| For Philadelphia 76ers center Samuel Dalembert, Haiti earthquake strikes close to home |
PHILADELPHIA - Growing up in Haiti, Samuel Dalembert spent a lot of time walking with bare feet because once he found a pair of shoes that fit, he'd quickly grow out of them.
"My feet were growing so fast," he said Wednesday. "I didn't feel as much that things were tough, but we got used to it. It's the way people lived.
"There was nothing to really compare it to. As long as we eat every day. . . . A couple of my friends struggled because they didn't have a place to live. So my house really got crowded."
Unlike most of his friends whose modest goals were food and water, Dalembert always dreamed bigger.
"I'd tell them that one of these days I'm going to fit myself in a suitcase, go out of those planes and get out of this country and have a better life," Dalembert said. "They were laughing at me, 'You're not going to get in no suitcase.' "
Dalembert eventually did leave Haiti, graduated from St. Patrick High in Elizabeth, N.J., ended up at Seton Hall on a basketball scholarship and would go on to earn millions as an NBA player with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Wednesday, though, he was thinking about his homeland, which is suffering through a devastating earthquake this week with thousands feared dead.
Dalembert's immediate family - his father, sister and brother - all survived the destruction. Still, there are cousins and countless friends that he has been unable to contact.
"A lot of people that have been a part of me like a brother and sister," Dalembert said.
"I contacted some of the people. I'm still waiting. I've got a friend of mine, a doctor of mine who has a foundation who also is in Haiti. He left for Haiti (Tuesday). He's on-site right now. He told me it's terrible. There's no way to get to anybody."
An emotionally drained Dalembert addressed the media for 20 minutes before the Sixers' game against the Knicks Wednesday night and pleaded with the American public to donate money and goods to the relief effort.
"It's going to be a long time," Dalembert said. "There's no shelters, number one. People with houses, they're going to have to put up some tents. They're going to have to accommodate all these people for food and water, and after that, what are they going to do? Who's going to build the houses? What are they going to do?
"I'm trying to put myself in their shoes, what I could have done. It's unimaginable."
Used courtesy of: NY Daily News |
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