By Merritt Jenkins

As part of the Centennial celebration, Lee University’s School of Religion faculty raised money to start a Bible school in a South Sudanese refugee camp in Uganda. The new school has just concluded its first year of studies.

“We are pleased to see this vision come to fruition,” said Dr. Rickie Moore, associate dean of the School of Religion. “What better way for Lee to reflect with gratitude upon its humble beginning than to help bring about the birth of another school. We saw this as an opportunity to pay it forward, you could say, from the harvest of one humble beginning to the promise of another.”

The school’s conception began with Dr. Carolyn Dirksen, distinguished professor emeritus of English, who introduced the project to the School of Religion leadership. In 2017, she visited Kenya where she met Dichi Joseph Levi, who later was forced to leave his home and move to Pagirinya Refugee Camp in Uganda.

Levi, who was previously a Bible school student in Kenya, decided to start his own Bible training school in the camp. He has already started three churches in the refugee camp.

“Dichi was my student in a course I taught in East Africa a couple of summers ago,” said Dirksen. “His dream is to train people in the Bible so that, when they go back home to South Sudan, they can take the message of the gospel with them. He asked for very little to start this Bible school, and I knew this project would be close to the hearts of the leaders of Lee’s School of Religion.”

The original goal was $1,400, which Levi projected as the start-up cost for the new school. Lee faculty, staff, and students exceeded that amount with a total amount raised of $1,875.

At its start, the Bible school had 12 students and offered two courses. The plan is for the school to have more students and three courses in January 2020.