November 2024 Newsletter
Training Africa’s Next Generation of Spiritual Leaders
Staff Housing Challenges!
AIU faces growing pains as its staff and ministry impact increase.
Since the founding of AIU, providing living accommodations for our staff and students has remained a priority. However, the demand for housing has continuously increased as the university grows.
Specifically, AIU is currently facing difficulty housing all of its staff. Most of our staff are accommodated in cabins and semi-detached two-room apartments, with only a few living in stand-alone three-room houses. Since our current housing facilities were first constructed, nothing else has been done to provide our staff with proper accommodation. During the 2024 academic year, our staff population on campus has grown to about 34. The majority of these staff members are married and still do not have decent accommodation.
As we continue to hire new staff each year, housing has now become a serious challenge. The problem has grown to the point that more than half of our staff population does not have adequate accommodation. Most of our single staff live in cabins and yet have plans to marry soon. Even as our faculty works daily and faithfully to serve the Lord, they are burdened with concern about how to accommodate their families while they serve at AIU. Currently, ten of our faculty members live in cabins which were originally designed with students in mind.
In response to this challenge, we plan to complete several unfinished buildings on campus as staff houses, as soon we have the resources. To accomplish this, we are asking for your support.
We plan to tackle the project in phases. For phase one, we have identified three buildings to convert into staff houses:
Finishing up a semi-detached building at Compound 5. This would become two apartments with one bedroom and living room each (estimated cost: $6,700).
Finishing up a stand-alone two-bedroom house at Compound 5 (estimated cost: $8,500).
Finishing up a semi-detached building behind the Compound 3 bath house. This would become two apartments with one bedroom and living room each (estimated cost: $8,700).
As you can see in the pictures, some of these unfinished buildings already have walls and would only require partitioning and furnishing. Would your church or group prayerfully consider taking on a project to help provide accommodation for our staff who serve the Lord faithfully and diligently?
The total estimated cost to complete all three buildings is $23,900. Please pray with us that God will provide for AIU toward this important project. Feel free to share this need with others who might be interested in giving. Any donations can be made using the link below.
We are grateful to all those who continue to help sustain AIU through Gospelink. We praise God for your prayers and generosity.
Incoming Freshmen!
A new year means new students joining the AIU family.
During the first half of 2024, our admissions and marketing team traveled across Zambia to promote the mission of AIU, both in physical locations and across radio and social media platforms. We received applications from prospective students beginning in March until late October. This year’s interviews were conducted via online platforms to reduce the need for travel, allowing us to get to know applicants and their testimonies.
Both local and international students expressed interest in studying at AIU in the coming year. We held two phases of interviews in July and November, respectively, meeting applicants from three African nations.
We praise the Lord for many successful interviews this year! Out of 25 applicants interviewed, 23 were selected to be part of the incoming freshman class at AIU. Our 2025 freshman class will consist of students from Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique.
We are thankful to see that God is moving in the lives of young men who have a passion for studying God’s Word and being trained in how to teach it. AIU’s mission is to train the next generation of spiritual leaders.
The included photo features the syllabus for incoming freshmen at AIU.
Pray for these prospective students that God will prepare their hearts as they plan to come and learn God’s Word at AIU. Also, please pray for them as they work out logistics and for safety as they travel.
Poultry House Security!
AIU makes much-needed security upgrades to support the campus poultry project.
For more than a decade, our poultry houses have lacked proper bio and physical security. Valuable tools have been stolen from AIU and trespassing has been uncontrollable. Our lack of biosecurity has also exposed our chickens to diseases from trespassing people and animals from the surrounding villages. We have been working for some time to find a permanent solution to this problem.
To address these issues, video cameras and spotlights were installed in strategic positions at our poultry houses, providing a view of the front, back, and sides of each one. In addition, we have now installed a security wire fence with only one entrance to curb trespassing. We hope that these developments will greatly improve both bio and physical security at the poultry houses by only allowing authorized personnel on the premises.
