KINSHASA, Congo, Sept. 3 -- Two hospitals, named for two mothers. One is mired in the past; the other represents beaten-down Congo's hopes for a better future.
The 2,000-bed Mama Yemo, named after the mother of Mobutu Sese Seko, the country's late autocratic leader, was once the pride of Central Africa. Now the public facility is in such bad shape that patients must bring their own medicine and are not allowed to go home until they pay their bills.
Across town stands the new Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital, financed in part by Dikembe Mutombo, a child of Kinshasa who became a National Basketball Association star and is now with the Houston Rockets. It, too, is named for a mother -- Mutombo's. She died in 1997, as rebels were ousting Mobutu and this city, now with 6.5 million people, had erupted in violence that prevented her from getting to a hospital. Biamba Marie Mutombo was 64.
"To do something of this caliber in the name of your beloved mom, it will mean a lot -- not just to me but to the people of Congo," Mutombo recently said.
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