NUI Blog - Northrise University Initiative

by Duke Muchindu

How Christian is our Christian education? The 5th of December 2009 was a momentous day for the city of Ndola. It is written in many scholarly articles that Christianity in Africa is a mile wide and only an inch deep. My belief however is that Africa is on turning point in this regard. IAPCHE – The International Association for the Promotion of Christian Higher Education – is an organization that has been in existence for over 25 years. It is internationally head quartered in Iowa at Dordt College in the USA. Despite its long existence, little is known of this initiative in Zambia and many African countries.

The mission of IAPCHE is to seek to promote a supportive framework for advancing Christian educational endeavors based on African cultural values in today’s global context. IAPCHE aims to achieve this by interacting with initiatives from other areas of the world for mutual benefit and enrichment. It’s main goal is to facilitate collaborative links and facilities, together with resources that promote an understanding of the essential features of an authentic Christian approach to education. This involves a critically creative approach that brings genuine transformational character to Christian educational endeavors.

On this day, scholars, pastors and representatives of various Christian and secular educational institutes were invited to Northrise to attend an IAPCHE conference planning meeting. A representative of IAPCHE graced the occasion. Reverend Isaac N. Mutua is the African regional executive director of CPCHEA (International Association for the Promotion of Christian Higher Education). CPCHEA is the African Regional Expression of IAPCHE, in other words it is the African office for IAPCHE.

The meeting opened with a prayer, followed by formal introductions of the participants. Reverend Mutua then took the podium and explained the purpose of his visit and what IAPCHE and CPCHEA stood for. He lamented the fact that IAPCHE is concentrated in South Africa, its birth place, but also thought Zambia was centrally placed to host a regional conference for Southern Africa. He emphasized the fact that in this era there is no room for us to work in isolation because we need each other. The only conference that IAPCHE has ever held in Zambia was way back in 1987 in Lusaka the capital of Zambia. This meeting however was discussing the possibility of holding the conference in Ndola specifically at Northrise University main campus in August 2010. Reverend Mutua urged each participant present to become a member of IAPCHE or CPCHEA. Becoming a member of either initiative means one automatically becomes a member of both.

The meeting finally came to a close some minutes before 6pm with everyone agreeing to support this very important cause, “reclaiming the various world disciplines to the glory of God”. An interim hosting committee comprising eight participants was put in place to begin the work of organizing the conference that will be held sometime in August 2010. The conference will attract scholars and other stakeholders from the region and internationally in an effort of interaction to discuss the development of a comprehensive Christian education. Mr Peter Pedersen of Kaniki Bible college in Ndola gave a closing remark saying “I have never heard of this organization before, but what I think is that what is happening today should have happened yesterday, or five years ago or more. Am very grateful that there are Zambians and Africans rising up to take what God has given us and the potential on this continent and bringing it to a situation of interaction with other similar organizations for education. This is so important.”

by Wallace Mwengwe

On the 1st of December, Zambia joined the rest of the world in commemorating World AIDS Day (WAD). The theme this year is “Universal Access and Human Rights.” This highlights the need to protect human rights and attain universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. It aims at addressing the critical need to protect human rights and remove discriminatory barriers to universal access to prevention of  HIV and AIDS by helping people keep their promises using the slogan, “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.”

I was in Ndola (provincial capital of Copperbelt Province) on this day. A candlelight memorial service was held at the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Nativity Church. It was a multi-denominational church service where we remembered those who have died due to HIV and AIDS as well as those who are affected by it. The significance of the candlelight was that there is still hope despite the furiousness of the pandemic. The commemoration started on 30th November.

At the Candlelight service, there were various activities performed such as drama, songs and poems by some Children from Arthur Davison Hospital (the only pediatrics hospital in Zambia), and a testimony from a man who is HIV positive. This was all done in order to pass on the information to those who were still ignorant of HIV and AIDS.

If you are not infected then you are affected by this pandemic. “Stop Aids. Keep the Promise”

by Enock Misebo

The eleventh week is traditionally known as “Presentation Week” at Northrise University. In this week, all students get a chance to be in their lecturer’s shoes. It is not uncommon to see students looking extra smart and business-like. Northrise University incorporates a presentation program that aims at preparing students for presentations and general interactions in the corporate industry.

Each student is allocated a group which is assigned a topic in the first week of the term. The given topic is well researched for 11 weeks and presented based on the Course’s requirements. The class, lecturers, staff and any invited guests make the audience as each person in the group delivers their presentation. Each presenter commands at least 5 minutes of everyone’s attention until every group member has had a chance. The audience is then given an opportunity to fire some questions or seek clarification on the presented material.

This term’s presentations have been particularly interesting. More students have show an improvement in  their delivery as well as research skills. Presentation Week kicked off with the 3rd year Bachelor of Business Administration class giving presentations in the Innovation and Enterprise course. In their assignment, they were hypothetical entrepreneurs who had started up a company of their choice with a K10 million (about USD$ 2173.80) budget. They had to present their business proposal and budget. Four guests were invited; all of whom generally attested to how interesting and highly professional the presenters were.

The next presentation I attended was by the 2nd year Bachelor of Information Technology morning class, in the Multimedia Publishing course. Being in my first year, I was personally amazed and inspired by how interesting and creative their presentations were, which is basically what their course was about. It made me look forward to the time I would be in my 2rd year and doing that course.

Later, that evening, I was part of a presentation in the Business Law course being taken by my class, 1st years. Of course, legal analysis takes a great deal of mastering and perfecting, but I would claim that there are a good number of legal analysts at Northrise that can handle common Torts in the city of Ndola! Legally speaking, the presentations that we had this week are a precedent for future presentations yet to come.

In the days that followed, my class had more presentations in Organizational Behavior and Business Finance. And for the 3rd years, Database Management Systems.