WHAT IS UBECA?
L’UNIVERSITE BATISSONS L’ESPOIR DE
DUNGU (UBECA) is a Christian University located in Dungu, in Northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The university opened its doors in 2018 with five areas of study: agronomy, economics, education, medicine, and the law. A theology department will be added in October 2022. UBECA trains students from the vast areas of Northeastern DRC, Southern South Sudan, and Southeastern Central African Republic. UBECA is part of “Restoring Hope Ministries,” a tax-exempt organization based in Pennsylvania, USA.
WHY WAS UBECA CREATED?
Since 1885, when the Berlin Conference partitioned Africa, DRC has experienced little but unrest. The impact of the 1994 Rwandan genocide was felt far beyond the Rwandan boarders into DRC, accounting for more than 6 million deaths. One of the results was the establishment of the Lord’s Resistance Army, which struck Dungu, among other places. The LRA has killed thousands of innocent civilians, burned villages and towns, displaced families, and abducted children to serve as child soldiers and sex slaves. Sexual violence committed to women and girls in this region was something so atrocious it had never been experienced in the world. Rape after rape left women destroyed inside. Externally, girls’ lips were cut off to leave them unattractive for marriage. This vast region became home to hundreds of thousands of traumatized people who exhibit mental, psychological, spiritual, moral, and physical wounds. The Dungu region has become very isolated from the rest of the country, with no food security or sufficient jobs. There is little clean or running water, and electricity is almost non-existent. Malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, and tropical endemic diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, cholera, sleeping sickness, Ebola, and now COVID-19, are common. The scarcity of vaccines, medicine, and an appropriate healthcare system have left the people of Dungu helpless. Even the church in this area needs more trained ministers who will help meet the multiple spiritual challenges of the region. UBECA students attend a standing-room-only classroom this academic year.
HELPING PEOPLE HELP THEMSELVES
One of the most disturbing factors is the lack of an appropriate educational system that can prepare workers to tackle these problems. Only around 45% of children attend primary schools, 28% of whom will go to high schools, and just 5% of whom will reach higher levels of education. Very few schools exist to serve the population, and their extreme poverty prevents parents from being able to afford the fees of better schools hundreds of miles away. There was no hope of a better life for the people of this vast region until the local church got the vision of creating an institution of higher education that will train men and women from the region to meet the area’s vast challenges. The Rev. Dr. Bagudekia Alobeyo is a native of DRC who lives in the United States. When relative peace came to the region, six years ago, Dr. Alobeyo visited the area many times while thinking about possible solutions to this immense need. With a belief that “you can’t develop people, but people develop themselves,” Dr. Alobeyo embraced the vision of creating UBECA as a tool to train this new kind of leadership, made up of capable and creative men and women.
UNIQUENESS OF UBECA
1. The university uses strategic and comprehensive approaches to teach students to critically analyze issues and develop practical solutions for needy communities. They will use modern technological practices with an understanding of the sociocultural and spiritual realities of the community, as well as an understanding of economic development and trade on national and international levels. At UBECA, vocational workers will be trained to meet the vast needs of an appropriate healthcare system. Spiritual leaders will be trained to minister to the vast spiritual needs in the area.
2. Since the primary goal of UBECA is to transform a world of despair into a world of hope, efforts are made to entrust theoretical and practical knowledge so the students graduate with the capacity and “know how” to solve problems.
3. Faculty members at UBECA are encouraged to be “facilitators” to the students. They help students tap into their existing banks of knowledge for their own development. The simple memorizing of teachers’ notes is discouraged at UBECA.
4. Part of UBECA’s philosophy is the intentional objective of not training “job seekers” but “job creators.” Being a bilingual institution, UBECA offers its training in both French and English for all students, which will help them compete in the international marketplace.
5. UBECA is a Christian university that takes spiritual transformation and Christian ethics seriously, on the campus and outside, even to the work place after graduation. UBECA was created to meet the needs of Africans in Africa. At UBECA we take seriously African cultural values, such as the transmission of knowledge from one generation to another through storytelling, music and dance, pavilion quest for counsel under the tree, the wisdom gained from group meetings, etc.
AREAS OF PRAYER FOR UBECA
Pray for the funds needed to create a better classroom environment for teaching and studying. Ask God to provide financial support for the discipleship program at the university. Petition the Lord to send strong Christian teachers who can teach part time or full time at the school. Pray that the school’s needs would be met with such items as laptop computers, small projectors, printers, a copying machine, etc.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
In 2020, Restoring Hope Ministries offered microfinance and trauma healing projects to 25 women in Dungu. The man at the left, Michel Mibitile Mbilambila, is one of the three projects managers, and also the manager of Bâtissons l’Espoir in Dungu. The man in the center of the back row is the Rev. Dr. Bagudekia Alobeyo, executive director of U.S.-based Restoring Hopes Ministry and Bâtissons l’Espoir.