NUI Blog - Northrise University Initiative

Impact Ndola 2011 is definitely making its mark on Zambia. The city of Ndola from the Northrise farms, to the Ndola Baptist Church, to the National police station is taking in members of the Northrise volunteer community.

Today the service in the community continued and the media team got to spend time at various different ministry points throughout the city.

• The Ndola police station welcomed Danalyn Savage and Harry Sexton as the two spoke about abuse, violence and self-protection to a room of police officers eager to hear about ways to improve their city’s knowledge of safety. Danalyn commented on the positivity she sensed in the room stating, “The police and people of Ndola seem ready and open to change. The men in particular seem to want to move away from the historical domestic abuse and towards a brighter future.”
• Arthur Davidson Children’s Hospital allowed doctors from the team to do rounds with their staff doctors: treating patients, performing x-rays and ultrasounds and providing their own diagnosis patients. During the afternoon, the volunteer doctors lectured the staff on diseases that are often misdiagnosed or not recognized in Zambia and current methods for treating patients.
• Northrise Farms continues to grow and take shape as members of the build team worked hard laboring to continue to grow Northrise. The NUCare facility is taking shape and the ground is being laid for a foreman house on the farm.
• Pastors from across the city met and communed together learning from each other, and sitting under powerful teaching from guest lecturers. Scott Savage addressed the pastors today and blessed the community with stories of his faith, encouragements from his journey and answers to any question they may have.
• Artist Whitney Stroupe and her protégé, Northrise staff members Pimpa and Banji Simasiku, spent the whole day painting montages in Kuhula house, the newest classroom building. The montages will bring some colorful beauty to the Northrise Campus and highlight verses from the word of God to remind students daily of who is in control.

Tomorrow, the sun will rise on the team’s final day to serve, but the imprint that Impact 2011 is leaving will grow immensely as each day shows that Northrise team members will leave their mark on Ndola.

by Chisha Mwansa,  Northrise Student and  Media Team Members

The first day of Impact Ndola 2011 was filled with a burst of excitement and a sense of unity among friends and family. Everyone felt the presence of God as they did their part in building God’s vision for Ndola and ultimately humanity. Being part of the media team gave me the privilege to observe, interact and enjoy the presence of our friends from the United States who are here to contribute themselves as ‘tools’ in God’s work through their various skills and talents.

Melissa Chinn, a nurse by profession, caught my attention among many. She travelled here from Hollywood with her father Dr. Daryl Chinn who also offers his expertise in the medical field as a Doctor. I spent a few minutes with Melissa and Daryl asking about their first day’s experience at Impact and what they were expecting in their stay here in Zambia; “I can’t wait to work at the hospital” Melissa said. There was a passion in her eyes for the work that she did and I wondered why. “I love to interact with patients and by serving them I’m using my various skills to serve God which makes me happy”. What a great feeling and opportunity it must be to work as father and daughter in the vision Gods has for all of us. Everyone in Impact Ndola is using their skills to better the conditions of their fellow neighbours and that pleases our God. Thank you to all those who have chosen to change the lives of others through their work during Impact Ndola 2011.

Ask any man woman or child who has come in contact with the Impact Team in one way or another and you’ll know that all the preparation, all the fatigue and every little hassle to get by the week has been entirely worth it.  The kids at Mckenzie Community School and Arising Life Ministries (ALMs) would certainly tell you so.  The day at McKenzie school was filled with activities such as painting, limbo, chuusha (hand-ball game aimed at keeping the ball from your opponents team) and soccer.  Everyone, including the big kids (adults), just wanted to be part of the fun.

ALMs also had a good day of smiles from happy kids.  Apart from playing, Swazi taught about the essence of prayer from the story of David and Goliath in her Bible.  Another great sight to see was Chase, Lauren and a few other volunteers trying the nshima (the local Zambian food!).

It’s amazing how regardless of the language barriers children understand the heart of the what we are doing; giving, serving others and reminding ourselves that it is all because Jesus Saves!

