14 06 13 United States Department of State: Congo-Kinshasa: Dikembe Mutombo Cares for the Congo

 Professional basketball
player Luc Mbah a Moute of Cameroon, left, and retired basketball player
Dikembe Mutombo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), right,
participate in an NBA Basketball Without Borders event in Dakar, Senegal.

Although Mutombo has
served as the NBA global ambassador since 2009, the position is not his first
foray into global philanthropy. The eight-time NBA all-star has been working to
improve life for the people of the DRC since starting the Dikembe Mutombo
Foundation in 1997.

The foundation's mission
is to enhance health and education in the DRC. Its largest project has been the
construction of a 300-bed hospital near Mutombo's hometown, Kinshasa. Named after his mother, Biamba
Marie Mutombo, who died of a stroke after not receiving adequate hospital care,
the hospital cost $29 million. Mutombo provided $15 million.

For his
work in Africa, Mutombo earned the President's
Service Award in 2000, the NBA's J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 2001
and 2009, and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Goodermote
Humanitarian Award in 2011