‘Our Children’ Grown Up | By Barbara Dadd Shaffer
Jamaa Letu young people are now university students
As this is written, it is the evening of the last day of September, or Monday morning in Lubumbashi. E-mails are flying back and forth as six students are preparing for the new academic year at universities. For three of them, this is their first year. They are experiencing a whole range of emotions in moving from a childhood home – Jamaa Letu in this case – into adulthood. Young adulthood, admittedly, but adulthood.
Two young men and one young woman are making this move.
Idris Mukana Belinga is already at Africa University in Zimbabwe, the fortunate recipient of a full scholarship from a benefactor in New Jersey.
Zango Mungole will move from Lubumbashi to Mulungwishi (about three hours away by mini-bus) to attend The United Methodist University there to study with the Computer Science faculty. A young faculty member in this department is his mentor.
Julie Bakabamba will stay in Lubumbashi. She is enrolling in the Institute of Statistics to study management of computer sciences. Her mentor is Claudine.
These three young people are joining three older students. Claudine Kasango Nyota is beginning her fifth year in Public Health (the university course is typically five years). Cecile Kalubi is beginning her third year in law. Stevens Kapend Tshikomb is beginning his second year in engineering. All three are enrolled in the University of Lubumbashi, the same city as the two orphanages.
Why the e-mails? The five students are supported financially by the Pacific Northwest Conference. They are ‘our children’ and we are funding their costs for higher education. How much will they need and when? How will the funds be used by the students? Who will mentor them? There are budgets to prepare, funds to be transferred and bank accounts to be opened, enrollments to do, books and supplies to be purchased, housing to be found, household equipment and supplies to be acquired, and all those things which go with higher education and living independently. Two UM missionaries, Rukang Chikomb and Jeff Hoover, work with each student regarding the funds and the transition.
Are you or your church willing to help support one of these students? Is higher education a passion? Is supporting these orphans as they move through their education important to you? If you have sponsored children and teens in the two orphanages, is it natural that you would support them in this stage of their lives? It costs about $2,500 to fully support one student for one year. Yes, everything. That’s five sponsorships of $500 or multiples of that amount by one sponsor. Donations may be made through your local United Methodist Church or directly to the conference office. Contact Barbara Dadd Shaffer at barbdadd@aol.com and we’ll help you with this.
The two orphanages, named Jamaa Letu, are projects of The United Methodist Church in Southern Congo, Africa. More than eighty children and teens are in care. The Pacific Northwest Conference provides significant funding for them.
ALSO
–Give the Gift of Education
Barbara Dadd Shaffer serves as the co-chair on
The Bishop’s Task Force on Hope for the Children of Africa.
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