孩子们，

你们还好吗？我希望正在写的这篇博客能够帮助你们了解我的过去。我的名字叫Dikembe Mutombo。我是一名目前效力火箭队的职业球员，今年是我在NBA的第18个年头。我出生在民主刚果（之前叫扎伊尔），后来来到美国乔治敦大学读书。开始打的是大学篮球，后来成为了一名职业球员。

我一直希望能为我的祖国做些什么，1997年，我创建了穆托姆博基金会（Dikembe Mutombo Foundation），专注于对刚果人民健康医疗方面的援助。基金会的主要项目是建立了一家医院，全名是Biamba Marie Mutombo医院，这是为了纪念我死去的母亲。医院位于首都金沙萨，拥有175个床位，还有一个配置着现代化治疗仪器的急诊室、一个特别护理组、还有实验室和放射治疗区。医院在2007年12月开门，为穷苦大众服务。随后的一年，我们就救治了几千位病人，挽救了许多生命。一天一对年轻的夫妇抱着奄奄一息的三胞胎来到我们这儿，三个孩子是刚刚在简陋的社区医院出生的。他们呼吸困难，濒临死亡。我们的妇产科接待了他们。今天他们已经恢复了健康。他们的父亲也在医院谋到了一份差使，这样可以更好地照顾家庭。那对夫妻给孩子分别取名为Biamba, Dikembe和Mutombo。

我们还改变了一名因火灾而伤残的儿童的命运。接受完手术后，他今天已经能够行走，重新回到了学校。我们希望防止HIV病毒通过母体传播给胎儿，同时也可以降低刚果的母婴死亡率。我们还计划把床位增加到300个，这样可以提供更完善的服务，比如乳腺癌的防治，比如给肾功能衰竭的患者提供透析治疗，还有对于疟疾、HIV、结核病等的预防和治疗。

我们邀请你点击进入我们的网站www.dmf.org，去了解我们的所做所为和所想。目前的经济形势让医院的募款越来越困难，很多人因为缺乏基本的医疗护理而死亡。我的基金会已经投入了两千万美元建立医院，每年我们还拿出200万美元补贴医院的运营。这些经费可以让我们雇佣400名员工，提供高水平的治疗，能为至少25000人的服务。对一个人的肩膀来说，这个担子有些重，我们希望能找到更多的人加入到我们中间。在全球经济衰退的背景下，我们真的很担心医院能否在2009年继续运营下去。

我们已经找到了许多合作伙伴，将把更多的人训练成医护人员，刚果非常需要这样的人才。如果中国和其他国家的球迷能通过官网为我们捐上10美元（或者更多），那我万分感谢。同时也感谢任何其他形式的捐助。

现在让我们说说篮球。火箭队最近一直在赢球。我们决心通过自己的努力让球队更上一层楼。我希望在球队中扮演教父的角色。每一个年轻的队友都很尊敬我。我希望利用自己的身份来带动球队。现在已经很晚了，我们明天要跟开拓者进行一场比赛。我的球迷们，请一定记得，匹克即将推出穆托姆博55号球鞋。感谢你们18年来对我的支持。我爱你们。别走开！

此致，

穆托姆博

休斯顿火箭球员&穆托姆博基金会主席兼总裁

原文如下——

Dear Kidds,

How are you doing? I hope that this blog that I am writing today will help you understand where I am coming from.  My name is Dikembe Mutombo. I am a professional basketball player presently with the Houston Rockets and in my eighteenth year with the National Basketball Association. I was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) and came to study at Georgetown University in the United States. I was recruited to play intercollegiate basketball and became a professional player.

I have wanted to give back to my home country and in 1997 I created the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation to enhance the health, education, and well being of the people of the Congo. The major program of the Foundation is a hospital, the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital, named after my late mother who died in the Congo. The hospital located in Kinshasa, the capital, has a current capacity of 175 beds and is a modern facility with an emergency room, intensive care unit, a state of the art laboratory and radiology services.

The hospital opened its doors in December 2007 and has been caring for people who are desperately poor. In this first year of operation, we have treated thousands of people and saved many lives. A young couple brought to the hospital their three premature triplets who were born a few hours earlier in a community facility with very limited resources. The babies were in respiratory distress and near death.With our neonatal unit, we were able to treat them. Today, they are healthy,active babies who are developing normally. Their proud father is now a hospital employee who can take care of his family. The grateful parents named the babies Biamba, Dikembe and Mutombo.

 We were also able to change the life of a young boy who had been burned and rendered disabled. Today, thanks to our surgeons, he can walk and attend school with other children. In the next few months, we will open our brand new 24-bed maternity unit for which there is such a great need. We hope to prevent the transmission of the HIV virus from mothers to babies and also to decrease the high rate of maternal and infant mortality in the Congo. We also have a projected expansion to bring our hospital to the full 300 bed capacity that we envision, and to offer more services such as mammography for the early detection and treatment of breast cancer, dialysis for those who otherwise die of end stage renal disease, and additional care for diseases like malaria, HIV and tuberculosis that lead to much preventable suffering and deaths.

We invite you to visit our web site at www.dmf.org to see more examples of our activities and hopes. However, in these critical economic times, it becomes harder to support the needs of the hospital and to respond to the desperate cries of people who literally die because of a lack of basic health care. I have invested $20 million of my own funds to build the hospital and currently, we subsidize the hospital with $2 million a year. These funds allow the hospital to pay close to 400 employees and to provide high quality medical care and follow up for at least 25,000 children and families.  It is a large burden for one person to shoulder, and we seek people of good will to partner with us.  With the current global recession, it is much more difficult to receive donations and we are very concerned about being able to continue the services provided by the hospital for the year 2009.
 
 We have formed some exciting partnerships and will be training many individuals to increase the number of health professionals who are so needed in the Congo. We would greatly appreciate the opportunity for all of my fans in China and around the world to donate $10 or more to the hospital by going to the web side of the Foundation. In the meantime, we would be most grateful for any contribution to our current effort.

NOW, LET TALK ABOUT BASKETBALL.  THE ROCKETS ARE WINNING.  WE HAVE MADE THE DECISION TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THE TEAM BY PLAYING HARD.  I WILL CONTINUE TO PLAY THE ROLE OF THE GODFATHER IN THE TEAM.  I HAVE EARNED A GREAT RESPECT FROM EVERY YOUNG BALL PLAYERS AND TEAMMATES.  I HOPE TO USE MY STATUE TO MAKE A DIFFERENT. IT IS GETTING LATE AND I HAVE A GAME AGAINST PORTLAND TOMORROW.  TO ALL OF MY FANS OUT THERE. REMEMBER THAT THE MUTOMBO "55" SHOE WITH PEAK IS COMING OUT SOON.  THANK YOUR FOR THE GREAT SUPPORT OVER THE 18YEARS IN NBA.  I LOVE YOUR SO MUCH.  STAY PUT.

Sincerely,
 
Dikembe Mutombo
HOUSTON ROCKETS
PLAYER

Chairman & President
DIKEMBE MUTOMBO FOUNDATION
WWW.DMF.ORG