Houston Rockets' Dikembe Mutombo is a great humanitarian to his native country of Congo. He used $15 million of his money to build a hospital in Kinshasa. Pictured is Mutombo with members of Midwest Voices for Congo.
It would be nice if more sports professionals were as generous as Mutombo. That includes both the foreign professionals and our US-borned professionals. There is enough poverty everywhere to go around everybody.
Chicago Bulls' Luol Deng heads to the Sudan this summer hoping to install ten "merry-go-round" pumps. He recognizes professionals like himself have the resources to make a difference. I do not know if he was inspired by Mutombo. But it does not matter.
Most foreign professionals, especially Africans, comprehend the plight of their country men and women living in extreme poverty. I think they realize how blessed they are to be given so much money for doing something they enjoy.
It is good to see sports professionals in the news for more than their athletic abilities or shortcomings. Then there are those sports professionals who spend more resources on night-clubbing and lawyers then for humanitarian purposes.
"From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded." Luke 12:48
Many of the approximately 20 NBA players who either are from Africa or of direct African descent do substantial work on behalf of the continent.
Houston Rockets veteran center Dikembe Mutombo, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly known as Zaire), might well be the NBA’s foremost humanitarian.
Mutombo personally donated $15 million toward a $29 million, 300-bed hospital on the outskirts of his hometown, Kinshasa. It was the area’s first modern medical facility in almost 40 years, and a huge benefit in a country with an average life expectancy of about 45 years.
“People in my country are dying,” Mutombo said, “and I want to save them.”
PRAYER:
Dear Heavenly Father, help us to remember the poor among us. Thank you for those sports professionals who make this a better world. In your name, AMEN.
The Houston Rockets , as a professional team of NBA, is one of the major teams that has fans all around the world. It is quite normal if Houston Rockets tickets are so pricy or hard to find because such great teams tickets worth any price. It doesn’t matter if we pay a respected price for Rockets tickets because we satisfy our eagerness to watch good games and more than that when we go to watch a game it’s because we love this team and we shouldn’t be mean.
Posted by: Jason | May 09, 2008 at 07:18 AM