Kigali college students make history

Caroline and Dick Seed (Photo: © CMS)

Julia Katorobo reports on an initiative to produce a new crop of Rwandan Christian leaders.

Twelve students will go down in history as the first to enrol at Kigali Anglican Theological College, which opened in March 2006.

From a practical point of view, this may seem a small start, especially since at least 20 students were needed in order for the college to break even currently.  But, as Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini explains, this is a very significant step for Rwanda.

“The Province of Rwanda decided to have its own theological college following two weeks of theological evaluation assisted by the African Network of Institutions of Theological Education Preparing Anglicans for Ministry (ANITEPAM).  All participants came to a common understanding that one of the reasons for the genocide was poor training of church workers,” Archbishop Kolini says.

In the months after the 1994 genocide, the world was shocked to hear that culprits included church leaders.  No one could understand how respected Christian leaders had turned out to be the proverbial "wolves in sheep’s clothing".

Archbishop Kolini is sure that Rwanda needs a Church whose mission is to transform Rwandan society according to the principles of God’s Kingdom.  His dream is that Kigali Anglican Theological College will produce a new crop of Christian leaders to bring about this transformation.

CMS mission partners Caroline and Dick Seed are staff members at the brand new institution: Dick as Principal and Professor of Theology, and Caroline as Professor of Missiology and administrator of the library.

They say that although the buildings have not yet been completed, 11 men and 1 woman have already started classes.  In this first intake, four of the nine dioceses of Rwanda are represented.

Three happy students of English at Kigali (Photo: The Seeds/CMS)

Three students are fluent French speakers but, because the courses are taught in English, they are undertaking a year of intensive English study before they proceed with theological training.

“They are very motivated and have already made great strides in learning English.  At the moment, though, Caroline is the sole English teacher and is carrying a heavy teaching load, together with responsibility for the library,” Dick points out.

“Perhaps our greatest prayer at the moment is for strength for all the staff to cope with the heavy workload we each have,” he adds, “We are short-staffed....”

Water and electricity are yet to be installed, and the few staff members are overworked because of the lack of funds currently to hire more people.  However, this has not hindered Caroline and Dick from making the best of what they have at the moment.

Archbishop Kolini says of them, “They are a wonderful couple who love the Lord and therefore love to serve him in any given circumstances.   Being Africans themselves, they understand the situation and are ready to use any opportunity in the hope that God will continue to bless his work.”

Amid sounds of hammering, as furniture is assembled and as the buildings near completion, there is an awareness that a much more important work will spring forth from here — that of building a society grounded in ‘the Truth’ and able to overcome the problems that have dogged Rwanda’s past.

“Rwanda is well known as a country of a thousand hills.  Then Pope Paul VI commented, ‘Rwanda has become a country of a thousand problems; therefore, it needs a thousand answers.’  Today we are trying to make it a country of a thousand hopes,” Archbishop Kolini declares.