He finished his career as the fourteenth best shot-blocker in NBA history. He enjoyed his fame. But he never forgot his people. Years of civil war left southern Sudan in ruins. He estimated that he lost two hundred fifty members of his extended family.

He helped raise money for refugees. Reports say he donated nearly all of the estimated six million dollars he made playing basketball.

Before his death, he was working with the Sudan Sunrise group to help bring the country together. His goal was to build forty-one schools.

He took his Christian faith seriously. "God guided me to America and gave me a good job. But he also gave me a heart, so I would look back," he said in Sports Illustrated magazine in two thousand four.

That year, Manute Bol broke his neck in a car accident. He was thrown from a taxi. After recovering, he moved to the state of Kansas, and met United States Senator Sam Brownback.

SAM BROWNBACK: "I can’t think of a person that I know of in the world that used their celebrity status for a greater good than what Manute Bol did. He used it for his people, he gave his life for his people."

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Michael DeFabo. I'm Bob Doughty.