Athletics director Weaver travels to South Africa and donates uniforms

Athletics director Weaver travels to South Africa and donates uniforms

Karen Weaver, Penn State Abington's athletics director, traveled to South Africa in July as part of her doctorate work with the University of Pennsylvania's Higher Education Management Program. Traveling with her cohort of 22, the class visited Cape Town, Johannesburg and Soweto. In particular, their educational focus took them to three South African universities: The University of Western Cape, the University of Cape Town and the University of Pretoria. All played very important roles both during the apartheid regime and in helping to fuel the anti-apartheid movement.

While in South Africa, Weaver visited Kliptown, a village within the town of Soweto, and one of many shantytowns that still house millions of black South Africans. There, she and her classmates visited with Bob Nameng, who was recently honored by CNN as a "CNN Heroes" for his work in providing hundreds of Kliptown children an outlet to pursue music, sports, and to learn about their heritage.

The work that Nameng has done prompted Weaver to ask Penn State if it would permit their used athletic uniforms in the sports of soccer, baseball, softball and basketball to be donated to the youth of Kliptown. Working with administrators from both Abington's campus and University Park, Weaver arranged for more than 150 sets of uniforms to be delivered to the village as a gift from Penn State.

"This is the largest single gift the Soweto Kliptown Youth foundation (SKY) has ever received," said Nameng. "The name of Penn State will be worn by hundreds of young people all over South Africa and will help to build a sense of pride and self confidence in our children who have so little. For a great American university to think of a small village in South Africa and bestow gifts on us is simply overwhelming. We will remember this for a very long time."