PJB BASKETBALL FOR HOPE - AFRICA (CONGO) to USA

Promo Jeune Basket (PJB) is a basketball academy of excellence in Congo (DRC), focused on using sport to advance gravely lacking education opportunities and life skills to Congolese youth.  More than a thousand children benefit from the program.  

Our project is to give top PJB players, who excel both in their studies and on the court, the opportunity to attend a basketball camp held in the US by our partner Global Squad, a program that organizes training camps around the globe. Every year they invite select international student/athletes to train in the US where they get a chance to play in front of recruiting coaches.

We hope to achieve three goals in this process: 1) capture the attention of high school coaches in the US to unlock high school scholarship opportunities, 2) help raise awareness and resources for PJB's principal mission in the Congo and 3) promote cultural exchange and the development of basketball skills.

In 2018 Cesar Tchilombo and Jeannot Basima were the first PJB players in our program: participation to the Global Squad camp landed them near complete scholarships to boarding schools here in the USA. Both are currently students and basketball players at The John Carroll School in Maryland. We invite you to follow their journey from Goma, Congo to the USA through a short documentary produced for Canal Plus by Youcef Ouldyassia, now working as NBA Academy Africa's Head of Contents, at the following link:

We are working 100% as unpaid volunteers in this fund raising effort. Donations are 100% tax deductible.
Funds raised will be split as follows:
- 75% will go to support PJB in Congo: scholarships to local schools, as well as support of the basketball coach and life skills programs;
-25% will be used to cover the costs of the US part of the program: bring players to the US basketball summer camps and incidentals after they join schools (travel, partial tuitions, insurance, books, ...)
The use of our funds is audited and the report is available to donors upon request.

We also welcome sponsorship opportunities for material in Congo or endorsement to create basketball events in the US to reach interested communities and raise funds.

SOME KEY FIGURES:

PJB is run by founder Dario Merlo-Kasuku, Manager Sakinah Musafiri, Head Coach Kipere Mulolwa and a dozen assistant coaches. Thousands of young girls and boys, including physically challenged children, have benefited from the program. They play on 6 courts around the city of Goma, built over the past 13 years following a volcanic eruption that ravaged the city and surrounding areas. Hundreds of local scholarships are given each year to allow children access to basic education.

Besides Cesar and Jeannot who came to the US thanks to the partnership with Global Squad and schools' scholarships, other PJB children play and study in the US through various opportunities: Jemima, Davina and Amanda in Maine, Patrick in Texas, Lydie in Pennsylvania and a few others.

Scholarships in Goma consists of annual grants of $150 per child, which is the cost of attending public school
(not free in DRC Congo).

Annual living and incidental expenses for each PJB player attending a US boarding school amounts to $15,000; this includes travel, schoolbooks, food, insurance coverage, mobile phone, laptop, clothing.

A new basketball court costs $25,000 to build in Goma. The six courts already built by PJB in Goma are giving  hope every day to more than a thousand children and their families at any time.


Contact us with any question, and THANK YOU FOR SHARING!

On the court in Goma:



At school in Goma:

Head Coach Kipere at work:

John Alexander and assistant Nick of Global Squad coaching at a camp in Goma in 2019:




Manager Sakinah Musafiri on lockdown in April 2020:


From left to right: Cesar, Jemima, Lydie and Jeannot in the US (June 2020):