Eye on Africa

Mutombo - Longonya, Papa! — August 15, 2006

 

While Africa’s leaders take their money north to Europe and America, one Congolese has shown better judgment and taken his millions south to his homeland. Dikembe Mutombo makes us proud.

 

Mutombo’s dream to build a 300-bed hospital in

Kinshasa has come true. The US$29 million hospital, named in his mother’s memory, will open Sept. 2. He contributed US$15 million of his own money to the project.

I first met Mutombo nineteen years ago in Kinshasa when I worked at the US Embassy in Congo. He was still in high school and playing for BC ONATRA.

 

A university in Indiana had asked me to “recruit” him for them. I remember a very tall and shy fellow who struggled with words. As we walked from his home in Barumbu to the embassy in Gombe, I felt like a dwarf, a sentiment I have every time I meet him.

 

“This fellow should go to America,” said one of the marine guards at the embassy. “He will make it big in the NBA. He will be a star and a millionaire.”

 

I did not know much about the NBA then. But big Mutombo did make it and millionaire he did become.

 

Over the years, I have seen him a handful of times at events in

Washington. He is still the very tall and shy fellow I met in 1987. He still struggles with words. Perhaps that is why Mutombo easily puts his money where his mouth is. He makes us proud.

 

Longonya, Dikembe!

Categorized as:Congo

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