Paden Livingston, a junior political science major, is organizing a campus wide fundraiser for people to donate clothes and money to help the Wimeland High School basketball team, a South African team with no sports equipment. Students are encouraged to donate gym clothes, sneakers and basketballs for the team to use to practice.
Livingston said he was encouraged to study abroad in a country where he didn’t know the language or culture. He studied for a semester in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Through that program, he hosted a high school basketball team in Kayamandi township. There, he said he established relationships he would never forget.
“I went to this country where I didn’t know the language, culture, or people and instead of looking at it as isolation I took it as an opportunity to expand myself,” Livingston said.
While in South Africa, Livingston was introduced to the Ubuntu philosophy, the ethic that everyone should live to help others.
While coaching the team, he saw they had a passion for basketball and a bond with each other. Livingston said he remembers a time when the team placed second, and still celebrated the entire bus ride home.
“They love life,” Livingston said. “They didn’t care about coming in second place and didn’t care that they lost. They just cared that they had a story to bring back.”
Livingston said he saw that the team had everything to be successful, except equipment. Remembering Ubuntu, he made helping them the driving idea behind his March Madness fundraiser.
“The true joys of life are when you can give back,” he said.
Livingston developed the March Madness fundraiser with two goals: to give back to the Wimeland basketball team and to help bring the Quinnipiac community closer together.
The March Madness fundraiser will begin with a kick-off event that will educate students on South Africa, the study abroad opportunities there and the goals of the charity drive.
The charity drive will include donation boxes for Quinnipiac students to contribute gym clothes and shoes, and a “flea market.” The flea market will be held on March 18 on Quinnipiac’s Mount Carmel Campus. Livingston created it to sell QU paraphernalia at a cheaper price for the students and faculty. The money will go to helping Wimeland’s basketball team.
Livingston said he hopes to host a second flea market on Saturday at the TD Bank North Sports Arena and open it to the public; however, it is still in the works.
Livingston also said he has full confidence that his fundraiser will be successful.
“I believe in Ubuntu and my fellow Bobcats regardless of how this project turns out,” he said. “Those two beliefs will not cease.”
A Different Kind of March Madness
Published: Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Updated: Tuesday, March 2, 2010
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