NUI Blog - Northrise University Initiative

From the 20th to the 21st of August 2010, married couples gathered to attend a seminar presented by Michael and Alison Goode from Melbourne, Australia. 2 = 1 Discover the Power was a call to discover the power of investing into one’s own marriage and family so as to have an impact on the generations to come. A total of 25 couples were in attendance to listen to the guest speakers, Micheal and Alison Goodes, and the hosts, Dr. and Mrs. Zimba, teach Godly principles of marriage and family. It was a time of refreshing and learning as couples discovered: the power of God’s design for their marriage, the power of appreciating their differences, the power of God’s vision for their marriage and so much more… At the end of the seminar, certificates were presented to each couple.

A trip to the only children’s hospital in Zambia, Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital (ADH) in Ndola, was a sobering start to the day. The executive director, Dr. Sam Phiri, granted us a few rare minutes to explain the intense need for support on many fronts: medical equipment, better training for staff, relief staff, education, etc. He outlined the ten most prominent diseases/conditions affecting the kids accepted by the hospital – malnutrition, meningitis, malaria and HIV among them. Dr. Phiri opened the boxes of donated surgical kits we brought to the hospital and in an interview for our short documentary, opened his heart about the strangers a world away who make sick children a priority. He was kind and quick to the point. We were very thankful he allowed us access to the hallways lined with rooms full of sick little ones whose troubled parents seemed to ache for their stories to be told. We were welcomed in small spaces where  small groups of women sat together.  They stared into our cameras as they held their sick, sometimes dying sons and daughters, a tender situation to be sure. I’m not sure you ever forget something like this.

The goal was to document the vulnerability here and present what Northrise hopes to contribute to future health-care needs of Ndola. Northrise serves ADH as a mission and provides supplies as often as possible. Currently, university land is set aside and hope planted for a student health-care clinic to be up and running by summer 2011. The facility will serve students, staff and the immediate families of those employees – roughly 1200 people. The project is still in the fundraising phase, another 80 thousand dollars is needed to break ground on the building.  University founder Moffat Zimba told Dr. Phiri about his ambition and the two spoke about some technicalities of the idea, and agreed that education is critical.

In our few hours at ADH it became clear just how critical the health situation is…

The media team landed in Ndola and arrived at Northrise on Monday, 9th August.  From Seattle, California and Phoenix to Atlanta (and Dave from England) to South Africa, to Zambia. Thank you all for your prayers, stay tuned for the next post… Look out for photos and video of Rising Life Ministries, Mapalo Academy and more.

Last week, 18 people from Houston and Phoenix visited Northrise in Zambia.  During the week, the team was able spend time on the Northrise farm seeing the latest batch of 1200 chickens and enjoying the sweet taste of Northrise’s third banana crop! Members of the team spent time at the Mapalo Community School and the Arising Life counseling center, two ministries started by graduates and continually supported by Northrise in Ndola.  The highlight of the week was visiting the nearly-completed Kuhula House, the first academic building to be completed on the Northrise property, and then heading back for a traditional Zambian meal, prepared as a collaboration between the Northrise staff and Chef Juan Martinez from Phoenix.

In collaboration with Medical Bridges in Houston, TX, the team was able to secure and deliver several boxes of much needed medical supplies to the Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital in Ndola. Being the only pediatric hospital in all of Zambia, extra supplies are always needed.

In all, it was a great week spent building friendships, seeing the progressive growth of Northrise University, and serving the community of Ndola, Zambia.