I recently traveled to Maputo, Mozambique, for a first-ever gathering of persons from some of the E-reader Project schools to consider establishing hubs of e-reader operations in Africa. Attendees of the meeting included Rev. Dr. Beauty Maenzanise and Rev. Thomas More Munengwa from Mutare, Zimbabwe; Massamba Perfeito, a student at Africa University from Angola; Julu Swen, DRI representative in West Africa; Joe Tueche from Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire; and Pierre Omadjela from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
This meeting was held in the same venue in Maputo as three other events during the same week: the annual meetings of the Africa Association of United Methodist Institutions (AAUMTI) and the Africa Association of Methodist Institutions of Higher Education (AAMIHE) and the first Africa Evangelism Summit, sponsored by the Foundation for Evangelism and Global Ministries.
Working with the E-reader group we were able to establish goals for the 2017-2020 quadrennium, including establishing E-reader hubs of operations in Mutare, Zimbabwe; Kinshasa, DRC; and in West Africa (Liberia or Cote d’Ivoire). We were also able to discuss: reaching out to more United Methodist theological students—even those attending regional ecumenical schools; adding tablets to the E-reader program, upgrading technology in classrooms, and the possible use of an online server to help with content distribution for the program.
The group plans to meet monthly by video conference starting in January 2017.