BB: In the Congo, there is one doctor for every 10,000 people. Initially, when I went home, we were refurbishing clinics and hospitals with new equipment. When my dad got sick, I got home and saw the conditions it was in. It was alarming to me. I started thinking in the back of my mind that he doesn’t have the best chance to make it. We started bringing in doctors and different equipment. Some of the local doctors didn’t know how to use the new equipment. This became a problem.
When I went to the hospital every day, there were so many people and beds going empty every day with new people coming in. I asked myself, in my mind, “I have the means to do this for my dad, but how about these other people?” There were people that were just there hopeless. At that moment, there wasn’t much I could do for these people.
Once my dad passed away, I came back and was dealing with my emotions and got discouraged from doing things like playing basketball. I realized if my dad was alive, he’d never let me walk away from something I love, which is playing basketball. Then, I went back and forth, trying to find something to motivate me to play for something bigger than just being in the league. That’s when I told my agent in November and said I was emotionally, physically, and spiritually ready to play, but I wanted to take my salary and direct it to the construction of a hospital. The only way I’d play is if it was a winning team because I want to be able to win something this year.
My dad and I went through a journey, and I had some doubts trying to figure out how to get to the NBA. I made it to the NBA. He enjoyed watching me and sending me messages before my games in the early morning back home. I had to give him something and build him something.
I’ve always said, “The goal isn’t to live forever, but to leave something that will live forever.” All these ideas that he had, I’m still going to accomplish all of those ideas, but I want to build him something that will allow people to continue to celebrate him and appreciate him because he had a dream, believed in his kids and spent his own money.
Once my dad passed, I realized that we think we have so much time to live on Earth, but we don’t. I’m trying to squeeze all this time I have to make sure that the day God calls me, I’d have made an impact and left this world a better place than I found it.