We are so thankful and excited for this significant development. Thank you for your generous contributions toward enhancing security on our campus.
The poultry houses play a key role at AIU. At the main cafeteria, students and staff eat chickens that are raised on campus, offsetting the cost of meat. The poultry project is a key part of AIU’s plan to achieve self-sustainability. In view of this, we do everything possible to keep our poultry houses safe and operational.
Please praise God with us and continue praying as we take the right steps to ensure our poultry houses are secure.
Distance Learning Gets a New Platform!
AIU’s transition to Moodle empowers instructors and engages students.
We are pleased to share news of continued development in AIU’s academic programs. To facilitate a more robust online program, our undergraduate distance learning students are transitioning to the Moodle learning platform.
Moodle is an education management system from Horizon Education Network. Since 2022, AIU has been partnering with Horizon Education Network to provide this platform for education.
Moodle gives our lecturers more options to fit each one’s teaching style and methods. With Moodle, the instructor can arrange all of the course materials in a way that is accessible to the students. After a class is set up in Moodle, students can access it and follow along with each lesson using their phones or other electronic devices. Moodle also increases efficiency for our instructors by automatically grading tests and quizzes, and storing the results in an online gradebook.
Even though distance learning students will not be meeting in a classroom together, Moodle offers the options of interactive discussion boards and immediate feedback from the professor. All communication between the professor and the students happens within the Moodle classroom.
We are excited to be introducing the Moodle platform for our distance learning program, which includes students from Togo, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, and the Gambia.
Continue to pray with us as we work diligently to raise our academic standards. The included picture shows a dashboard of the different courses in Moodle. We are so thankful to God for this development.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT!
ELVIS CHIBUYE
Assistant Librarian
Elvis Chibuye, a member of AIU’s class of 2024, joined AIU’s staff as Assistant Librarian this November. In this capacity, Elvis serves library users, staff, and students by helping them find information, cataloging and arranging books in the library, and supervising students who do their work scholarship at the library.
Elvis comes from the Copperbelt Province of northern Zambia. During his time as a student at AIU, he served in various scholarship departments. Elvis enjoys working in the library at AIU as it allows him to help those who are looking for information.
In his role at the library, Elvis not only serves others, but is also able to continue learning and growing in his own understanding. Serving in this capacity has been a great joy for him as it exposes him to many cultures and worldviews. Elvis also finds this a valuable opportunity to encourage others to research in the library.
“I consider it a blessing to work here as an assistant librarian. It allows me to interact with different library patrons and gives me a platform to learn new things every day. I do research work daily to make sure that we are moving at the same pace as other academic libraries. This job is an opportunity to serve the Lord by helping and encouraging patrons to study, not just for the sake of knowledge, but also for personal development. Currently, my goal is to catalog all the books in the AIU library and implement a library management system which will help reduce manual work.”
Pray with Elvis for God’s wisdom, strength, and guidance as he serves in this capacity.
STudent SPOTLIGHT!
MIKE LUNGU
Freshman
Mike Lungu, a 2024 freshman at AIU, comes from Zambia’s capital city of Lusaka. The second of five siblings, he was raised in a Christian family alongside his brother and three sisters.
In 2016, Mike first believed in Jesus when he heard the gospel at a church conference he was attending. That day, he was convicted of his need for a Savior and began following Christ, loving Him more and enjoying fellowship with other believers.
After graduating from AIU, Mike plans to be a pastor. Looking back at where he has come from, he is so thankful for everyone who has helped him get to where he is today, whether those who sponsor his education or other students on campus who encourage him. Mike is also grateful for the teachers at AIU who have poured into him every step of the way.
“AIU’s training has helped me to grow so much as a Christian and a person. I have even grown in socializing, building, and maintaining relationships with other believers. I have also learned different skills from my work scholarship department. The knowledge gained by attending classes daily is invaluable and I am excited to put it to good use.”
Pray with Mike for God's wisdom and guidance, and that he will finish his studies well. Also, pray for his plans to be a pastor after graduating from AIU.