Dr. John Garang and Manute Bol on Bor Massacre:

from where Garang and Machar’s declaration was taking place, another prominent Sudanese man was making a declaration of a whole other kind. His name was Manute, and he was the first Sudanese basketball star to grace the NBA. When the brutality of the early 1990’s had been unleashed upon his home country he was also the first person of prominence to speak out in the United States.

OxFam, the international aid agency was holding a conference on Capitol Hill and the lanky nearly 8 foot tall Basketball player had been invited to speak. Leaning over the podium that barely even reached his waist, Manute a man often known for few words suddenly became prolific in his expression of how much his people were suffering.

As he told the expectant audience, “Look at me. I came here to America and I live like a King, I have money, I never have to worry about what it is I eat. Everything is taken care of. Every night I can eat a good meal and go to sleep. But then the next morning I see a program on the news about my home country, about the Sudan and it makes me want to cry. I have seventy of my people right now homeless in the capitol of Sudan. They have no place to go.”

Manute then looked out at the audience with his characteristic honest and straightforward style and continued, “People are starving and people are killing each other? And for what? Over religion? Over skin color? This has to stop and it has to stop now.”
Manute then leaned forward again, grabbed the microphone on the podium adjusting it closer to his face and quietly told the audience, “Thank you.” After a slight pause the mesmerized crowd then erupted into a burst of cheers and applause.

Shortly after Manute’s address at the OxFam conference in DC he was introduced to Dr. John Garang and from that moment forward, the SPLM had a brand new champion and a powerful symbol for their cause. Manute Bol; a famous celebrity, a basketball star of the west, who was determined to bring the full clout of the NBA to the table when it came to  bringing the world’s attention to the plight of South Sudan.

Shortly after his first public address in Washington DC, John Garang flew to the nation’s capitol to meet Bol himself. When Garang arrived in the hotel lobby where their first meeting had been arranged to take place, a tired Manute Bol just back from a rigorous workout with the Washington Bullets was already slouching down low on a couch watching the lobby television.

Garang didn’t even notice him as he stepped over to the receptionist and asked in his polite, stilted accent, “Excuse me Ma’am, I am looking for a Mr. Manute Bol?” Manute then snapping to attention upon hearing Garang’s inquiry, abruptly stood up from the couch, causing the slightly startled receptionist to sputter, as she pointed to him from across the room, “Um—yes—I think that’s him.”

Garang then turned to see the towering figure of the basketball star smiling down on him as Manute greeted him, “John Garang, thanks for coming.” Garang just as amazed at Manute’s height as everyone else, laughed as he stared up at him, telling him, “Before I left they told me that Manute Bol was a big supporter of our cause—they just didn’t tell me how big!”

Manute Bol then laughed softly as he told Garang, “Ah, don’t worry about that, my whole family is tall.” He then directed Garang to a table in the corner of the lobby where the two both took a seat and got down to business. Garang had pulled out a map of Sudan and was highlighting the areas in which they had made progress against the National Islamic Front of the North, and then Garang paused as his finger fell upon the town of Bor.

Manute sensing the gravity of the situation asked him, “Garang, is it really that bad? I mean—all the reports of the fighting in Bor? How bad is it?” Garang then looked Manute right in the eyes, and told him in dead seriousness, “Yes, Manute, it’s worse—worse than anything you could ever imagine.”

With the haunting words of John Garang sticking with him throughout the basketball season, Manute would eventually go back to his homeland the next summer to find out for himself just how bad it really was. His first inkling came at the airport when he saw the skeletal figures in tattered clothing who came to greet him. When the plane touched down thousands of tired and weary Sudanese stood in silent audience waiting for Manute’s arrival.

The air was thick with desperation and despondency but as soon as Manute Bol stepped down from the plane smiles could be seen almost everywhere. And from then on he had a very lively entourage following him wherever he went. They stared in amazement at the man who had not too long ago lived in the same conditions, and yet was able to come back a superstar//