Re: Mutombo's hospital dreams about to come true <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Mutombo's hospital dream about to come trueBy JONATHAN FEIGENCopyright 2006 Houston Chronicle 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).Powerful allianceMutombo has donated $15 million ? more than half the funds needed ? to his cause. Other players have donated $500,000 (matched by the players' association), and owners have given $700,000. He has worked with former Presidents Jimmy Carter, George Bush and Bill Clinton and world leaders including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former South Africa President Nelson Mandela, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young.Mutombo has received support from both sides of the political aisle, from Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to Representative Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. Aid has also come from entertainment stars Bono, Danny Glover and Jay-Z and business giants such as Microsoft's Bill Gates."I love Dikembe," said Rockets vice president Tad Brown, who has set up meetings between Mutombo and many Rockets sponsors and Houston business leaders. "I love that he represents everything that is great about a person in a position of prominence in the sports world doing great things to help his countrymen. He is the epitome of what you would look for in a humanitarian using his fame and his fortune to do great things."The day they cut the ribbon ... with his commitment and his love for his family and his mother, the feelings he will have opening the hospital and knowing how much it will help the people of the Congo, it's going to be incredible."'He's the driving force'In many ways, beyond the staggering financial commitment, Mutombo's greatest investment has been of himself. He will speak to any group or individual about the work with a missionary's zeal. With a resonant voice as rough as gravel, he searches for any chance to tell his story. There are loud laughs and deep emotion. "I was telling him my daughter's school is doing a unit on Africa and wanted to donate some stuff to his children's ward," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "He says, 'I will go speak to them.' His generosity knows no bounds. It's not the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation and then leave all the work to everybody else. He has help, but he's put a lot of years and money and time and thought into the whole process. Everybody knows he's the guy. He's the driving force."Even now, with the hospital close to complete ? it will begin accepting patients in mid-September ? Mutombo has immersed himself in a media blitz to support his latest campaign to fund its operations."We still have one more phase to finish," Mutombo said. "We still need 6 or 7 million dollars to build the last two wings of the hospital. We're launching a campaign to get 100,000 people to register (at 1-877-Fund-DMF or www.DMF.org) in our database to give the foundation $10 or $20 or $30 a month. If we can register 100,000 people nationwide, it will give us a chance to treat people the way we want to and to add medical equipment. I'm praying a lot these days that God will give me the strength to accomplish it."We still have a lot of challenges ahead of us. ... We have to save lives. We have to give people hope that they won't die tomorrow."Mutombo will never really know how many lives he changes or saves. There will be no way to measure how many generations will be able to marry their fate to the day he opened a hospital in Kinshasa."It's truly remarkable what one person can accomplish in this world if they put their mind to it," Rockets owner Leslie Alexander said. "Deke, as a star basketball player, has an advantage. But he has done so much with that. The number of lives he will help will count in the thousands."Unforgettable legacyThere is no telling what those thousands will do, whom they will touch. So in April, when Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer spoke in Kinshasa, she spoke of mothers and their children and other miracles. "I commend Dikembe Mutombo and his family," Frazer said. "They are sharing the rewards of their hard work in America with fellow Congolese here in Kinshasa. This is giving back to the community at its best."May the mothers of the Congo raise many more Dikembe Mutombos!"Soon, Mutombo will cry at the door of a hospital bearing his mother's name, knowing she brought the world a legacy that will never die."I always say the mother that gives birth to a child bears fruit to last forever," he said. "My mom is the mother for everyone."</div>http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports...kn/4125439.html
Re: Mutombo's hospital dreams about to come true Wow, I really commend Mutombo for doing this. :worthy: I never really knew how bad things were over there in Congo... Mutombo is truly helping to make a difference in the world and others are following in his footsteps... It really makes me think more about what's going on in other countries in the world....