-Pimpa Simasiku. Northrise Staff Member and Impact Volunteer

“It is a joy to be a part of this years women’s conference and to be connected with so many believers from so many walks of life.  The faith and thirst for knowledge in these women is simply astounding and awe-inspiring to me.  These women who have far less than most people I know come to worship the Lord as if they were as wealthy as kings; thankful for all they have.  I cannot wait to see what God does in the hearts of these women, and my own heart in these next few days.”  – Molly Sexton

Molly is one of the women leading during the Impact Ndola 2011 Women’s Conference in Ndola, Zambia.  150 women from the local community have gathered at the Savoy Hotel to worship, study, and be encouraged by friends from both the USA and Zambia.  God is doing a powerful work in Zambia!

The conference is led by Mrs. Tina Drake, Mrs. Doreen Zimba, and Mrs. Debbie Stroupe.  Logistics for the conference have been provided by Mrs Norah Hamoonga, Lillian Kapambwe, and Alice Simutowe.

Impact 2011 started off with a look at the exciting developments just finished on the Northrise farm, the dedication of Northrise’s NUCare center and Kuhula Center. Both buildings were covered in prayer and celebrated with ribbon-cutting ceremonies with Moffat and members of the board.

NUCare is Northrise’s latest completed building that will soon host a fully functional medical facility with a newly hired full-time nurse, Mary. The facility was dedicated by Moffat and board-member, Dr. Michele Fullmer. After years of planning, Northrise is excited to finally get the clinic in order and underway this week. The clinic is comprised of two equipped exam rooms, an ultrasound room, laboratory, waiting room, a nurses’ station and fully functioning dental office. The building will offer hope to the students of Northrise who often face days and weeks of missing school due to illness that could be easily treated with the proper medical care. It will also help prevent sickness from spreading through the campus and screening of students before they enter the dormitories. Communities, orphanages and schools around the city that Northrise supports will also benefit from the medical staff at Northrise.

The Kuhula House, has been in operation for the last year offering the students a brand new facility to take classes in on Wednesdays.  With many classrooms with brand new desks and chairs and a larger lecture hall, the Kuhula house will soon be able to host all of the business classes for the future. The first of many classroom buildings to be developed for Northrise, the Kuhula house is a sign of good things to come for the University. Workers sang and danced outside in celebration of the grand opening of this building, knowing that this facility would pave the way for the continued growth of Northrise.

The day was a great day of celebration, showing how far the University has come in the last few years, but the night ended with a feeling of excitement over what will come this week. Volunteers are geared up and ready to continue moving Northrise forward and reach the community of Ndola! Stay tuned…

Phew, what a day.  After waking up twice last night I finally slept.  Then I prepared for a day of teaching.  I was definitely nervous because I did not know what to expect, or how the seminar participants would respond to my teaching.  We started this morning with singing in Bemba (which is their native language here).  No I do not speak the language, but I do know that they sing beautifully.  My “guide” translated the meaning of the songs for me. If I knew how to spell her name I would let you know what it is.  After teaching all morning we stopped for lunch and had traditional Zambian food.  Then it was back to work…

There were so many good comments and questions.  For those of you who do not know, I am teaching on domestic violence to the people who run a ministry called Arising Life Ministries.  They are from very diverse backgrounds and have great perspective.

Danalyn Savage

Danalyn and Scott Savage are friends of Northrise who made it to Zambia on the 25th of June 2011. So far Scotts days has been filled with class sessions both in the morning and afternoon while Dan has been involved with the  Zambia Police Force and Arising Life Ministries talking about domestic violence and child abuse. Dan and Scott are so lively and looking forward to the arrival of all the others as the Impact Week draws closer. So far, we have a total of 8  friends from the USA.

For more on Dan and Scott Savage, please visit their blog @

http://savageimpactndola.wordpress.com/

You can follow the Impact Week coverage in several ways…

1. This blog. We will post updates, pictures, and videos on here as often as possible throughout the week.

2. Twitter: You can also follow the official Impact Ndola twitter (@impactndola2011). You can also search the hashtag #impactndola2011.

