Amare Stoudemire, a bronze medalist with the United States basketball team during the 2004 Olympic Games in Greece, will breeze into town next week to help in community-related development.
During the four-day visit, Stoudemire will commission two water wells in Gao Dama chiefdom in the Kenema District and Makereh in the Koya chiefdom in the Port Loko District.
His visit is in collaboration with the Zee Community Development Foundation, a non-profit NGO that works to improve the welfare of at-risk communities by improving health, education and increasing agricultural productivity.
“[While in the states,] I saw that more stars and basketball players are doing a lot for South Africa,” said Zainab Beckett, the founder of the Zee Community Development Foundation. “I wanted the same for my country, because we have the most beautiful country in the whole of West Africa; (and) because I believe we deserve the best.”
According to Beckett, the proposed visit would afford Stoudemire the opportunity to speak on behalf of her foundation to raise the much needed funds for more community development in the country.
The essence of the visit, she further affirmed, is to “put a face on our foundation to raise funds in the states to help in our community work in the country so that we can help more in the improvement of the life of our people, especially after the war.”
Stoudemire has a foundation in the United States named, “Each One Teach One,” which shares similar goals as Beckett’s foundation. ‘Each One Teach One’ seeks to improve the welfare and standard of living of vulnerable and impoverished communities by promoting sustainable livelihood opportunities that will generate fundamental and lasting transformation in post-conflict Sierra Leone.
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