PUSHING TOWARD A GOAL:
NBA star puts faith to work
___By Hillary Wicai
___FaithWorks Magazine
___ATLANTA (ABP)--At 7-foot-2, NBA star Dikembe Mutombo's full name is nearly as long as he is tall. Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, he was named Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean Jacque Wamutombo.
___Perhaps it's the empowering name. Maybe it's the height. But 34-year-old Mutombo doesn't like to take no for an answer. In fact, he had some trouble last season with NBA
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DIKEMBO MUTOMBO has discovered his status as an NBA player can fuel his desire to help others in need off the court. (ABP photo)
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referees.
___"When they call something I don't believe, I love to express myself, and sometimes I express myself too hard. I get caught up," he said in an interview about his play last season with the Atlanta Hawks.
___But you don't get to be the NBA leader in rebounding and the NBA's only three-time Defensive Player of the Year by being a pushover. In fact, you have to push some people. Mutombo's elbows have been known to make painful contact with opposing players.
___How does that square with his well-known Christian commitment?
___"I don't think God said we should all be soft," Mutombo explained. "My job is to compete, and the best prevails. I will continue to play, and that's the way I'm succeeding in my life. If I hit you by mistake, all I can say is 'I'm sorry,' and I keep moving on," he added.
___Playing hard has paid off for Mutombo. The Hawks signed him as a free agent in July 1996 to a five-year deal for more than $56 million.
___"It was a dream come true. I never thought about having as much money as I have today. I only thought about working hard," Mutombo said.
___But the large player with the big salary has a big heart as well. While many players dream of such success, Mutombo dreams instead about Africa. "God has given me so many chances to survive and to help," he said.
___Mutombo often talks of his blessings and of God. Growing up in the Congo, his parents were Presbyterians and he attended Catholic schools. In Atlanta, Mutombo and his family attend Eastside Baptist Church.
___Mutombo, who speaks English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and five African dialects, holds a degree from Georgetown University with a double major in linguistics and diplomacy. He originally planned to study medicine because he wanted to make a difference in his homeland, which desperately needs doctors.
___But the Congo is in desperate need of many things. It has been independent of Belgium for 39 years, but it lacks infrastructure, including paved roads and clean water. At Georgetown, Mutombo quickly realized a big NBA salary would allow him to make a bigger difference than being a highly skilled doctor in a poor country without enough medicine, supplies or equipment.
___His homeland also needs hospitals. Mutombo wondered if one man, even a man with a lot of money, could build a hospital. It's a job usually reserved for corporations and religious institutions.
___"I put my courage to the test," Mutombo said. "Our God led me to do this."
___He said he has a clear sense that building a hospital is what he's supposed to do. "Looking at the mortality rate and the condition of living in my country, I felt I'm in a position to do this," he explained.
___Three years ago, he set up the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation. In the foundation's second year, he started the campaign to build a new hospital in Kinshasa, Congo's capital.
___"I was just trying to look at what would make more difference than anything else I've
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DIKEMBO MUTOMBO is using his influence to build a hospital in Kinshasa, Congo.
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done. I decided a hospital would be the best way to do it. I think it's a blessing," he said.
___He personally contributed $3 million toward the project. He hired architects and researchers to conduct feasibility studies. He needs to raise another $9 million of the estimated $14 million cost to make the dream a reality.
___Many organizations have offered to donate equipment, but that's not what Mutombo needs right now. "We need money," he said. He's hoping to hear from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
___It's been tougher to raise money from individuals than he expected, but Mutombo actually needs less money now than he thought he would require in the beginning. The studies showed it would be cheaper to build a large one-story hospital rather than a high-rise structure.
___In the meantime, Mutombo continues to help the few ill-equipped hospitals that already exist in the Congo. In 1999, the foundation shipped $250,000 worth of medical supplies and 140 hospital beds. Last year, he sent another $500,000 worth of donated supplies, including an ambulance.
___"That's not enough of a solution. There hasn't been a new hospital built in my country in 40 years," he said.
___The project is massive, which is why it's usually reserved for corporations or large religious organizations. Not only is Mutombo determined to raise the necessary millions to build the structure, he'll oversee the 38-month construction of the 300-bed hospital. He also plans to have the foundation run the hospital when it's open. He and his board will have to hire and lead a medical staff of 750. "I have to fight hard to make it happen, challenge myself," he said.
___Mutombo eventually sees turning over the new hospital to a church organization. "We've had so many churches come forward willing to run it, but so far I've said not right now," Mutombo explained.
___He plans to name his project the Biamba Mutombo Hospital after his mother. Two years ago, just hours after speaking with her son on the phone, Biamba Mutombo died in her home from a stroke because she couldn't get to a hospital in Kinshasa.
___Mutombo recounted the story to an audience at a fund-raising event covered by the Baltimore Sun. "My mother was sick at home. She really needed to see a doctor. But all the fighting in the streets--nobody could get her to a hospital where she could be treated. She passed away in the middle of her living room."
___Mutombo couldn't even attend his mother's funeral because of the civil war.
___His mother's lessons in both life and death are largely responsible for Mutombo's African dream of a new hospital. He said she always told him to help others, that helping others was his responsibility. "I come from a large family, but I was not raised with a fortune. Something more was left me, and that was family values," he explained.
___He believes everyone is put on earth with a clear job. While basketball is his work, Mutombo believes it's a means to a more important end. He doesn't want to be remembered for simply blocking shots and getting a ball through a hoop.
___"God put us here to prepare this place for the next generation. That's our job. Raising children and helping the community, that's preparing for the next generation."
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The Baptist Standard
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