Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Ex-College Hoopster Helping Africans:
“WASHINGTON (AP) – Stephan Bekale left his home in Gabon with a teenager’s dreams of a U.S. college education and a career in the sport he loved, basketball.
“But his personal game plan changed when his parents, back home in their country on Africa’s west coast, died a few years later, just months apart. AIDS had stolen them both.
“With grief as a coach, the 6-foot-9 forward went on the offensive to spare others a similar fate. Bekale (pronounced beh-CAH’-lay) set aside his dream of NBA stardom and created Hoops4Africa, to use the star power of American hoopsters to spread the message of AIDS prevention to Africa’s youth.
““You can touch kids through basketball,” the 26-year-old Alexandria, Va., resident said in an interview. …”