Congolese NBA Star Bismack Biyomo Set to open Kivu International School this September
Congolese professional basketball player Bismack Biyomo is launching Kivu International School this September in eastern Democratic republic of Congo (DRC). Biyomo who currently plays for the Orlando Magic NBA Team is setting up the bilingual school for vulnerable children living in Goma. The school will enrol both male and female students at the primary and secondary level. Currently more than three million children are out of school in the country (DRC) hence why Biyomo is so passionate about this latest project.
“In the Congo, 60 percent of kids between 15 and 25 years old are not going to school. So pretty much they don’t have a life, and there’s no future. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to start building schools, so I can educate as many as I could and give them a better future. “ ~ Bismack Biyomo
Biyombo was born in Lubumbashi and first started playing basketball (often barefoot) at the age of 12 . He walked two hours to and from school each day and frequently went hungry, therefore can most definitely relate to the struggles and challenges these children in the Democratic republic of Congo (DRC) face on a daily basis.
In addition to opening Kivu International School, Biyomo has also provided 20 children with scholarships to attend U.S. high schools, sends 150 children to better schools every year in the Congo, hosts three clinics every summer for 2,000-plus kids in different cities (Goma, Kinshasa and Lubumbashi), and opened two outdoor basketball courts last year in Goma and Lubumbashi.
He expressed “Changing lives are the moments that I most look forward to because they fill with me a lot of energy to come back home and keep pushing, keep getting better. Because to me, the bigger I get, the better I get, the more I can do for my people back home.”
To learn more about Kivu International School visit www.kisdrc.net
Image source: NBA.com
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