Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, Inc.

ICON MAGAZINE

NETTING HIS DREAM

Dikembe Mutombo, a successful athlete and humanitarian

Houston, Texas
June 1, 2025

By Deborah Duncan, Story Photos by Debbie Porter

“God gives us time in the world. We have a duty to fulfill that time, to make a difference.” That’s Dikembe Mutombo’s motto for how he lives his life. That’s why, in a land of giants, he stands taller than most, literally and figuratively. He does so not only for his record-breaking skill on the court, but more importantly because of his efforts to give life to those who don’t have a fair chance at living it. For every NBA award and acknowledgement he’s received, there is a humanitarian award to match it. He earned the President’s Service Award, the nation’s highest honor for voluntarism. You might remember President Bush honoring Mutombo during his 2007 State of the Union Address. He was also given the NBA humanitarian award, among many others. But the work he does is not for the awards. Instead, Mutombo sees it as a way to show honor.

When he blocks shots, the crowd cheers, but his accomplishments off the court can bring tears. He is making a remarkable difference back home, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Just outside the capital city of Kinshasa, in the heart of Africa, his dream for his people and legacy to his mother is finally being realized. The first phase of the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital has been open since December 1, 2007. He says, “I am not sure of how my mother died, maybe a stroke. They did not have the ability to perform an autopsy and maybe if there was an adequate hospital, my mother would still be alive today.” Mutombo put his money where his heart is, personally donating eighteen-and-one-half million dollars to the twenty-nine million dollar project. Yes, he’s a millionaire but that’s still really a lot of money from his own pocket!

I wanted to know where his passion to help came from wand what keeps him dedicated when it would so easy to say, “I’ve done my part” and walk away. We set up a time for an interview at his house. I arrive to see a very long leg sticking out of a car door in the garage. I can hear his raspy voice speaking to someone on the phone. Eventually the rest of him emerges from the car, all 7 feet 2 inches. We go upstairs and it is clear that, fresh from practice, he is tired. But he feels this interview is important. Someone who reads it just might be willing to give.

Getting people to support a cause so far away can be difficult. Mutombo says, “I am a millionaire, my friends are millionaires, so this should be easy right? Wrong.” He first had to overcome so many of the stereotypes we see of African nations. “ The aftermath of colonization has ripped many countries apart millions of innocent people have been caught in the crossfire. I want to be part of the solution.” He adds, “Africa is a rich continent that has served the rest of the world in so many ways. For example, you can credit my country of the Congo for helping to bring World War II to an end. The Congolese (at that time the country was called Zaire) mined the uranium needed for the nuclear bomb that essentially ended the war.”

I ask him where his desire to help was first fostered. “My mom and dad. People needed food, a place to sleep; we fed and housed them for a year. Our house was open.” [With several brothers and sisters,] his parents did not have much to give, but were happy to give what they had. Mutombo and his wife Rose have also opened their own home. When his brother passed away, they adopted his four children, raising them alongside their daughter and two sons.

Also fostering his desire to make a difference was seeing firsthand the many people whose only downfall was not having access to adequate healthcare. He wanted to help end the suffering and set out on an academic scholarship to Georgetown University in Washington D.C. He says, “I had been talking about going to America ever since I was in the third grade.” Notice I said “academic scholarship, not athletic.” Modestly he says, “I really wanted to be a doctor because I am smart, especially in the sciences.” How smart? When he came to Georgetown, although her was fluent in several other languages, he did not know English. That was just a matter of time. He got fluent in a hurry. It was also just a matter of time until a coach noticed there was a really, really, really tall guy on campus. Until that time, all Mutombo really knew of basketball was what he saw on television. His first love in sports was soccer.

To some professional athletes, the game is played for fortune and fame. For Mutombo, the game is played as a means to accomplish other things. He never became a doctor; instead he’s created a place where doctors can do their work, where doctors can save lives. The Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital is the first modern facility in Kinshasa in forty years. It will serve nearly seven-and-a-half-million people in the area. Although most of the money to fund the hospital has come straight from Mutombo’s pocket, he is so grateful for the friends who have joined him in bringing the vision to reality.

In his living room, Mutombo plays the video of the grand opening, which was in the late summer of 2007. The old hospital looked like a bombed-out building with old paint peeling from the exterior, and necessary medical equipment did not exist. The new hospital is a beautiful place that do wonders in making the sick feel better, even before getting treatment. The camera moves through the halls and down to the operating rooms. The nameplates read like a who’s who in the NBA, “The Tracey McGrady Operating Room”, and “The Yoa Ming Operating Room”.

People said that it could not be done. Mutomobo said, “It has to be done.” Not even he thought it would turn out like this, but there is more work to do. There is more vital equipment to buy. More doctors are needed to treat the sick. More lives have to be saved.

“Everyone, no matter what your economic status, can help. They say, you cannot put a price on a life, but the cost to save one is incredibly cheap. A life-saving polio vaccine for a child is just thirty-five cents. To help someone survive malaria cost just four dollars. Both are diseases that kill people every minute in Africa, in the Congo.”

When he makes the plea, his eyes tear up. You know it’s coming from his hear. You know it is his mission in life. This tall man is suddenly dwarfed only the size of his heart. For many of us, our jobs make us feel valued. For Mutombo, his job simply gives him the means to do something of value. As the second-oldest player on the active roster in the NBA (he’s 41) his time on the court is limited. But the work that he is doing back home in the Congo will last forever. A little girl, who now has the chance to survive malaria, may go on to become a doctor and help many more people. The mother and father who get lifesaving aids medication can now go on to raise their children, keeping them together and out of an orphanage. It’s been said so many times that God works in mysterious ways. Wanting to become a doctor was a noble thing, but it was the game of basketball that helped Mutombo to really “net his dream”.

Mutombo says, “Can you imagine a child dying just because they didn’t have the 3 cents to have a lifesaving vaccine? You can stop that from happening.”