So Proud of @Villab17 For Bringing @cwpfairfield with Her to @Hoops4HopeZim From @FairfieldU

There are stories and then there are stories. Of course, following those stories, there are more stories. Some stories, I feel, are awfully complicated to tell, and others are easy to tell, but have complicated depths to them.

This is an easy story, but one that is complex. It is, actually, complex simplicity.

Ms. Vilia Baumilaite, a freshman at Fairfield University, came to my office to introduce herself. She is from Long Island and her mother works with another mother who works with my cousin's organization, Hoops4Hope. I simply stated that any friend of my cousin's is family to me.

Fast forward and I ask, "Vilia, would you be interested in helping me with middle school youth who come to Fairfield for conferences?" She says sure and I quickly learn she is amazing, a go-getter, lots of fun, and a natural in front of audiences. I then learn she's Lithuanian and there's a Lithuanian athlete on my good friend Sydney Johnson's diverse and wonderful basketball team. Although I didn't make many games, I kept looking out for this kid named Aidas Kavaliauskas. We finally kept running into each other right before finals.

Then, many things happened quickly including Fairfield University Men's Basketball Team, The Kazickas Foundation, Hoops4Hope - Zimbabwe, and the unbelievable turn-around from the NCAA to make it possible that both Vilia and Aidas, Fairfield University students, could work with young people in Hoops4Hope basketball clinics. I invited them for dinner (Aidas can eat a lot of steak) and armed them with Kwame Alexander young adult novels and poetry, as well as accessible basketball stories - I did a quick training of how I would teach them  and share with them  a few of my publications. I send them on their way. The preparation was less than two weeks.

Wola! Aidas and Vilia spent 3 weeks in Zimbabwe with Hoops4Hope carrying forth the vision of my cousin's basketball program and skills4life. They brought forth the Jesuit traditions of Fairfield University of being men and women for others and represented the incredible integrity of Coach Sydney Johnson. In addition, they introduced the Zimbabwean All Star Coaches to the incredible verse of a fantastic American author, Kwame Alexander, and received copies of Power of Words, the anthology of student and teacher writers in southern Connecticut.

A snap of the fingers and the incredible luck of The Great Whatever has resulted in safe travels, miraculous collaboration (so much applause is to due to Neila, Vilia's mom), awesome global experience, and a wonderful new chapter to the film, Hoops Africa: Ubuntu Matters which will be shown on our campus next fall.

Yesterday, I was sent the above photograph and, in seconds, my heart filled with joy. The books were delivered and the smiles were genuine. As I get ready for the whirlwind of summer programs to come, I am looking to this photograph as inspiration.

I am, because we are. That is the philosophy that has changed my life forever.