NUI Blog - Northrise University Initiative

by Banji Simasiku

“Let the guest come so that the host or hostess may benefit.” This is an African proverb, which denotes that the guest or visitor brings many blessings for the local people and home. Northrise is always delighted to receive guests. On the 27th of August, Northrise received two more guests who will be with us until late October. These are Mr. Graeme and Dr. Merryl Blair from Australia.

Dr. Merryl Blair volunteered to instruct Northrise’s Bachelor of Theology students in a course, Old Testament Theology, for 6 weeks. Her course objectives are to introduce her students to the Old Testament in the Bible, and to teach specifics such as the Psalms, Prophets, and Odyssey. In her teaching, Dr. Blair hopes to relay how the Old Testament helps us to grapple with our faith. “The Old Testament can be read with an eye about what it wants us to know about God and Jesus,” she said. She is a Lecturer in Old Testament Studies at the Churches of Christ Theological College in Melbourne.

Dr. Blair also revealed that she is learning from both her students and her staying here in Ndola, Zambia. To her, this journey has reaffirmed that “God is indeed the God for the poor, and he gives justice for them.” One of her greatest challenge is seeing how that we, the people of Zambia, live community rather than talk community.

Students have admitted that her teaching style is easy to follow and one in particular greatly appreciates how Dr. Blair takes time to make sure that everybody in the class is on the same page.

Apart from instructing, Dr. Blair has also shared during Chapel on three consecutive Mondays here at Northrise, as she is an ordained minister with the Churches of Christ in Australia. Mr. Blair has also been a great blessing in many countless ways, especially to the Northrise Network team for having helped with re-wiring of the entire computer network at Caravelle House, Northrise University’s current campus location.

The Blairs also had a great opportunity to make a presentation about Ethics at the Human Recourse National Convention under the Zambia Institute of Human Resource Management held in Lusaka (the capital city of Zambia). The Convention gathered over 200 Human Resource practitioners from around the country and a few other presenters from neighboring countries like South Africa.

Undeniably, Northrise benefits more and more with each visitor that comes and it is only hoped that the Blairs are just among the many to come and bless us. We wish the Blairs God’s blessings in their lives.

by Kambole Kabwe

Monday is usually the most predictable day of the week here at Northrise University. Students first gather around the chapel area, sharing their weekend experiences and at 8:30am they make their way into Chapel, which usually goes on up to10:00am. Thereafter students attend Lab and other programs of the day.

However, Monday, July 13th 2009 was different from the usual. After Chapel ended, no one vacated the auditorium. Students and staff members alike lingered for the next long awaited program: The Zain Africa Challenge (ZAC) award ceremony. The team of students that had traveled to Kampala, Uganda, for the competition and Northrise University itself were receiving awards.

ZAC, sponsored by Zain (a telecommunications company in Zambia), is an inter-university quiz competition among top African universities, which Northrise was privileged to be a part of. Four of our students, Godfrey Chonde, Kambole Kabwe, kanyanta Mubanga and Nyamachai Chipawa, chosen to represent Northrise University competed and won a double knockout national qualifying tournament in Lusaka. The national qualifying tournament brought together 8 Zambian universities of which four (4) were to qualify and represent their university and Zambia in the ZAC Championship Festival held in Kampala, Uganda, between the 13th and 23rd of February.

This year, 2009, marked the third season of this competition in which Uganda hosted seven other countries in Africa (Zambia, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Malawi, Kenya, and Ghana). All Universities that participated in ZAC underwent an open and transparent testing to qualify for a spot in both the national qualifying and international tournaments. The international tournament was a knockout challenge in which the Northrise University team was knocked-out by the East Africa Catholic University from Kenya in their first round. The turn of events was a huge disappointment for the team. “Though we did not win the grand prize, having participated helped put Northrise on the map” said Mr. Laston Hamoonga, the Northrise Business Manager, who also accompanied the Northrise team to Uganda as their Liaison.

Months after the team’s return, the Zain representatives were in the school to acknowledge the performance of the team and the university as a whole. And they finally brought the long awaited prizes. Mrs. Mutinta M. Chikola, Zain Zambia acting managing director North, gave a speech in which she indicated that the ZAC initiative was a creative way of giving grants to the universities. And working for it through the challenge would give the recipients a sense of pride and ownership. “This is what we want all universities that take part in the challenge to feel. They worked for it and they deserve it.”

Northrise received a prize of US$5 000 dollars as a University for representing Zambia. The participating students and their coach, Mr. Ngulube, also won a prize of US$500 each. The prize money for the school was to be received in assets to benefit the entire student body instead of cash. It was decided that more computers be bought for the Library and a photocopying machine, all amounting to US$5 000.

In her vote of thanks that Monday morning, Kambole shared her Zain experience with everyone present. She highlighted how she took advantage of the competition to socially interact with others from different African cultures. She added saying, “it was an unconscious way of connecting the future leaders of Africa together.” Kambole also encouraged other Northrise students to be part of this event so that Northrise University can continue being represented internationally.

The ZAC Northrise University Scholars Club continues to grow. Among other benefits, Northrise University students stand a chance to be exposed to different social and cultural experiences. Such experiences help broaden a student’s outlook on life.