Luol Deng, a humanitarian and a Sudanese origin British basketball player in the NBA
Luol Deng’s story is a very interesting one. He is a very talented basketball player currently playing for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA but his journey started in Sudan. A refugee with his family, they settled in England and Deng was given a British passport. He grew up and showed a natural talent in basketball. He studied at an American university and made his way into the NBA. He has made a name for himself along with a lot of money playing the sport he loves and recently he had a chance to go back to his home country of Sudan and visit. The future looks very bright for this talented basketball player.
Deng was born in Southern Sudan in 1985, the devastating civil war that has killed 2 million people and made countless more refugees made him and his family flee when he was very young. Deng’s father was a member of parliament at the time and belonged to the Dinka tribe of Sudan which is the largest ethnic tribe in the south Sudan. In 1989 when the civil war broke out the family fled across the border to Egypt. Once in Egypt, the young Deng met another Sudanese NBA star, Manute Bol. Bol taught Deng and his brother some basketball skills and it got the young boy interested in the sport. No one could have even dreamed that this young boy would become one of the highest paid athletes in the NBA in a few years time. He moved to America at the age of 13 and went to high school where he started to show some real talent at basketball. He attended Duke University where he proved to be a star and was drafted into the NBA in 2004.
Deng is a person who has not been affected by the fame and celebrity status he has achieved during his life. The tall basketball star does not show off, is not arrogant and genuinely cares about other people. It might be because he has never forgotten where he came from and how he got to where he is today. He considers himself extremely lucky because he and his family were able to leave his war torn home and settle in the UK. He has not forgotten about all the millions of people he left behind when he was fortunate enough to escape.
He recently signed a $71 million six-year contract with the Bulls and has replaced Michael Jordan as the new iconic face of the team. Even with that huge amount of money in the bank, Deng recently went to the UK to play a basketball match for Team GB for a match fee of £72. Deng tries to use basketball and his fame to help those still affected by the crisis in his former home. He has signed up to a scheme where every basket he makes, he donates $50 to a foundation he set up in partnership with Ninemillion.org, a UN refugee agency. The money goes to help children in southern Sudan.
He has been actively involved in humanitarian projects throughout his career and he has won the NBA sportsmanship award for the work he does off the court along with his ethical behaviour, fair play and integrity. A few years ago he also won the 2006-2007 Golden Icon Award for Best Sports Role Model and then he was given the 2008 UN Refugee Agency's Humanitarian of the Year Award. Even though he is grateful to get these awards he feels better when he can help the young refugees in his former country.
Recently Luol went back to Sudan and took the BBC along for the trip to help him document it. He visited the largest refugee camp in the country set up by the UN and played basketball with young people in the camp. He said of the trip that he felt like he had finally come home. He hoped his trip would inspire others to help out and alleviate the suffering of the people living in the camp.
This talented athlete and dedicated humanitarian is an inspiration to everyone. He will continue to use his fame and high salary to help out as much as he can. His humbleness and wonderful character will simply endear more people to him. Even President Obama is a huge fan of the basketball player because of his talent on the court and his work off it. The future looks very bright for this young superstar of the NBA and he looks like he will continue to do some great things to help people.
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