Dikembe Mutombo
Dikembe Mutombo
Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo, commonly referred to as Dikembe Mutombo, is a Congolese American retired professional basketball player who played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association. Outside basketball, he has become known for his humanitarian work...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth25 June 1966
CityKinshasa, DR Congo
CountryUnited States of America
advice anyone believe came country family grew help life love loved people poor
I just love kids. As a kid, I grew up in a poor country with a poor family that had nothing. I loved anyone who could come into my life, in from the outside, and give me advice that could help me succeed. I believe that there are a lot of people who came into my life that made me Dikembe Mutombo.
african conditions created people
My foundation was created so I can find a way to improve the living conditions of my people in the African continent, not just in Congo.
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Africa needs more funding to continue to fight all of those diseases. We are losing more than 1.3 million young children under the age of five every year because of malaria. We've already lost 25 million people to the pandemic of HIV-AIDS. More people are dying now from typhoid fever. Diabetes is on the rise.
born love people wonder
People wonder why I love Africa so much. I say this is where I was born and raised. My roots are in Africa; that's were I developed.
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When I go to China, people call me 'Uncle Mo' because they refer me as Yao Ming's uncle. I'm pleased to be his uncle as long as he listens to me!
school people purpose
I created the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation back in 1997 for the purpose of going in and improving the living conditions of my people on the African continent, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo where I came from. Out first mission was to go and build a new hospital. Our next mission was to build a school.
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There are people out there dying every day, so when you wake up, you just have to thank the Man Upstairs for another day on this planet. There's not much else we can ask for.
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Everyone gets their shoes made at that place.
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It was mandatory in college that we had to wear a suit. I think it's kind of funny ? now we get the opportunity to make millions and millions of dollars and we're required to wear suits. Well, we were required to wear them in college when we made nothing.
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There's a great door opening for him now. You have to take advantage of that. He can run so well and block shots. I told him, look you don't have to worry how many points you score. He has a chance to be a big-time prominent player.
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My good friend Yao Ming was the first big player in the NBA to come from China. He gave himself to the game and was successful. That inspired the NBA to invest more and do more for the game of basketball. We're building academies not just in China, but in India, Africa, Europe and South America as well.
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It will have all the news from Africa. We have music. We have a couple of talk shows. We have tourists shows. We have history.
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We understand the situation. That's human nature and you can't fight it.
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After I made it to the NBA, I said that I didn't want to be the last player from Africa. After my rookie year, I went to the league and talked about this, and they embraced my idea and started conducting basketball clinics in Africa, and that's when I knew I wouldn't be the last African.