Daystar University, Athi River, Kenya
Founders Don and Faye Smith moved the small training college they operated from Zimbabwe to Nairobi in 1973, offering a Master’s degree in communications with accreditation from Wheaton College in Illinois. Since then Daystar University has grown to offer more than 40 programs with accreditation from the government of Kenya in 1994, when they also began a second campus just outside Nairobi in the town of Athi River.
EMI Project 9131
Founders Don and Faye Smith moved the small training college they operated from Zimbabwe to Nairobi in 1973, offering a Master’s degree in communications with accreditation from Wheaton College in Illinois. Since then Daystar University has grown to offer more than 40 programs with accreditation from the government of Kenya in 1994, when they also began a second campus just outside Nairobi in the town of Athi River.
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| Existing reservoir on campus. |
The area around Athi River is semi-arid, receiving only
around 50 cm (20 inches) of rainfall per year. Because of the geology in the area, water wells do not give high yields. The municipal sources of water cannot meet
the demand of the rapidly growing populations on the outskirts of the capital
of Kenya. As a result, the 2,000+
students and numerous faculty and support staff suffer from water rationing on
a regular basis. The university resorts
to purchasing water that is brought in by water tanker at high costs. EMI was
requested to assist with the water source problem and in June, I traveled with
a team to Athi River to perform a topographic survey and preliminary
feasibility study for water sourcing. We estimated that Daystar currently is
only able to provide about half of the water that they actually need to support
the population at the school.
I
have returned for Phase II, co-leading a team of engineers. We hope to complete the survey in order to produce plans for capturing rainfall in the two existing reservoirs located on
campus, and design a third dam to create a new reservoir for increased storage capacity. Along with the survey and dam design, we will
also conduct an analysis of the existing water distribution system to recommend
improvements and the existing waste water system to determine the feasibility
of grey water recycling.
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| Dan, Patrick, and Kristina visit the local water treatment plant. |
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| Surveyor Alan getting a point at the top of the water tank. |
One of my favorite parts of EMI project trips is connecting with
the local people in the ministries we serve, in this case, the students of
Daystar. At the student led chapel on
Sunday, Information Technology student Grace shared this original composition.
(Note: For you
non-tech folks, LAN stands for local area network, a computer network which
connects computers together in a limited area and IP stands for Internet
Protocol, a communications protocol that relays data across the internet.)
HEAVEN’S LAN
I have set up a firewall,
To filter out the devil's traffic from my heart’s
LAN;
I have installed an antivirus called TrustGod,
To protect me against the devil's threats;
I update it daily with the Word.
Every part of my world is a hotspot,
I access God through an IP called prayer;
God and his angles are our servers,
Our requests never experience collisions,
‘Coz each of us has a unique IP address.
Your response may be an ACK, NAK or a timeout;
Acknowledgement for yes,
Not acknowledged for no,
And timeout for wait.
A most effective network,
It experiences no server overload,
Nor network downtime.
Subscription is free,
With lifelong guarantee of no disconnection,
Unless by personal choice.
Surf as per your choice.
Heaven is a wondrous site,
Register instantly via salvation.
-
Grace Mugane
Later we met with Grace and she talked about the plans
the government of Kenya has to construct a new technology center modeled after
Silicon Valley just southeast of Daystar. Founders Don and Faye Smith believe
that God has strategically placed the University between this new city, Konza,
and the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Konza
is poised to be a center for development of East Africa and students like Grace
are already planning to be in position to serve God in that place with the
education they receive at Daystar.
Education is a gift we in the west take for
granted. Daystar offers affordable and
quality education to the people of East Africa and I am pleased to serve along
side this ministry. Like Grace, and many
other students here, we should all strive to look for opportunities to use our
education and other gifts to serve God, bring glory to Jesus, and bless others.
Please pray for the students and staff of Daystar and for
our team as we work through the rest of this week.
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| Work Room |
