Led by NBA great Dikembe Mutombo (Houston Rockets center) and back-to-back MVP Steve Nash (Phoenix Suns guard), Basketball without Borders Africa will extend to Dakar, Senegal; Johannesburg, South Africa and Gaborone, Botswana, announced the National Basketball Association (NBA) and International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

Marking its fourth visit to South Africa since 2003, the NBA’s global community outreach will take place Sept. 6-10 at the American International School of Johannesburg. The program, a basketball instructional camp for young people that also promotes friendship, healthy living and education, features current and former NBA players, coaches and team personnel as camp coaches for 100 young athletes (19 & under) from 28 countries across Africa. The young players were selected by FIBA and the NBA, based on their basketball skills, leadership abilities and dedication to the sport.

Joining Nash and Mutombo, who has led the camp since it was first staged in Johannesburg in 2003 as Africa 100, will be former NBA player Manute Bol, NBA community ambassadors Bob Lanier and Jerome Williams, Sacramento Kings forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim, New Orleans/OKC Hornets forward Rasual Butler, San Antonio Spurs forward Bruce Bowen, Dallas Mavericks center DeSagana Diop (Senegal), Chicago Bulls teammates Luol Deng (Sudan) and Chris Duhon, Phoenix Suns guard Boris Diaw, Philadelphia 76ers forward Kyle Korver, Los Angeles Lakers teammates Luke Walton, Vladimir Radmanovic (Serbia and Montenegro) and Jim Jackson. This will mark a special homecoming for Nash, who was born in South Africa and raised in Canada.

Other NBA participants include Randy Ayers (Orlando Magic), Rolando Blackman (Dallas Mavericks), Bill Branch (Denver Nuggets), Mike Brown (Cleveland Cavaliers), Tim Connelly (Washington Wizards), Dell Demps (San Antonio Spurs), Mario Elie (Golden State Warriors), Harold Ellis (Atlanta Hawks), Alex English (Toronto Raptors), B.J. Johnson (Houston Rockets), Maurice Lucas (Portland Trail Blazers), Frank Ross (Charlotte Bobcats), Adam Simon (Miami Heat), Terry Stotts (Milwaukee Bucks), Chris Wallace (Boston Celtics), and Fred Tedeschi (Chicago Bulls). Lance Blanks (Cleveland Cavaliers) and R.C. Buford (San Antonio Spurs), Amadou Fall (Dallas Mavericks), Masai Ujiri (Denver Nuggets) and NBA scout Joe Touomou will oversee the camp as camp directors.

At Basketball without Borders Africa, the campers will be divided into teams without regard to race and nationality to promote friendship and diversity. They will share living quarters with their new teammates and participate in daily seminars, supported by UNICEF and Hoops 4 Hope, that promote education, leadership, character, healthy living and HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention and which will feature NBA players and coaches. Co-organized by the NBA, FIBA, and Basketball South Africa, the camp features Reebok, South African Airways, and Sprite as BWB Marketing Partners. South African Airways will fly the 100 players from all over Africa to the camp. Sprite will provide refreshments for camp participants, players, coaches and media and Reebok will provide on-court apparel, footwear, sports bags and towels for all campers.

Before heading to South Africa, a group of NBA players and team personnel will travel to Dakar in conjunction with non-profit organization Sports for Education and Economic Development (SEED) led by Amadou Gallo Fall, Dallas Mavericks Vice President International Affairs and Director of Scouting. There will be a groundbreaking at SEEDS for a court refurbishment project and a clinic will be held for local children ages 9-16. The players and coaches will also make a hospital visit to the pediatric cancer unit sponored by Dallas Mavericks center DeSagana Diop at LeDantec Hospital.

Community outreach in Johannesburg will tip off on Sept. 7 with a return visit to Ithuteng Trust in Soweto for the dedication of a new dining hall, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria and the U.S. Consulate in Johannesburg. Since 2003, the NBA has worked closely with Jackey “Mama Jackey” Maarohanye’s Ithuteng Trust, a Youth Empowerment Program in Soweto, founded in 1990 by Maarohanye. Most of the students come from extremely poverty-stricken families and the majority are orphans due to political violence, crime and AIDS. The students meet after school as well as on weekends to tutor each other, study, participate in sports and musical activities, all as a way to encourage healing and learning.

Building on the importance of HIV/AIDS education and prevention, a special event will take place on Sept. 8 at Cotlands, a nonprofit organization in Johannesburg that operates one of the most renowned pediatric AIDS hospices for children ages 0-9 years old and provides onsite care for abused, abandoned and HIV/AIDS infected children. During the event, the NBA will participate in an HIV/AIDS education training seminar led by staff members, take a tour of the facility, and spend time with the children.

The camp’s extensive community outreach will be highlighted by the NBA Legacy Project at the Soweto Kliptown Youth (SKY) Trust, a youth empowerment program, on Sept. 9 in Kliptown. The event will feature the dedication of a new multi-purpose dining facility funded by donations from NBA players who visited SKY last summer. In addition, NBA community partner Feed the Children, which over the course of the year has provided daily meals to the 500 kids attending the SKY Trust, has funded the creation of a new kitchen. Reebok will also be donating sneakers to the students at SKY Trust. The dedication ceremony and inaugural ribbon cutting will feature current and former NBA players and team personnel.

This marks the NBA’s third visit to SKY. Last year’s Legacy Project at SKY, in partnership with Feed the Children, featured a new Reading & Learning Center, consisting of a multi-media/computer room, library and a donation of books, computers, educational materials, clothing and basketball equipment. In 2004, current and former NBA players visited SKY Trust as part of Basketball without Borders Africa to encourage literacy and education.

Following the camp in Johannesburg, Williams, Duhon, and Mutombo will travel to Gaborone, Botswana in partnership with the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships (ACHAP) to continue the NBA’s HIV/AIDS awareness and education efforts and to encourage young people to live healthy, active and safe lifestyles. Earlier this year, former NBA player Sam Perkins traveled to Botswana for coaching clinics sponsored by Sprite and as a Sports Envoy for the State Department’s Cultural and Educational opportunities. ACHAP is a collaboration between the Government of Botswana, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Merck Company Foundation/Merck & Co. to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS in Botswana.

To tip off the visit, the NBA will hold a dedication ceremony for a newly-refurbished basketball court with a fitness and basketball clinic at the Botswana National Youth Council (BNYC) featuring the NBA players with students participating in ACHAP’s Pledge 25 youth group. Pledge 25 is ACHAP’s blood safety and prevention initiative encouraging youth to pledge to give blood 25 times in order to help replenish much needed safe blood in Botswana Blood Banks. For youth to participate in the program, they must adhere to regular testing and pledge not to engage in risky behavior.

Later that day, the NBA players will spend time with kids and staff from the Centre for Youth of Hope (CEYOHO), a center for young people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS in Botswana. CEYOHO provides care and support and educates youth on how to strengthen their ability to live positively. The kids will share their stories of living with HIV/AIDS in Botswana. CEYOHO's signature activity is the annual production of “The Miss Stigma Free” competition which brings together HIV-positive women as contestants in a pageant in which one of them will be chosen as a ”positive living” role model and become an activist advocating for prevention, de-stigmatization and anti-retroviral (ARV) adherence.