Dikembe Mutombo is a team-player both on and off the court.  He began his athletic career while earning bachelor's degrees in both Linguistics and Diplomacy from Georgetown University.  After playing for the Denver Nuggets for several years, Dikembe Mutombo was signed in 1996 as free agent to a five-year contract with the Atlanta Hawks.

Dikembe's early childhood dream was to practice medicine and find ways to improve the public health care system in his native home of Kinshasa, located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly known as Zaire).  Although his basketball career has taken him down a different path, Dikembe has not forgotten his dream.

During the off season, Dikembe travels throughout Africa on behalf of the NBA performing at free basketball clinics for as many as 2,000 children per day.  He has made four goodwill ambassador trips in five years to Africa. In 1996, Dikembe provided uniforms and expenses for the women's basketball team from the Congo for their participation in the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta.  Dikembe has served as an international spokesman for CARE and is the first Youth Emissary for the United Nations Development Program.

The over-reaching goal of the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation is to improve the health of the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Health is defined not only as the absence of disease, but as the overall well-being and the development of every individual's full potential.  This goal will be accomplished through efforts which include preventive, educational and therapeutic approaches.

The activities of the Foundation will fall within four main categories:

• The delivery of health care services,
• prevention activities which will follow a public health model with strong educational component,
• a research program to increase the limited existing knowledge of many diseases which are prevalent in tropical climates and developing countries,
• advocacy activities which will combine collaborative efforts with the recognition that many external factors have a significant impact on the health of individuals and communities.

In the Congo, and particularly in Kinshasa, acute health care needs are so pressing that a hospital will serve as the focal and starting point for intervention.  While it is recognized that a long term investment in prevention is the most productive and cost effective approach in the long run, literally, the life and death needs cannot be ignored.  The child who is suffering from the complications of measles cannot be turned away while we are vaccinating his sister or his neighbor.  The young girl with appendicitis cannot be asked to wait while we provide nutrition education to her family to prevent malnutrition.

One of the most serious challenges facing the Foundation will be to establish priorities and to balance the use of finite resources in the midst of overwhelming need.  To that end, Dikembe has assembled a group of individuals with knowledge and experience in a wide range of relevant disciplines to assist in the development of the Foundation and to provide ongoing guidance and assistance for the project.

We come to share this vision with you and to enlist your support as this exciting initiative is created with the potential to reach millions of lives and to make a difference in the future not only of the people of the Congo but also of others who live in other developing countries of Africa. 

Foundation's Major Initiative

Health
Build a 250-300 Bed Hospital
Recruit Qualified Staff to Implement Health Services
Assist Other African Nations to Eradicate Polio
Develop A Blood Bank
Promote Primary Health Care Throughout the Country
Establish Partnerships with NGO's & Technical Experts

Education
Build a Recreational Center & Elementary School
Sponsor A Medical Student Exchange Program with Congolese's and U.S. Medical Students
Build a Technical School to Train Technicians and Public Health Nurses to Immunize Children
Promote Professional and Academic Exchanges Between Foundation Employees in the Congo and Professionals other Academicians

Quality of Life
People Must Have a Minimum of Health to Have Hope in Improving Their Lives

Board of Directors