A Look Back at The E-Reader Project in 2018

The end of the year is when most of us take some time to reflect back on the significant moments of the past year: accomplishments, growth, and changes. The E-Reader Project had its share of those as well. Here is a look back at some of the project’s significant moments in 2018.

This year, the project continued its e-reader production for schools in all three languages. A total of 507 e-readers were delivered to the project’s partner schools. This is the fourth consecutive year the project has prepared and delivered over 500 devices.



2018 saw the addition of three more partner schools. The School of Theology at Katako-Kombe and University of Theology at Lubumbashi, two French-speaking schools in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, received their first devices and held trainings this year. Recently, the United Methodist Theological College in Uganda became the 25^th school to partner with the project, receiving its first set of e-readers earlier this month.

In July, the third annual meeting of the Africa E-Reader Team took place in Nashville, Tennessee. The first two meetings had been held in Africa. The team is made up of the project’s representatives from all over the continent. Throughout the year, team members visit schools, deliver e-readers and hold trainings on how to effectively use the device. The meeting is a chance for members to come together and report on schools they have visited and how the project is performing there. The trip to Nashville also gave our visiting team members the opportunity to visit four United Methodist agencies and The United Methodist Publishing House to tour the buildings and hear more about the work of each organization.



2018 also saw the E-Reader Project transition into new leadership. Since our beginning in 2013, the project has been a shared initiative with Discipleship Ministries and Higher Education and Ministry (HEM). Robin Pippin had led the Project since 2013; but in July of this year, leadership was transferred to the able hands of Rev. Dr. Beauty Maenzanise, a manager with Higher Education and Ministry.

Dr. Maenzanise, a native of Zimbabwe and former Dean of the Faculty of Theology at Africa University, co-led the Africa E-Reader Team for three years with Pippin. In her work, Dr. Maenzanise has visited most of the partner schools and has been an enthusiastic champion of the E-Reader Project. She has facilitated the addition of new schools to the project each year, and she will support the growing e-library in three languages. Our Nashville team of Junie Nkonge and Taylor Elliott will continue the day-to-day work of the project, with Pippin staying on in an advisory role.

The E-Readers for Theological Education initiative is a partnership with Higher Education and Ministry and Discipleship Ministries and is committed to providing e-libraries on e-readers with important theological texts to the libraries of United Methodist-related and sponsored theological schools in Africa and the Philippines. Learn more about the E-Reader project and donate today