In Memoriam: Reflecting on the Life of Dr. Kevin Eames

On the evening of September 11th, Covenant students and faculty gathered in the chapel to celebrate the life of Dr. Kevin Eames, the late chair of the Psychology Department at Covenant. Welcomed by a soft hymn medley played by Dr. Finch, they sat in quiet reflection as Chaplain Lowe took the stage.

“A memorial is oftentimes something to help preserve remembrance,” Lowe said, “but our memorial tonight is not about capturing life, but instead about celebrating life. For the next hour or so we will slow down and be reminded of God’s love, which Kevin lived out in our midst, and the reality that death has been conquered by Jesus, whom Kevin humbly clung to.”

Hannah Bloomquist, Resident Director of Andreas Residence Hall, was first to speak. For her, Eames faithfully modeled the Christian life at Covenant, both as a professor and a friend.

“Kevin Eames was never afraid of a hard question,” Bloomquist said. “He wasn’t scared that a difficult or uncomfortable question would undo his theology. But rather, his theology and his firm trust in the Lord and God, the Creator of the universe, would hold in the midst of the most difficult question. In his absence, we do grieve, but we also celebrate the work that he did. Because of his absence, we here at Covenant are challenged even more to stand in the gap.”

Echoing these words, Dr. Mike Rulon, Katie Kelley, and Dr. Jeff Hall also shared their reflections and anecdotes on Dr. Eames. They reiterated the Christian love he displayed towards others and the firm faith he held in God despite hardship. 

“I was profoundly and deeply influenced by Kevin’s teaching, but more importantly by his friendship,” remarked Katie Kelley, a Covenant alumna and former student of Dr. Eames. “Not only was Dr. Eames a delight to know, to study under, and to work with, but he expressed delight in all areas of his life. His joy was a rebellious joy, one that knew darkness and suffering and refused to let it win. Through this vulnerability, he invited me into that rebellious joy, to defiantly declare in the face of grief, ‘Where, O death, is your sting?’”

After a clip from Dr. Eames’s commencement speech, the service concluded with an excerpt from Handel’s Messiah, which Dr. Eames specifically requested before he died. The words from this selection echoed the promises found in 1 Corinthians 15, read earlier in the service by Dr. Jay Green: “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”

Though it has been several months since he passed on, the Covenant community continues to be blessed by the life and work of Dr. Kevin Eames. In his wake lie memories of his laughter and friendship, his joy and vulnerability, and his faith and love for Christ. To use the words of Dr. Mike Rulon, a friend and former colleague of Dr. Eames, “Kevin will be surely missed—really, really missed.”

Chaos Across the Pond - Brexit and Boris

Currently, the United Kingdom (UK) hurtles towards separation from the European Union (EU).  Back in 2016, the former Prime Minister of the UK, David Cameron, called for a national vote. The people of the UK elected to exit the EU, beginning Brexit. 

The following three years have seen a tremendous amount of upheaval in Parliament. Cameron supported a “Remain” position and resigned immediately following the election. 

His replacement, Theresa May, had the task of guiding the UK to a calm and frictionless separation. In January of 2019, May’s first withdrawal agreement was defeated, as were her second and third plans in March. 

At the end of March, shortly before the UK was due to leave the EU, both the EU and the UK agreed to extend the leave date until October 31, 2019. In May of this year, Theresa May put forward a fourth and final plan. She resigned after its defeat. 

This led to a series of elections within the Conservative party, which still holds a majority in Parliament. After a gauntlet of votes, on July 23rd, Boris Johnson was elected as the new Prime Minister. He has long campaigned for a “hard” Brexit. He wants the UK to leave quickly and decisively with as little involvement with Europe as possible. 

After his election Boris immediately reinforced his plans for a definitive leave date of October 31. This conviction is not shared by his entire party. Many of the other Members of Parliament (MPs) including Johnson’s own Conservatives are anxious about the prospects of a no-deal Brexit. A no-deal Brexit would mean that there would be no signed agreements between the EU and the UK. This would leave all trade and immigration between the UK and continent to be regulated by international trade law. 

The economic ramifications of a no-deal Brexit will be significant but cannot be clearly anticipated. However, for many in the UK, the more pressing issue is that of the Irish border. Following the Troubles, or the Northern Ireland conflict from the 1960s to 1990s, the UK and the Republic of Ireland (a member of the EU) signed the Belfast Agreement. This kept Northern Ireland a part of the UK, but with strong links to the Republic of Ireland. 

Many in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the UK as a whole are strongly opposed to any hard border being set up between the Irelands out of fear of the possibility of reigniting the Troubles once again.

