<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Dikembe Mutombo knows only that he will cry. After so many years spent dreaming of the moment ? pleading and aching and yearning for the day ? he will cut the ribbon on a miracle. In a place filled with so much loss, suffering and tears, he will weep in triumph. Mutombo will open the door on his life's work Sept. 2 in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, marking the completion of the $29 million Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center. He will stand beneath his mother's name and before a collection of friends, teammates, NBA officials, world leaders, CEOs and politicians. At that moment, he will celebrate a 300-bed hospital in what seemed to be the hopeless heart of his impoverished hometown. "It's been nine years," Mutombo said. "You work so hard, you work, and you work. It will get rewarded. "I think there's going to be a lot of tears in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to get there." It has been nine years since Mutombo's mother died at 64 of a stroke. She was 10 minutes from a hospital, but civil unrest and a curfew kept her from getting treatment. Her son started the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation and began working to find a solution for the problems that he says are "killing my country." He sought to eradicate childhood diseases that the developed world has contained but that prevent one in five children in the DRC from reaching age 5. The average life expectancy there is 42 years for men, 47 for women. Mutombo began raising money but soon set a goal to build the first hospital in Kinshasa in nearly 40 years. "It is a lesson of life," Mutombo said. "We all are here for a purpose. My purpose is to make a difference to society, not just by being a good human being, but to contribute to lives. I'm changing lives and the living condition of my people. "I'm glad after living in the home of the brave for so many years in America that I'm able to do something that not so many have been able to accomplish." Given the nature of the project, the more Mutombo worked, the more work needed to be done. Each day, even during the NBA season, begins with phone calls and ends with e-mails. To Mutombo, an NBA road trip is a chance to meet with leaders in more cities. During the offseason, he has reported to his office in Atlanta every day (save for a blissful one-week vacation during which he left the cell phone at home).</div> Source
It's not very often you see athletes doing things like this. Man, he gave away a huge chunk of money. Even though he may be an NBA player, he still gave away a large percentage of his career earnings. Truly a great and generous man.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Da Nang Thang:</div><div class="quote_post">It's not very often you see athletes doing things like this. Man, he gave away a huge chunk of money. Even though he may be an NBA player, he still gave away a large percentage of his career earnings. Truly a great and generous man.</div> Not true...athletes do positive things ALL the time, but the ppl don't wanna hear about the boring ol positive stuff athletes do. They'd rather hear the exciting negative things that the media is so in luv with.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rock4life:</div><div class="quote_post">Not true...athletes do positive things ALL the time, but the ppl don't wanna hear about the boring ol positive stuff athletes do. They'd rather hear the exciting negative things that the media is so in luv with.</div> Agreed. The media tends to ignore the good things players do, and focus on the bad things that select players do. It just sells more papers. You don't hear about Ryan Bowen's foundation, or the many players that take part in charity programs run by the NBA. Unless it's something major like Mutombo's contribution, these good things go unsung.
I actually got mail from the Dikemebe Mutombo Foundation asking for donations. However, our family is not really charistic or anything, so we didn't give them anything...I wish we could have though...yeah huge props to Mutombo, first new hospital in the Congo in 40 years?
