Hope Africa University

With its network of US partners, HAU tops our list of trustworthy favorites for 2025.

This post is part of a nine-part year-end giving series on organizations we love.

Hope Africa University in Burundi, East Africa, is important to us because it is making a transformative difference in the poorest country in the world and because Scott has been involved in its development at several points since its very early years.1

*Mountainous countryside in western Burundi during rainy season (view from the bus)*

When HAU began in 2000, the circumstances could not have been less promising. A horrific civil war had churned for nearly a decade. 400,000 Burundians were exiled in neighboring Kenya, unsure of when or how they would ever be able to return home and what they would find if they did.

*Burundi borders Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda.*

Among them, five Burundian Free Methodists were earnestly praying for the holistic healing of their country and region. They became convinced of the necessity of preparing the next generation of leaders to rebuild and serve their country after the war’s eventual end. They would need not only skills (engineering, economics, governance, medicine, agriculture, and more) but also personal transformation through Christ so that they could influence their war-torn nation to pursue a new life of peace and goodwill, with forgiveness among neighbors who had wronged one another in unimaginable ways.

The exiled leaders discussed their dream with a long-time friend, Bishop Gerald Bates, who had served as a missionary in Burundi and who pledged his support. He enlisted partners in the US who affirmed Burundian leadership and offered practical, relational, and financial help.

As an act of faith and aspiration in a country where they owned nothing and had no certainty, the exiles started teaching with 12 students. Enrollment grew rapidly. By 2003, the war had ended, and HAU was able to return to Burundi with land from the government and partnership from the Free Methodist Church of North America.

*Entrance to HAU main campus in Bujumbura, Burundi*

In 2005, Scott began working in fundraising, planned giving, and stewardship services for the Free Methodist Foundation, and he had the privilege of supporting Bishop Bates in donor meetings and events to raise funds for the university’s first buildings. In 2020, he joined the board of the North American support organization, Friends of Hope Africa University, and in 2025, we were delighted to attend the celebration of the university’s 25th anniversary.

*The 25th anniversary festivities included cultural performances by students from surrounding countries*.

It has been very gratifying to see HAU become a respected and influential Christian university in a struggling region. HAU now offers 43 undergraduate and graduate programs and has an enrollment of over 7000 students. I’ve included some photos of the main HAU campus in the capital city of Bujumbura.

*Scott helped raise funds to construct HAU’s administrative building (right) in 2005.*

*Scott and I stayed in the top left guest apartment on campus.*

*The Burundians were generous and attentive hosts.*

Gifts to HAU have a holistic impact within Burundi and across the region, supporting spiritual and societal transformation. A current major project is the construction of a new medical school building. Burundi has only 7 doctors per 100,000 people (or 1 doctor per 14,000 people), and half of them are graduates of HAU, trained at a Free Methodist clinic and hospital that serve the public around the clock. I made a rough video to give one of our sons a virtual tour of the impressive hospital, and you can watch it through this link (though it’s definitely not a polished piece).

*A doctor at Kibuye Hope Hospital shows us equipment and educational tools that would strengthen HAU’s surgical instruction in a country in which cadaver labs are not fe*asible.

Thank you for considering support of HAU! Our Christian brothers and sisters within the Burundian church are active and committed to doing the hands-on work, and Scott and I love supporting them. What if our network of friends could help build that medical school with $15,000 this Christmas season?

*Sunday morning worship service with a packed and exuberant house*. *Typical of the hardworking Burundians we met throughout the country, the pastor of this church is bivocational and serves as a senior HAU administrator.*

Here is the website of the US-based support organization, Friends of Hope Africa University, including a secure donation link:
https://haufriends.org/

Here is the university website:
https://www.hau.bi/

Also, this promotional video made by the university provides an overview (and will put your French to the test):
https://youtu.be/_tHFUg_-5WY?si=A5yNb4u4YT-ep0DW

Both Hope Africa University and its US-based partner, Friends of Hope Africa University, have YouTube channels with many videos, if you’d like to learn more.

For the list of all of our 2025 Giving Favorites, click here.

For the story behind our list of Giving Favorites, click here.

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Notes

1. Burundi is often listed as the first or second poorest country in the world, as four primary sources (the IMF, World Bank, UN, and CIA) differ in their GDP rankings.