Dikembe Mutombo

Everyone thinks that the heroes are Batman, Superman, and Spiderman. But, can a person be a hero?

Yes, he can. And I think everyone has a real hero in the world. My hero is Dikembe Mutombo.

Mutombo was born in June 25, 1966, and he is African. He is a basketball player, playing for the Houston Rockets right now. He is 42 years old; he is 7 ft 2in in height and weighs 260lb. He is from the Congo, and he is married to Rose. They have 6 children, 4 adopted. Mutombo can speak English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and 5 African languages.

And even though he has gotten old, he still plays basketball. And he still can block shots. He has 2 blocks per game. He is the oldest player in the NBA. And his NBA life is not normal either. He got 4 time NBA Defensive Player of the year, 8 time NBA all star, 3 time all NBA, 6 time all defensive, NBA all Rookie first team, 2 time NBA regular season leader for rebounding average, 4 time NBA regular season leader for total rebounds, NBA regular season leader for offensive rebounds, 2 time NBA regular season leader, defensive rebounds, 3 time NBA regular season leader blocking average, 5 time NBA regular season leader of total blocks. Now, he is the best blocker only behind Hakeem Olajuwon.

Mutombo tries to be the best player, but one of his truly big goals is to build a hospital. He does humanitarian work in Africa. He wants to open a $29 million, 300-bed hospital on the outskirts of his hometown, the Congolese capital of Kinshasa. But, he only got $3.5 million. Then he spent 6 years to save the money by himself. One of his big successes is open a hospital. In August 14, 2006 he had enough money to build the hospital. When it opened in February 2007, the $29 million facility became the first modern medical facility to be built in that area in nearly 40 years. And he named that hospital after his late mother, Biamba Marie Mutombo. Mutombo's biggest award is the title of humanitarian.

Above all, his mind makes me think he is my hero. He will never give up until he is dead. And he will keep on helping people until he dies. And that's why he is my hero.