South Sudan is into the quarterfinals of the Afrobasket tournament for the first time. The youngest African nation achieved the milestone after a thrilling 60-58 win over Kenya at the Kigali Arena on Tuesday.

This achievement did not come out of the blues; it was due to the tremendous work of the former coach of the national basketball team in the name of Luol Ajou Deng.  Since his return to the country from Britain, the South Sudan men’s basketball has significantly improved.

Mr. Deng is a South Sudanese-British former professional basketball player. He was a two-time NBA All-Star and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2012.

But after retiring from active play, Luol returned home to build basketball in the country. He was elected President of the South Sudan Basketball Federation in 2020.

Today, Luol has made South Sudanese very proud of their country, especially those who love sports, particularly basketball.

Luol has set up a good example that many South Sudanese who are in the diaspora can learn from. Firstly, Luol has shown us that it is always important to use the skills you have acquired from the diaspora to develop your own country of origin because this is where you belong.

Immediately after he retired from playing basketball, he did not hesitate to come back home notwithstanding a myriad of political and economic challenges bedeviling the country.

His major aim was to transform the basketball fraternity in a country ravaged by war with young talents scattered across the East African region and beyond. The basketball legend leveraged his leadership capability and assembled all the lads.

Secondly, Luol has proved right that South Sudanese have talents and when given the opportunity, they can excel at any scale. It is true that the 21 years of the civil war had caused a lot of destruction and loss of lives but also on the other side it had made many of us be exposed to different parts of the world.

South Sudanese have scattered almost all over the world and there is almost no place you cannot get them. South Sudan would be so powerful as Israel if those who are in Europe, Australia, the U.S, Asia, and the Middle East come back home.

Israelis were once scattered like the South Sudanese after their independence. Then, they decided to go back home and each was returning home with different skills that they had acquired from the diaspora. Thus, that is the reason why today Israel is more advanced and powerful.

South Sudan has more advantages to develop than any other country within East Africa given its natural resources in the country and the human resources that are still outside the country. If our leaders can stop fighting and work for peace, all those who are in the diaspora will decide to return home to develop the country

Luol has already set good examples for our citizens living abroad and it is clear that he can do better when given all the supports he needs, including both technical and financial.

The government should not watch from the bench as Mr. Deng and his team places the country on the regional and world map. Financial supports are necessary to the team and players so that they can meet their needs while for the citizens, their morale is just all the players need.

The basketball legend has set a trajectory worth emulating by every patriotic South Sudanese at home and in the diaspora.