“Water has been and will always be the most vital resource that humans simply cannot live without. Water is life and it is also life-changing. Being able to provide a transformative resource will not only impact the people of today but the generations of tomorrow.”
A Holistic, Collaborative, Sustainable Approach
Access to clean water impacts every aspect of life. In some parts of the world girls and women walk miles each day to gather water – often from contaminated sources – for drinking, cooking, bathing, and to prepare food for their families to eat. Access to clean water improves health and increases opportunities for girls and women to pursue their educations and meaningful work. Enhancing educational experiences accelerates academic achievement and opportunities for the future!
Hoops4Humanity projects start by partnering with communities to create access to clean water and then support additional initiatives to optimize and equip schools. Each empowered school project includes a water well, community garden, sport court, and OneTabs for academic support. Our goal: To enhance health, education, and opportunity, especially for girls and women. Our school-based projects are called empowered schools because they empower children, families, and community leaders to design, implement, and maintain programs that benefit the community.
NBA and WNBA players make up the Hoops4Humanity team and are committed to a holistic, collaborative, and sustainable approach. The H4H team partners with community leaders to bring clean water and education infrastructure to improve health and educational outcomes. These professional athletes work together to make a difference in the lives of thousands of children and families.
Our Projects
In March 2021 Hoops4Humanity completed its first empowered school project at the Patanumbe Primary School in Arusha, Tanzania. The project includes a deep bore, solar powered water well serving 7000 community members, including 500 children attending the school. The well is operated using sustainable, solar energy which will ensure that water flows to the new handwashing stations and facilitates additional power needs of the school. Community leaders ensure that water is distributed to families and livestock and that wells are maintained.
The Patanumbe School and all empowered school projects include a sport court, community garden, and implementation of OneTabs for academic support. OneTab solar-powered tablets, created by OneBillion.org (https://onebillion.org/about/the-goal/), provide an interactive and fun experience for children as they learn 1st through 3rd-grade level reading, writing, and mathematics.
The introduction of OneTab devices into schools expands the impact of Hoops4Humanity directly into the schools and homes of elementary school children, improving access to learning and academic achievement. Community gardens and sport courts are additional components of a strategy that complements access to clean water to support healthy communities through sustainable gardens and access to physical education and sports.
In addition to the Patanumbe empowered school project, four additional projects have been completed in Tanzania at the Mulumpu, Naiborsoit, Songa, and Gezaloule Primary Schools. This fall 2022, five additional empowered schoolprojects are under construction at the Azimio, Burka, Vumilia, Gomvu and Sinoni Primary Schools in Arusha and Dar es Salaam.
H4H Initiatives
Supporting Academic Achievement
In Tanzania, we partner with OneBillion to provide OneTab devices to children at our empowered schools. OneTab solar-powered tablets provide 1st through 3rd-grade-level reading and mathematics content to children in their own languages. The introduction of OneTab devices into schools expands the impact of Hoops4Humanity directly into the schools and homes of elementary school children, improving access to learning and academic achievement.
Community Gardens
The development of a community garden involves partnering with a community to design, prepare, and irrigate a community garden, train community members to care for and maintain the garden and develop systems to provide equitable access to the garden and the food it produces. Community gardens are part of a holistic and sustainable approach to improve the health of community members.
Sport Courts
Creating opportunities for engagement in sports allows children to learn discipline, teamwork, leadership, and healthy exercise habits. Building courts at schools with clean water and strong educational programs enhance the educational experience, improves health, and provides opportunities for athletes from the U.S. to engage with students interested in team sports.
From an early age, it’s been on Malcolm Brogdon’s heart to help in Africa
Malcolm Brogdon left a part of his heart in Africa.
In trips to the continent as a child, he saw poverty….