3. Facebook

4. Northrise University Website

African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) met for their 10th annual conference in Lusaka on 8th June 2011. Over 3000 members of governments, private sectors and the civil societies of the United States and Africa met in Lusaka for three days. The forum was focused on discussing ways of strengthening trade between the United States and Sub-Sahara Africa.
Among the U.S senior officials, the country was honoured to receive US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk and US Deputy Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis.

AGOA was established on May 18, 2000 with the objective of encouraging as well as offering tangible incentives to African countries who continue to offer and build free markets in the United States. Exports made to the United States through AGOA are subject to zero duty, which encourages continued business relations between the United States and Sub-Sahara Africa.
A strong relationship with the United States not only provides a greater opportunity for Zambia and other countries to expand their economies but also provides the US with a platform to empower countries to expand their cultural qualities and heritage in international circles.

Sources:
www.agoa.info
www.agoa.gov
www.one.org/blog/2011/06/07/one-heads-to-zambia-for-the-agoa-conference
www.dictionary.com

In March of this year,  3 containers were shipped from 3 different locations to Zambia.  It was the largest single shipment of much needed supplies to date!  Along with regular donations and equipment for Northrise operations, supplies were sent to support the upcoming Impact Ndola 2011 trip as well as to equip and finish the NUCare clinic on the Northrise Main Campus.  All three containers arrived in early June and have been offloaded, ready for Impact travelers to arrive!

A special thank you to everyone involved in getting these much needed resources to Zambia!

Impact Ndola begins on July 1st.  To get regular updates, follow along via the blog, or through social media:

@impactndola2011  #impactndola

Become a fan on Facebook:

Impact Ndola 2011

By Chibozu Maambo

Monday’s chapel was led by students. Songs of praise and worship echoed through the halls of the school as the students rejoiced about the new week they had began. It was very interesting to see different students from various faculties and levels of study praising the Lord with various God given talents.  Encouragements came through scriptures, songs and poems. The Lord is worthy to be praised at all times with the gifts he has bestowed upon each one of us. As Northrise University students we will continue to glorify his name.

by Getrude Mashano

I have a few mantras that have carried me through my nearly 24 years of life and that have always stood out to be the resounding truth in every situation.
A few of them being:
“you can do anything you put your mind to…”

“be the friend you wish you had…”

“ you do not need to fight for that which is yours to start with”

“a rolling stone gathers no moss”

One of my newly found mantras is “Pole Pole” which I believe is Swahili for “slowly slowly…” now, don’t pull out a Swahili dictionary on me because I did say ‘believe is…’ and no one has the right to condemn a man for his or her beliefs right…lol.

Well, expressions like life is a rat race and the tough get going when the going gets tough are commonplace in a society that makes it so that the economically stable foster a workaholic lifestyle, But at what cost?
Do we as humans ever sit down to consider the opportunity cost of each of our actions or in this case, our inaction? What are the opportunities foregone of working overtime to buy that BMW we are coveting? What is the downside of that new mansion we are eying in Kabulonga (an urban area in Lusaka), what is the detrimental factor fueling our acquisition for a better lifestyle?

Don’t get me wrong…it is our human right to be able to have access to the best of what the world has to offer. But I put it to you, that maybe our perspective is all-wrong, and like someone used to tell me; we may be looking at life through a foggy lens.

Africans know better that “Ichuma Bantu” – as a slogan in the latest Barclays advertising campaign reminds us…which (I believe) is a Bemba expression encapsulating that the value of money lies in what it can do for the people one cares about.

And it is for them that we toil, it is for them that we sweat and bleed. So let us not lose focus. We should be hard workers but insure that the opportunity cost is not the quality of our relationships with those we love, that the side-effects are not dysfunctional families and resulting in a society of close strangers.
Please hear me on this; life is all about balance. And as written in Ecclesiastes 3:

There is a time for everything!

So today, I am imploring, that we make a little time for those we love… slowly – slowly.