This brings us to where we are today. At the beginning of September, Johnson made good on his threats to call Parliament into recess, officially called “proroguing” Parliament, for the rest of September and much of October, all but guaranteeing that October 31st will be the no-deal Brexit. While many in Parliament are opposed to a no-deal Brexit, no agreement has been signed. 

Angel of Death: American Missionary Sued Over Deaths of Ugandan Children

In 2009, 19-year-old American Renee Bach moved to Uganda to found Serving His Children, a faith-based nonprofit organization. Bach, who has no medical training or college degree, was sued earlier this year in the High Court of Uganda by the parents of two children who allegedly died in her care. She is also accused of causing the deaths of 105 Ugandan children by misrepresenting herself as a medical professional and denying her patients access to the local hospital system. 

Her case calls into question the system of international medical charity and the role of Westerners in the medical systems of African countries.

Although Bach was formally sued in January of 2019, her case did not gain international media attention until this summer. In July, multiple news organizations including NPR, ABC, and The Root began reporting accounts by former patients and employees which paint a disturbing picture of Bach’s clinic in Jinja. 

According to sources, she administered blood transfusions, oversaw sensitive feeding regimens for severely malnourished patients, inserted IV catheters, diagnosed conditions like tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and malaria, and regularly wore a white coat and stethoscope.

In 2011, Bach wrote on the Serving His Children blog about a 9-month-old baby named Patricia. Writing in the first person, she recounted that “I hooked the baby up to oxygen and got to work… As I took her temperature, started an IV, checked her blood sugar, tested for malaria, and looked at her HB [hemoglobin] count… I was attempting to diagnose the many problems that could potentially be at hand… After doing a search for blood around Jinja town, we found her type and it was a match! We started the transfusion…” 

However, there were major complications which Bach glossed over in the blog post. 

According to Jackie Kramlich, an American nurse who was volunteering at Serving His Children at the time, Bach called her into the room a few minutes later as the infant began wheezing. The wrong blood type had been administered. Bach told Kramlich that she wasn’t sure if it was an allergic reaction, because her Google search said that allergic reactions often came with a rash. Kramlich convinced Bach to take the baby to a local hospital, where the child recovered. Kramlich resigned from Serving His Children several months later, citing ethical concerns. 

Bach’s story was brought to light by several Ugandan advocacy organizations. These include the Women’s Probono Initiative, a legal organization sponsoring the court case against her, and No White Saviors, a controversial online campaign against prideful “white saviorism” in missionary and charity work in African countries. 

The court case against Bach alleges that, of the approximately 900 children with severe malnutrition who were treated at Serving His Children, 105 died at the clinic. 

According to accusations by No White Saviors, many more children may have died within a few days of leaving the clinic, as the clinic kept no official death records and frequently discharged extremely ill patients.

Bach denies that she ever represented herself as a doctor or medical professional, and she says that the accounts from former staff accusing her of misconduct come from individuals with whom she had personal disagreements. 

She left Uganda in 2015, amid growing questions from local health officials and “threats” from local people. Serving His Children agreed to partner with the Health Ministry of Uganda in further activities treating medically fragile patients. 

Bach has retained U.S. legal counsel from David Gibbs III of the National Center for Life and Liberty, who has referred to the social media advocacy campaign against her as “reputational terrorism.” Bach does not plan to return to Uganda to respond to the lawsuit in court. Serving His Children points out that their reported case fatality rate for severe malnutrition is in line with the rates at other health centers.

The Bagpipe spoke with Henry Hooks, a Covenant sophomore who spent his summer shadowing Dr. Timothy Ssemakula, a Ugandan physician working in a rural area outside Kampala. Reflecting on the Bach case, Hooks encouraged nuance between the prideful attitudes of some charity workers and the real medical needs that many people still have. 

On the one hand, Hooks noted that, “As an American, it's easy to get in the mindset of, ‘I have all these resources. So anything that I do is going to be helpful no matter if it saves lives.’ …It’s just so prideful and ridiculous because there are doctors there, there are lots of resources for people to get real medical help… It was just really frustrating and bothered me a lot that she was assuming a role of, ‘I can do this, and it's not really that bad if anything happens, because they're gonna die anyway.’” 

On the other hand, Hooks emphasized that real medical needs exist, and can be met: “[Bach] could have done a lot in the way of providing resources for people to get to a medical clinic. Like, if she wanted to run a nutrition center that's just feeding people, not doing any medical work, fantastic. That's such a good way for her to connect with people and be invested in their lives. And if somebody comes who's medically malnourished, then she could say, ‘Okay, we have couriers that can take you to the hospital in central Jinja, and they're going to take care of you there.’”

According to advocacy groups like No White Saviors, the Bach case shows a weakness in the attitudes and objectives of independent Western missionaries providing “aid” in African nations. 

