Augustine loves Jesus, sports, and his fellow students.

Some students at Daystar are there for the love of Christ and the love of sports. In fact, there is a large and growing sports program at Daystar! We don’t always hear a lot about our sports teams, but Daystar offers soccer, basketball, handball, field hockey, lacrosse, tennis, volleyball and rugby to name a few. The team mascot is the Daystar Falcons!

If you know Daystar, you are aware that many students struggle to make the ends meet. Daystar University offers an excellent choice for a quality degree from a Christian Liberal Arts university at a fraction of what it would cost for a comparable education in the U.S. But for many Africans this kind of higher education is a challenge to afford even if it’s far less than the States. You’ve read many stories about needy students. And while some who attend Daystar can afford the tuition, far more struggle.

So imagine the six foot, 200 pound rugby player who got a decent high school education and wanted to continue playing, so got himself started at Daystar. Then found the costs so high that he’d reduced himself to a single meal a day so he can try to make ends meet. Athletes (and growing 19 year old men) usually need more food to be able to burn those calories playing sports. But a couple years back one such rugby player saw his teammates (and himself) struggling to keep going.

Augustine played for the Falcon Rugby team. In fact, he was team captain before graduating last month. DU already had intermural tournaments for fun within the sports community at Daystar. They were selling t-shirts with the slogan, “After the Try” which means, “after the goal” and refers to doing something more after playing rugby on a team. Augustine thought – why not use the DU Falcon logo and create some branded sports merchandise and have the profits go towards rugby team members’ needs.

Augustine himself is a beneficiary of the HOPE fund. The HOPE fund was developed to assist with one-time gifts to students that need to pay off the last bit of fees at the end of the semester, but they don’t have the funds. He wanted to help his fellow teammates as a way to give back to those who helped him out. Augustine created hoodies, polo shirts, t-shirts and college jackets featuring the Daystar Falcons logo. Through selling these branded Daystar team items he was able to create some more income for the struggling rugby players at Daystar.

Augustine graduated on Nov 14 with a degree in actuary science. He served as the team captain for the Falcon Rugby team at Daystar and led his team to win the championship for their rugby league. But he had been putting his problem-solving and math skills to work for students at Daystar even before he graduated. As he looks to the future, he has the potential to both continue playing rugby and get a job at Kenya Commercial Bank. This bank sponsors a team and if Augustine makes the team, he’s guaranteed a job at the bank.