March 29, 2024

On Saturday, Oct. 1, the Wittenberg community gathered outside the student center in hopes to raise funds and awareness for the coming summer’s efforts in Lesotho, Africa.
In some opening words, Scott Rosenberg, professor of African studies, described the project in detail stating that many of Lesotho’s families are orphan headed households as many parents have died due to the stunningly high HIV and AIDS rate.
This fundraiser was able to raise approximately $3,000 to go towards the building of a home to keep one of these orphaned families together and hopefully thriving.
The event appealed to a wide crowd asking the competitors to perform a variety of tasks appealing to athleticism, coordination, and teamwork, as well as knowledge and tough mindedness.
Exciting games of blindfolded dodgeball called to question the trust students have within their peers; while the Africa puzzle provided awareness to the continent unknown to many students today.
Other events simply challenged individuals out of their comfort zone. During the food challenge one participant even spat out her challenge food (which was a cup of plain mayonnaise, which was still counted in the scoring luckily).
Although the weather was chilly and breezy, the games went on as Rosenberg circled the playing fields commenting on the efforts put forth by the dedicated students.
“That was the best wipe out I have seen all day,” he stated while overseeing an intense match of “Dizzy-Bat.”
Even Rosenberg’s son became involved, running wet sponge races and assisting any team he could.
All who volunteered to work the events were friendly and encouraging as they took the time to explain the events over and over again to each group and cheering on each side.
“These are buckets, you know in case you forgot,” Kayla Hensley, ’17, mentioned as she explained how to carry water buckets on top of one’s head.
By the end of the event, many were wet and cold even as the sun rose in the sky but smiling while watching the last of the games.
Many participants having travelled to Lesotho themselves had their eyes on the prize as it was, as always, the treasured Basotho flag.
Overall, the event was a success drawing eight teams to participate. It was diverting, awareness was raised and most important of all, has paid for three quarters of the supplies needed to build orphaned children the homes they deserve.

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