NBA player Bismack Biyombo has been an active source of support for his home country of the Congo, and his latest heartwarming announcement is no different.
The Phoenix Suns center is donating his entire 2021-22 salary to build a hospital in the Congo to pay homage to his late father, according to Bleacher Report. The generous contribution was announced in a video from his charity foundation, which “creates opportunity for game changers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)” through athletics, education, and health, per its website.
After initially leaving basketball in the fall of 2021 due to the loss of his father, Biyombo returned under the condition of him playing on the court being for a greater cause.
“What I told my agent was my salary for this year would be going to the construction of a hospital back home to give hope to the hopeless,” he shared in the video. “And those individuals who can not take their family members out and want to be able to give them better conditions, so that they can somewhat have hope that their loved ones would be able to live and see another day.”
Bismack Biyombo's Philanthropic Efforts
In April 2020, Biyombo donated $1 million in medical supplies — including 10,000 medical masks, 780 hazmat suits and medical beds — through his charitable foundation to help people in the Congo protect their health in the midst of COVID-19, according to the outlet.
“The Congo is not a county where you can tell people to stay at home,” Biyombo told USA TODAY Sports. “The population is roughly 80 million and about 70% of the population lives in poverty. They’re depending on daily pay. You can’t say, ‘Listen, I want you to stay at home.’ How is that going to work? That is the biggest fear for me.”
