Posted on 10/25/2001 2:31:56 PM PDT by JJ59
Manute Bol Is Stranded in Egypt By Dave Collins Associated Press Writer Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2001; 7:44 a.m. EDT
HARTFORD, Conn. –– Manute Bol and his family are stranded in Egypt because U.S. visas and refugee documents have been hard to come by since Sept. 11. "I've been detained like a terrorist," the 7-foot-7 Bol said Tuesday from his Cairo apartment in an interview with The Associated Press. "I don't want to stay. It's not safe for me to be here in Egypt. I don't go out. I just sit here." Bol, who played for four NBA teams and the University of Bridgeport, has been in Cairo since July, when he and his family slipped out of his native Sudan after waiting eight months to get out of that wartorn country. He wants to come to New Jersey to see his three daughters and son from a previous marriage. Then he wants to settle in the Hartford area to be near several friends he made during college. In a few years, the 39-year-old Dinka tribe member will be eligible for his NBA pension. During his rookie year with the Washington Bullets in 1985, he set an NBA record with 397 blocks. Bol bounced from Washington to Golden State, Philadelphia and Miami before retiring from the league in 1995. He averaged just 4.2 rebounds and 2.6 points during his career. Before Sept. 11, Bol said he had an appointment for Oct. 15 to see U.S. State Department immigration lawyers, who visit Cairo from Italy and Greece once every few months. The officials help people fill out paperwork and get approved for visas and refugee status. But the lawyers canceled the appointment, and Bol believes it was because of the terrorist attacks in America and the resulting slowdown in the issuing of visas and approving of refugee status. A major stumbling block for Bol has been the status of his 10-year-old half-sister, Acheed. Bol is caring for her, but doesn't have documents to show that he is her legal guardian. Because of that, Bol said, he cannot get visas in Cairo for himself, his wife Ajok and his 2-year-old son. Bol said embassy officials have told him that because of Acheed's status, he would have to apply for refugee status for himself and his family and meet with the State Department lawyers. He said they told him he could fly to Italy or Greece to meet with the lawyers. "Everything is becoming a mess," said Bol, who lost his green card two or three years ago in Sudan. Bol fears he cannot afford the trip to southern Europe, where he would have to spend a week while waiting to see American officials. He made millions of dollars in his 10 years in the NBA, but diverted much of it to his extended family in Sudan and to rebels fighting the Sudanese government. Since then, he has fallen on hard times, having been forced to sell his two homes in Africa while a bank foreclosed on his home in the United States. Bol said he misses America. He watches the news every day to see what is happening in the aftermath of the attacks. "It was a very sad thing," Bol said. "For somebody that lived there for 15 years, it is real hard. It's very scary." Bol said he and his friends tried to warn American officials after the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 that terrorism was a very real threat and it could happen again in America. Ed Bona, Bol's cousin and a former European pro basketball player who lives in West Hartford, said he and other friends of Bol have been trying to get immigration lawyers to see Bol in Cairo. "We're trying to help him," said Bona, who works for the state Department of Economic and Community Development. "It got screwed up because of the events of Sept. 11." Before the terrorist attacks, Bona said the end of Bol and his family's saga was in sight. But now it has faded away. "We thought we'd have a happy ending by now," Bona said. "But we have to wait. We're waiting. We're still waiting."
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Just like the entourage of a washed up heavy weight.
LMAO!
Every time I think things around here get too serious, I manage to get good laugh from a poster.
He is one of the good guys. I hope he makes it in.
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