FOR A GOOD CAUSE:Realizing the dream of education

Whether you describe it as a vision, a calling or the “funny feeling” he says he had 19 years ago in Ndola, Africa, Moffat Zimba’s dream to build a university in Zambia is that much closer to being realized.

The Northrise University Initiative, a nonprofit organization formed in 2003 with Zimba as its president, is based in Costa Mesa and helmed by Newport Beach resident and Executive Director Bill Beck. Beck and Zimba were pastors when they met at Grace Fellowship Church in Costa Mesa in the late ‘90s.

Northrise University has 110 students attending classes in a five-story building in downtown Ndola that was purchased for them by a church member in 2004. But there is no place for the students — some of whom travel great distances to attend — to live.

Many students arrive with paperwork in hand and a huge smile on their face, Zimba says.

Even though they’ve been told they are responsible for their own housing, many have no idea where they will live and, according to Zimba, aren’t concerned in the least.

“I’m going to school — this was my dream,” Zimba says the students tell him, and then it’s up to him and his staff to scramble to find them accommodations.

With 640 acres of land deeded to them by the African government, the project has raised enough money in the last few years to begin building a dormitory on the land they own.

The university offers two- and four-year programs in IT and theology, along with a four-year program in business administration.

Beck had no knowledge of Zambia or that area of southern Africa when he became involved with Zimba and his plans to start a university in the village he had left behind years before.

“I often tell Moffat I wish his vision had been in Tahiti,” Beck jokes, but his involvement and commitment to the project is much more reflective of his more serious passion for the work they are doing.

Zimba was raised in a small, poor village in the eastern part of Zambia, learned how to write on the ground with his finger and never made it past a secondary education in his country. He went on to further his education in Australia and the U.S.

Moffat and wife Doreen Zimba’s decision to return to Zambia in 2003 and start a university is what impresses Beck the most.

“They could have stayed in America and done very well, but instead they came back and made incredible sacrifices,” Beck says.

Both Zimbas are key faculty members at the university, and because there is no money to hire instructors, they have visiting professors from the United States and Australia who come and teach for two-week periods.

Ken Verheyen, president of Costa-Mesa based Astropak Corp. and also a member of Grace Fellowship Church, allows Beck and his small staff from Northrise to use Astropak’s office space, telephones, copiers and printers at no charge. That saves the program in overhead costs, and allows the money raised to go directly toward the $2,000 per year in scholarships they provide to students who would otherwise not be able to afford a college education.

Beck also oversees an annual golf tournament fundraiser that began in 2003 and netted $17,000 its inaugural year.

Zimba doesn’t play golf, but enjoys the post-tournament banquet, where he has an opportunity to meet and thank the people who support his vision and what he describes as “the journey of faith” he and his wife began many years ago.

For more information, go to www.northrise.org.