In August, William Rumuri and his friends began planting fruit trees along the driveway leading up to the Ubuntu Retreat Center on the Africa University campus. They started with the fruits that are popular among the students—mangoes, oranges, tangerines, and avocados. Their plan is for a mixed orchard that lines both sides of the driveway.
Your support of the Africa University Fund apportionment supports the general operating expenses of Africa University including faculty and staff salaries and vital infrastructure.
The driveway that Rumuri and his friends are working on overlooks the Ndorimana Bonaventure Dining Hall and Student Union Building, named in honor of a Burundian pastor and founding member of the Africa University Board of Directors.
Ndorimana served alongside directors from the Africa, the USA and Europe on the buildings and ground committee of the AU Board. He helped his fellow directors to understand and embrace the dreams and expectations of African United Methodists for the new university. He made important contributions to the strategic direction, master plan, and visioning of the campus infrastructure until his untimely death in late October 1993. Ndorimana fell victim to extrajudicial killings during civil unrest in Burundi. His family was targeted, his wife and one son were also killed, and for many years his surviving children lived in the shadows.
William Rumuri is Ndorimana's son. He is currently enrolled in the executive master's degree program in business administration at Africa University. With this tree-planting project, Rumuri is literally walking in the footsteps of his late father. It is a labor of love, rooted in hope and a desire to be a part of the future that Bonaventure Ndorimana imagined in the earliest days of the Africa University story.
Andra M. Stevens, Director, Communications, Africa University Development Office
One of seven apportioned giving opportunities of The United Methodist Church, the Africa University Fund transforms Africa by educating and empowering students from across the continent through Africa University, the first fully accredited, United Methodist-related educational institution on the continent. The Africa University Fund supports the general operating expenses of Africa University including faculty and staff salaries and vital infrastructure. Please encourage your leaders and congregations to support the Africa University Fund at 100 percent.
