HOPE AFRICA UNIVERSITY REPORT
Friends of Hope Africa University Inc, Gerald Bates, President
6715 Oak lake Drive,
Indianapolis, IN 46214
The University After Its First Ten Years:
Hope Africa University was founded 10 years ago on several key principles: 1) To be thoroughly Christian, 2) to be a truly African university, 3) to provide quality education in Africa, 4) to respond to urgent African problems—literacy, education, poverty, healthcare, corruption, conflict, and 5) to provide hope, lifting a generation of young Africans, giving them a way up and a future (and, through them, doing the same for their families). Fundamental to everything was the conviction that higher education provides an ideal vehicle to address these issues, to change whole nations for good and righteousness through infiltrating societies with the gospel. And to do so through a corps of finely educated Christian world-changers who can move things toward righteousness, justice and dignity for all.
How are we doing?
From the early graduates there are those working in key positions in the church, in government (One of the 34 national senators in Burundi is a HAU grad.), in NGOs, in education and social work, in the justice system, in private businesses (some of which they started as entrepreneurs), in medical work (We graduated the first six national BSNs in the country.). Further, the bilingual instruction, and the multiethnic nature of the student body melds together young people from differing tribal and national backgrounds as Christian friends. This means that they become agents of peace in their world when they graduate.
So, from 27 students meeting in a partially reconstructed roadhouse in Kenya, to the capital city of Burundi, Bujumbura, the school has expanded its offerings to be a true university with over 3,000 students. The school is no less Christian than it was at its founding—with regular chapels, two chaplains, a student Bible Fellowship, volunteer musical groups, and a Christian radio station
What email message can make me laugh out loud? This:
IKINDI KINTU CIZA CANE N’UKO R.V.E. (Radio Voice of Hope) IBANDANYA
KUVUGA HOSE NEZA! This came from one of our radio engineers. The translation is this: “Another very good thing is that Radio Voice of Hope continues to be heard everywhere well.” On October 2 a national day of prayer was called by Radio Voice of Hope, the University station. During the broadcast day over 100 called in to confess their sins and ask for prayer.
The reputation of the school has grown. The school calendar is faithfully kept and is not interrupted by student strikes as in other universities. Parents see it as a safe place to send their children, where they can get an excellent education. More than 40% of the students are young African women who will be not only professionals but mothers of families. There are over 2100 applicants for the new school year intake in February. Likely less than half these will find places; some will have to wait; but the number is an indication of the popularity of HAU.
All of this adds up to say that God has signally blessed Hope Africa University. Its vision was grounded in prayer and a profound understanding of the nature of God and what He wants for his children. It also means that all of us, you who give and pray, and we who work to spread the news, teach, support, visit, advise, are joined in a great kingdom enterprise. It is compassion ministry but a whole lot more. It means that investments are investments in a grand multiplier project whose influence will not be only now but for generations to come. This phenomenal growth and blessing brings us to…
A critical and urgent need:
With the huge influx of new students which will put the school enrollment at around 3,700 we must finish the huge education/administration building immediately. Work has gone forward on the remaining half of the building but there remains much to be done. There are 22 classrooms, 13 offices, 3 reception areas, 1 large conference room, 5 sets of restrooms and stairways to complete. In addition there is the matter of plumbing, water tanks, electrical wiring, doors, furniture, floors and ceilings, electrical fixtures and lights. These are huge needs and require large expenditures. Burundi is in a building boom and prices are going up nearly daily.
Please consider what you can do to contribute to these needs.
For further information: Gerald E. Bates batesgerald@sbcglobal.net
For gifts send to: Friends of Hope Africa University, Box 580, Spring Arbor MI 49283,
marked ‘Campus Development.’
News items:
On November 11 Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana will visit HAU. Hearing him speak at the Sagamore Institute here in Indianapolis we noted his comment that he was planning to visit Burundi, Uganda and Kenya in November. Following up we urged him to include HAU in his itinerary in Bujumbura. We were able to assure him that the President of the country, Pierre Nkurunziza, knows HAU very well having been on campus several times, encouraging us in various ways. An adie from the senator’s office has promised photos so watch for them in the next issue of this Newsletter.
Two containers are on the way to HAU. The first one, loaded near Kokomo IN by Project Barnabas of the WMI and MMI organizations, contains medical equipment and supplies, books, and office furniture. The second, packed by Intnl Medical Equipment Cooperative, a charity in Massachusetts, contains high tech equipment and furniture for the new clinic being completed adjacent to the city campus. Marlene and I expect to be there for the clinic dedication on Dec. 17 and to see 300 students graduate.
HAU is deeply involved in medical and nursing education. Construction is finishing up on a new maternity ward at Kibuye Hope Hospital. Currently 214 are in the nursing program. Thirty BSNs are expected to graduate in December. Two hundred and eleven are in the medical track (undergrad—what we would call pre-med, and grad). Seventeen medical students are in the fifth year, the first in the top three years of the seven-year program leading to the MD. Dr. Darlene McCown, off site director of the school of nursing, will be at HAU over the next few months to inaugurate the MA in nursing.
What some of the students are saying:
Student A: “My family never thought that I could join university because we are very poor. Even being able to finish high school was hard. Going to university was just a dream. . . . HAU has contributed much to my growth for spiritual matters. My father and most of my brothers and sisters are Muslims, my former religion.”
Student B: “For the country, HAU is educating the future staff of leaders for this country by offering programs which will allow them to build again this nation.”
Student C: “HAU is not only an educational institution where large scheduled programs are given but also a strong and high means of preparing educated African people to participate to the fulfillment of God-given purposes—to reach out to the world, transforming nations by the Word.”
Student D: “My life has been really changed both spiritually and professionally. This is truly a place of transformation of character. . . . In this region HAU is offering programs needed in the period of ‘after war’. It is a place where the youth learn to live together and share studies, forgetting the past of their countries.”
You see our news, our celebration, our prayer requests and our need.
God bless. --Gerald