Trip to S. Africa an eye-opener for Diaw

From www.azcentral.com
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Boris Diaw got the opportunity that he had always been hoping to land since coming to the NBA three years ago.

And it was not playing time in Phoenix. It was quality time in South Africa.

Diaw participated in last week's NBA Basketball Without Borders venture to Johannesburg, an emotional experience that included everything from coaching 100 teens from 28 nations to mingling with children who have been orphaned, raped, abused and/or infected with HIV/AIDS. advertisement

"I wanted to be here since I've been in the league," said Diaw, whose brother, Georgia Tech guard Paco Diaw, was a former BWB camper. "Every year, I've had something with my national team at the same time to keep me from it. This is good, because we can show we care about them."

He said he has seen some of the same overwhelming poverty and illness each year in Senegal, where his father lives and Diaw holds a summer basketball camp. But the trip to Soweto, site of some of the poorest parts of Johannesburg, was an eye-opener as he saw the droves of people living in tin shacks.

"When you see stuff like this, you appreciate what you have in your own real life," Diaw said. "It's not an easy life for everyone. They're telling stories about being raped, and they're 12, 13 years old. It's really hard to hear and hard to see."

Diaw visited a youth empowerment program for orphans, an AIDS hospice for babies and children and the opening of a new dining hall, kitchen and bathroom in a township that otherwise does not have electricity or running water. NBA players who visited there last year, like repeat attendee Jim Jackson, paid for the facilities.