He has seen the joy, felt it, and a second eight-day celebration of African culture and basketball will allow Masai Ujiri a chance to experience it again .
A multi-pronged festival — an Olympic-style opening ceremony, basketball camps, educational programs, comedy, fashion shows, life skills development — this summer in Rwanda will let Ujiri’s Giants of Africa charitable foundation to reach youth at every level.
“When we did it the last time (in 2023), there was just so much joy continuously, being together,” the Raptors president and vice-chairman said in an interview. “When you do it that way, you find there are more ways to interact with youth, more ways to teach them, more ways to mentor them.
“The more coaches, the more people of influence you bring, you have a good chance of these kids really building on this type of opportunity.”
The program runs July 26-Aug. 2 in Kigali, Rwanda and is another extension of the Giants of Africa foundation that began in 2003. It’s far more expansive than basketball skill development for burgeoning African teenagers trying to find scholarships and professional playing opportunities because Ujiri how seen first-hand that it’s prepared youngsters for life overall.
“Not all of these kids are going to end up being NBA players or WNBA players, but they can do other things in sports,” he said. “They can be sports journalists, sports lawyers, sports executives, coaches.
“There’s so many things and throughout this week we have so many programs that give them the opportunity to really look into these things.”
Giants of Africa unveils its new basketball courts at Firgrove Park last year, its first in Toronto.
Nick Lachance pc28StarThere is expected to be a crowd of 25,000 at the opening ceremony headlined by South African international DJ sensation Uncle Waffles, MTV award-winning choreographer Sherrie Silver, and Rwandan singer/songwriter Kevin Kade, according to GOA officials. It’s expected that Nigerian Afrobeats artist Kizz Daniel and award-winning Nigerian singer/songwriter Timaya will perform over eight days. Appearances from the likes of Chris Tucker, Candace Parker, Robin Roberts, Chiney Ogwumike, Didier Drogba, Michael Blackson and Boris Kodjoe.
The decision to expand the program to more than a week and include aspects beyond on-court and classroom sessions was to give the 50 campers even more experience. It allows them — girls and boys from around Africa a chance to interact, and learn from, other societies.
“It’s about culture, it’s about education, it’s about entertainment, it’s about sports,” Ujiri said. “It’s really about building Africa and taking out those borders. You go into skill work and coaching that they need to have, mentorship, life skills and all those things they have to really see.
“Then you go into the fun things, the fashion shows, the comedy shows, all the things they do for these kids to really be themselves and see other cultures.”
The genesis of Ujiri’s Giants of Africa foundation was to enhance the opportunities of the continent’s youth. Showing them what’s possible, in a tangible way to share experiences with others should open more doors, either in Africa or around the world.
“This youth is going to have a say in everything and that’s why we have to continue to really show good examples and we can’t be the only ones,” Ujiri said. “I can’t be the only (NBA) African president in sports. We have to continue to create more opportunities to these youth to succeed.
“The mentorship programs that we try to build, educational programs that we try to build, our alumni programs where we really support these kids and give awards and give sponsorships to go and do their own programs and build their communities in some kind of way.”
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