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An educator and advocate for gender equity
for the last 20 years, Dr. Caroline Njuki has
worked with the church, NGOs, the UN, and
educational institutions around the world.
She also served as an Associate General
Secretary with the Global Ministries of the
United Methodist
Profit Organizations, general church
agencies, missionaries, etc.
In the past 20 years, Africa University
has grown from a school operating out
of refurbished farm buildings, to a
world class institution with modern
structures. There are now 32 buildings,
including dormitories, senior staff
housing, a chapel built by South Korea
Methodists, a library complex, student
clinic and the Peace, Leadership, and
Governance Building. Africa University
has a student body of over 4,000 and
welcomes friends from every corner of
the world to join in the capacity
building of this Pan-African institution.
It offers Africa's youth a Christian
approach to solving Africa's complex
challenges through general and
professional knowledge, and skills. They
develop spiritual maturity, sound moral
values, ethics and leadership qualities.
In conclusion, one can say that
wanderers, missionaries, pilgrims, and
so on, move from place to place for
various a purposes. Some are called by
God to spread the gospel, others
wander to escape persecution, others
wander aimlessly and achieve nothing,
and yet others, by accident, change the
course of world events. Hope 5L2Fhas a
purpose to wander with the objective
of creating a world where there is
mutuality, and to foster understanding
among different peoples. The organiza-
tion aims to not only make Disciples of
Jesus Christ but help people live life
abundantly as God intended them to,
by expanding their horizons beyond
their local churches and communities.
Mission Journal
13
as the present.
They formed a link between cultures
and societies. They brought different
worlds together enabling them to know
a nd l e a r n a bou t e a c h o t h e r .
Missionaries included women and men
who wondered through various
nations, driven by faith, but sometimes
power and fame. Some brought cultural
enrichment and others were down
right colonial exploiters. They repre-
sented both the best and worst in
Europe. There were, however, many
who went to extremes in support of
their faith and religious conviction, just
as those who were driven by pride, lust
for riches and corruption.
The creation of Africa University in
Mutare, Zimbabwe came about as a
result of missionary wandering. This
unique Christian Pan-African Methodist
institution of higher learning is an
excellent example of what was
achieved as a result of a vision of a
wander.
Joseph Hartzell was elected a
missionary bishop of Africa and two
years later, as he stood on Mt.
Chiremba overlooking Old Mutare, in
Zimbabwe, he had a vision of educating
African Youth. He shared his vision
with Cecil John Rhodes a British
representative in the country who
granted him 13,000 acres where a
Methodist Mission was started. The
mission now supports and manages the
Hartzell School, which offers an
education for students in grades 1-13, a
small 60 bed hospital, an orphanage,
and agricultural program.
In 1984 two Bishops, an Angolan and
Sierra Leonean asked the United
Methodists to establish Africa
University and challenged the General
Board of Higher Education and Ministry
to support the idea. When, the
President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe
heard of the initiative to establish a
continent wide university in Zimbabwe,
he was prompted to form a govern-
ment commission to study the country
s higher education needs and make
recommendations. The Proposal to
establish Africa University was accepted
at the 1988 General Conference. An
Acacia tree, the University s symbol,
was planted at the Old Mutare Mission
site of Africa University. In January
1992, President Mugabe granted the
Africa University s Charter by official
proclamation. The University was
established by the United Methodist
Church to educate students from all
over Africa
According to Rev. Lloyd Nyarota of
the Zimbabwe Annual Conference,
Africa University is changing the
continent. He believes that Africa
University is going to be a solution to
the myriad of problems facing the
continent. In his work and travel across
the African continent, Nyaotasays that
he meets friends from Africa University
everywhere. The graduates from the
university come from 28 African nations
and they have been excellent ambassa-
dors of their respective countries
during their time at the university and
when they return home. At the
University, students not only study
together, but forge relationships and
share information about their countries
with each other. These relationships
last for a lifetime and become a
support system for those related to the
institution across Africa.
Africa University is referred to as the
"Field of Dreams" and since its incep-
tion, it has graduated 5,000 students.
The pool of graduates hold leadership
positions in a cross section of occupa-
tions such as industry, administration,
IT, manufacturing, business, schools
and universities, hospitals, Non-For-