nonprofit organizations with
marketing, programming and fund raising.

The institution is one of the first in the United Methodist Church to
launch a Web-based fund-raising effort, and the Development Office staff
is excited.

"Africa University has been providing young people with a quality
education, rooted in their reality, for the past 13 years," Salley said.
"At a basic cost of $5,200 a year for undergraduate programs, an Africa
University education is so affordable that, with enough support, we can
train many more professionals who will make very positive contributions
in communities across Africa."

Based in Mutare, Zimbabwe, Africa University offers undergraduate and
postgraduate degrees and diplomas in a range of disciplines, including
agriculture and natural resources; education; health sciences;
humanities and social sciences; management and administration; peace;
leadership and governance; and theology. The school has 1,246 students
from 16 countries.

Donations to the Honorary Alumni Fund can be made at the Africa
University Development Office Web site, www.audo.umc.org, or by calling
(615) 340-7438.

*Stevens is director of information and public affairs at Africa
University.

News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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