At seventeen, I left Natitingou with a bag and a scholarship to the United States. I did not speak English. I barely knew basketball: I had started a few years earlier, almost by accident, because a recruiter noticed my height during a visit to my older brother.
People often tell this story as one of talent escaping. I tell it differently: it is the story of a door that opened once, for one boy, in a town that deserved a thousand doors.
The debt
Everything that followed, Villanova, the professional seasons, the French Cup, the MBA, flows from that door. And I did not open it alone. A mother who sewed to pay for school. A brother who played before me. Coaches, host families, strangers who said yes. Some call that luck. I call it a debt.
MY BARIKA is how I repay it. Barika means blessing. Since 2018, the association has used sport and education to create opportunity for young people in Benin: academic scholarships, basketball camps open to girls and boys, a national public-speaking contest called Les Voix de Demain, and panels that help athletes prepare their second career.
What I see when I go back
Every time I return, I see the same thing: Natitingou never lacked talent. What it lacks are structures, courts, mentors, and someone to tell a child that their future can be bigger than their neighborhood. A ball and a book are sometimes enough to change a trajectory. I am proof of that.
I do not go back to Natitingou out of nostalgia. I go back because the door that opened for me must not close behind me.
To discover the programs or join us: the MY BARIKA page.