The Paul McBeth Foundation is heading to Africa!
Project 2.3 sees the Foundation taking on its first courses in Africa, which also happen to be the first courses in the entire country of Uganda. Even though it is a new sport for the country, the enthusiasm is already so high that when the opportunity to install two courses at once presented itself it was an easy decision to make.
“Taking on a project in Africa is a huge step for the Foundation," Paul McBeth said. "This project could not fit our mission any better and I can’t wait to get over there and help introduce Ugandans and those in surrounding nations to disc golf.”
The first of the two courses will be an 18-hole course installed at Ndejje University, which is located 25 miles north of the capital city of Kampala - the largest city in Uganda and home to 1.6 million people. Ndejje is known as one of the leading sporting universities on the continent and hosts events that welcome countries from throughout Africa.
"Disc golf is a community builder - we are going to build bridges with the community, build relationships, and build teams within our community," Latimer Muwanguzi from Ndejje University said. "Above all I'm excited because the people in my community have seen it, have loved it, and they are very, very eager to receive it."
A look at the property where the Ndejje University course will be designed.
The second course will be a 9-hole course in partnership with an orphanage and school in the village of Katosi. Katosi is a fishing village located on Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa. This area provides a beautiful property and a built-in audience that can immediately take advantage of the course, making it the perfect complement to the University install.
This project is primarily made possible due the generosity of gold level partner Ledgestone. As discussions started around this project - including the financial challenges that accompany a project of this magnitude - Ledgestone was quick to step up to help push the project forward.
“Ledgestone is thrilled to be partnered with the Paul McBeth Foundation for its first step into Africa," Ledgestone Founder Nate Heinold said. "The Foundation's mission to spread disc golf to underserved areas aligns with Ledgestone's goal to continue to grow the sport of disc golf. It has been incredibly rewarding to serve the Foundation as the Chairperson and as a partner, and seeing the Foundation plant roots in new countries is incredibly fulfilling. All of us at Ledgestone look forward to continue watching the Foundation soar to new heights.”
In addition to partnering with Ledgestone, the support from additional partners - including UDisc, DGPT, Dynamic Discs, Jomez Pro, Discraft, Discmania, GRIPeq, DoubleG Craft Jerky, and 1010 discs - and donors is what makes projects like this happen. There is potential that this will not be the Foundation's only stop in Africa this year, so stay tuned for more information.
If you are interested in supporting this, and future projects, there is no better time to donate. Throughout the month of April all gifts will be matched up to $10,000 thanks to the generosity of Shane Solomon on behalf of Door Disc Golf. This matching gift already gave us the opportunity to take on one extra project, and we anticipate the impact will go even further. If that is not exciting enough, GRIPeq has donated a brand new bag that will be randomly given away to one donor. Watch out for this announcement with more details later in the week!
