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Travel Report: Solusi University, Zimbabwe
Adventist Men’s Organization (AMO
Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division (SID)
Theme: “Men of Courage”
April 1-5, 2014
Zimbabwe
It is now officially called the Republic of Zimbabwe
although it was formerly known as Rhodesia when the British governed it. It is a landlocked country located in
southern Africa. The capital is
Harare. There are 16 official languages
with English, Shona and Ndebel being the most common. The economy in Zimbabwe is weak as can be
imagined with an unemployment rate of 80%!
Inflation rose from an annual rate of 32% in 1998, to an
official estimated high of 11,200,000% in August 2008 according to the
country's Central Statistical Office. Zimbabweans are permitted to use other,
more stable currencies to do business, alongside the Zimbabwe dollar. While
it has its own currency the more common currency is the U.S. dollar.
Solusi University
This was my first visit to both Zimbabwe and Solusi
University. Over the years I have heard
much about Solusi so I looked forward to my visit. The enrollment has decreased to just over 900
full time students but projections for next year are higher. It is about 45 minutes over a very rough
pot-holed road from Bulawayo—the second largest city in Zimbabwe (a population of about 650k) located in the
southwestern part of the country. We
were told that it would be quite possible to see snakes at night as we traveled
– such as the large python but we saw none. The university was established in
1894 and is the first private institution of higher education in the
country. It follows the American grading
system. The Vice Chancellor is Dr. Joel
Musvosvi.
Solusi University is located within the Southern
Africa-Indian Ocean Division—a division with over 3 million members. The Zimbabwe Union is the second largest
union with over 630 thousand members.
The Zambia Union is over 900 thousand members and yes these are
“unions”! The division has over 3
million members and growing rapidly. From my own personal observations the
phenomenal growth that is taking place in this division can be attributed to a
strong sense of prophetic identity, the unifying influence of the Spirit of
Prophecy and the dominate role of the laity.
In addition to these characteristics is a lack of a dominant secularism
which often plagues much of the western world.
Poverty is a disadvantage but it also has its advantages as far as
helping create a need that is not covered-up with material assets or blessings.
Pastors often have 8 to 10 churches causing each pastor to serve as a
“district” leader leading them to reinforce lay ministry and lay training. The enthusiasm for this message and the zeal
to share is inspiring!
The Meeting: Adventist Men’s Organization
This was the first division-wide congress of the Adventist
Men’s Organization (AMO) held in the Southern Africa-India Ocean Division. Over 400 men were in attendance. Many of the 9 union presidents were in
attendance. The visionary behind the
event was the very capable Pastor Passmore N Mulambo, the division director for
Sabbath School and Personal Ministries Department. The theme was “Men of Courage” which was
designed to strengthen the men’s spiritual role in the home, in the church and
in the community. Built around Africa traditions when older men would sit
together and share counsel with fellow
men as to “how to live and behave in society.”
(I’m not sure about my counsel but I did fit in with the “older” men
part! J )
There were several speakers but two of
us carried the bulk of the speaking appointments.. I was very impressed with the presentations
of the other speaker, Pastor Debleaire K
Snell, pastor of the First Huntsville, Alabama Church.
He taught homiletics and gave examples of biblical narrative
preaching. Excellent! I spoke for 10 of
the meetings with my presentations on Special Needs Ministries (Deaf, blind,
etc), stewardship principles and a couple devotionals. It was a very full schedule but extremely
rewarding for all of us. A special bonus
for me was to see three students (seasoned workers) who were in the MBA class I
taught at the Adventist University of Africa (AUA) in Kenya last year. To see them in their own environment was
really special.
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