At 7 feet 7 inches tall, there’s no denying that former NBA basketball player Manute Bol was a giant on the court. He led the NBA in blocked shots for several seasons, while always drawing a crowd as one of the tallest people to ever to play the game.
But off the court, Manute Bol was also a giant: a giant of benevolence, and a tireless activist for peace in his native Sudan.
As millions of Sudanese lived through a seemingly endless war between the North and South, Bol took the fortune he earned as a basketball player and gave it all back to the people of his country. And when genocide broke out in the Darfur region in Sudan, he offered his prominent voice to advocate for an end to the violence.
In his native language, the word “Manute” means “special blessing.” There’s no doubt that for millions of Sudanese – and the tens of millions inspired by his story – Manute Bol was nothing short of a blessing.
Sadly, Bol died last week at the age of 47, from kidney failure related to a rare skin disease. It was too short a life for a sports icon who became more famous for his activities off the basketball court than on it.
But Bol’s hope for peace in Sudan lives on. His dream was to end the cycle of violence in Sudan by building schools where Christians from the South would study alongside Muslims from the North. This year could mark the opening of the first of these schools, and you can help achieve Bol’s dream by donating to Sudan Sunrise, the charity building each school.
You can also honor Bol by joining Save Darfur in calling on President Obama to make ending the violence in Sudan, which continues to this day, a priority.
Ultimately, the legacy Bol leaves is as important as his lifetime accomplishments. Too many of us are tempted to view the world in terms of all that we don’t have. But Bol’s life helped to teach us that we’re much more successful when we look at the world in terms of all that we do have – namely, our voice, and our capacity to give to a cause greater than ourselves.
Donnette E Davis
