Free camp gives newcomers to Sask. a shot at realizing their big hoop dreams
Bring 'Em Up Sask. raises $90K to make sports accessible for refugee and newcomer students
When Emmanuel Kabwari arrived in Regina two years ago he felt lost and lonely — his Congolese family had just left the refugee camp in Uganda where he'd spent his childhood — but basketball soon changed all that.
The 17-year-old discovered the sport at his high school and was glad there were a lot of courts in his new home city.
"It was accessible … so I love basketball; I felt like doing it everyday," he said, at the inaugural Bring 'Em Up basketball camp held this past week at Regina's Tuxedo Courts.
Kabwari was among the 52 kids taking part in the free, weeklong camp offered through Bring 'Em Up in partnership with the Regina Open Door Society, non-profit organizations that share a mission to bring sports and opportunities to refugee and newcomer students.
"I love this place so much," Kabwari said. "And for those who supported us … I'm really thankful."
The camp is the brainchild of high school teacher and Tuxedo Courts co-owner Bree Burgess, who was a basketball player herself for the University of Regina.
When she invited the former Regina Rams' football player BK Woldu to speak to her health class nine months ago, his story of escaping war and finding a purpose in sports sparked the idea.
"I told him, 'I want to run a summer camp for mini BKs. And I want you to help me pay it forward to future generations,'" she said, asking if he'd help raise money to pay for a sports camp for refugees and newcomers, if she organized it.
For Woldu, it was a no-brainer. After his family managed to escape war between Ethiopia and Eritrea and find their way to Regina, sports in high school shaped him.
Without sports, he said drugs, alcohol or crime might have crept into his life.
"I can honestly tell you my life could have gone a totally different direction, because the area that we lived in wasn't the best area in the world."
When Burgess suggested her camp idea, Woldu — who's well connected in his personal and professional life as a sales manager at BMW – got on his phone and started texting every person he knew to come out to a fundraising gala for the new organization, Bring 'Em Up Sask.
"I wasn't going to take no for an answer."
Woldu and Burgess hoped to raise $20,000 from that May gala. Thanks to the event's success and continued support, Bring 'Em Up Sask. raised $90,000 to send kids to the first camp this summer and to others in the future.
It's a figure that still blows Burgess away, as did the community support.
"They showed up on that evening for these kids, and that's why I love Regina," she said.
The campers were also very grateful.
Fifteen-year-old Isabel Egheoma said growing up in Nigeria, she'd never even heard of basketball, but she fell in love with it after coming to Canada. When her family heard about the free camp, she was thrilled.
"I told my mom, 'Hurry, hurry, we have to sign up,' because this kind of stuff does not come all the time. So when you have it, you grasp it. Just take it right back and you drag it and just take the opportunity to grow yourself."
She, like others, gave credit for the coaches' encouragement and guidance. While some at the camp are beginners just finding their way in sport, others like Egheoma see the opportunity as a launching pad for success at the highest levels.
"To be honest, I wanna play professional women's basketball," she said. "I'm not gonna think small … I'm gonna think beyond myself."
Like Egheoma, Kabwari also dreams of playing professional basketball. But he won't forget the opportunity he received at the basketball camp, and like Woldu, he wants to pay it forward and help other newcomers build their self-worth and confidence.
"I'd like to raise [others] up, as they have raised me up," Kabwari said.
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With files from Blue Sky