Reflecting on how to navigate this conversation, Hooks said, “Go with an attitude of, ‘I'm entering somebody else's country and all I want to do is learn from them and try to understand their culture better.’ Not trying to be a savior and feel good about myself. Because Christ went in humility, and we should go in humility.”

Where are they Now - Admissions Update

Have you been looking around campus this new school year and wondering, “Who are these people? I’ve never seen them before. Am I losing it? Is this the end?” You’re not alone, and there’s a good reason for all the unfamiliar faces. That reason? New students! As a new year begins to take shape, let’s take a step back into the past to remember last year. And by last year, I’m specifically talking about admissions. 

For new kids out there or those who somehow completely missed it, admissions was a hot topic on Covenant’s campus due to some changes made in the department and the turnover of staff. But what about admissions now? What has admissions been doing over the summer? 

For starters, let’s talk facts. Brad Tomas, Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management, said that Covenant’s goal for this school year was 250 new students. “We were on target leading up to move-in day and O-Week, however fell just shy of that goal with an incoming class of 246,” said Tomas. 

Those 246 new students are broken up into 223 freshman, 21 transfer students, and 2 re-admit students. Tomas also mentioned that missing the mark on this goal was not due to lack of effort.

In fact, Anne Fuller, an admissions counselor and Covenant College alumna (’18), agrees that effort was that not the issue. Fuller said that enrollment numbers have been downtrending since 2014 due to “turnover, vacant positions, and negligence.” 

She mentioned, however, that higher education across the US has taken a blow as well, creating low enrollment across the country. 

“Due to downtrending numbers,” Fuller said, “our 2019 goals were adjusted based on predicted enrollment outcomes. Despite predictions, we aimed high and I’m glad to say we came just 4 students shy of our goal.” Pretty good, admissions, pretty good.

So let’s go back a little. Tomas said, “As the campus is well aware, there have been some difficult years in the admissions office,” (hence admissions being a hot topic on Covenant’s campus last year). Because of this, tremendous strides were taken to better improve the admissions department and process as a whole. 

For starters, several new staff have been added this summer. Tomas said that Alana Clinksclae was hired as an admissions counselor, focusing on recruiting students from Atlanta and central Georgia. Henry Paris (’18) was hired as a part-time admission representative to help represent Covenant at more places this fall during what Tomas calls the “busiest travel season.” Along with these new members to the staff, this summer Erik Vitolins was also promoted to Assistant Director of Admissions. Exciting stuff for our admissions friends!

Along with these changes in staff, Fuller explained that those in the office have been making a huge effort as well to better the admissions department as a whole. 

She said that Claire Hirte, Associate Director of Admissions, “rallied the office by equipping us with new digital tools, better training, direction, and care.”

Fuller also mentioned that Tomas added Covenant to the Common Application, a non-profit organization that allows applicants to more easily apply to the colleges and universities that sign up with the company, over 800 schools currently. 

Admissions counselors have also been working hard to raise numbers, as they have “literally made strides all over the US, striving to cover more ground,” as Fuller puts it.

Jennifer Thompson, Coordinator of Admissions Operations, has also played a vital role in trying to elevate the admissions department. Thompson explained that this year she has been working on implementing Covenant’s new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software called Slate. Slate is said to help improve modern admissions and advancement by allowing admissions departments to deal with things like applications, test scores, and other materials in one comprehensive area. 

“[Slate] is a pretty powerful admissions recruitment tool,” she said. “After just four months of working with the new CRM, I can already see advances in our office where slower, outdated processes have been streamlined and brought up to industry standards.”

Bottom line: admissions is making big moves everyday to combat some of the low numbers that have presented themselves in the past. Whether it’s implementing new software, figuring out how to make the admissions process more accessible, or traveling across the country to present what Covenant has to offer, everyone in admissions has kicked it into high gear. Along with admissions themselves, there are more people who can help the department reach their goals. That’s right, those people are students! 

“I believe that all students are ambassadors and recruiters for the college,” Tomas explains. “All the students who contribute, whether by leading tours, making phone calls, hosting students overnight, or other ways, are essential to helping prospective students understand what life at Covenant is truly like.” Students play no small role in the admissions and decision making process for prospective students.

Fuller mentioned that there are ways for students themselves to be involved in the admissions process, and she even goes so far as to say that if there is anything that a student enjoys about Covenant, get involved in admissions. 

“Host a student, talk to your high school friends about Covenant, interview to be a student caller next year. Or just be a super cool person and attract super cool people to campus. Simple as that.” 

Since everyone knows we’re all super cool people here, sounds like we’ve got it covered. You hear that, admissions enrollment goal? We’re coming for you.