By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-03-14 14:47:40
圣安东尼奥马刺队中锋俾斯麦·比永博 (Bismack Biyombo) (18号) 在2026年3月12日星期四，于圣安东尼奥霜冻银行中心对阵丹佛掘金队的比赛开始前做准备。
马刺中锋俾斯麦·比永博 (Bismack Biyombo) 在14个NBA赛季中赚到了足够的钱，如果他愿意，完全可以用昂贵的艺术品来装饰他的豪宅。
但比起从纽约苏豪区 (SoHo) 的艺术画廊购买昂贵的画作，比永博更青睐那些出自青少年艺术家的作品。这些孩子就读于他在满目疮痍的家乡——刚果民主共和国 (Democratic Republic of Congo) 共同创办的一所学校。
“我家里所有的画都出自这些孩子之手，”他说。
他最喜欢的作品是：蒙甘加·基图库 (Munganga Kituku) 描绘的一段生活剪影，画的是流经戈马基伍国际学校附近的河流。戈马是一个拥有超过100万人口的重要贸易和运输枢纽。
“你可以看到渔民捕鱼归来，看到母亲们带着孩子玩耍，”比永博说道，“这是一幅美丽的画作，是这个孩子生活的表达，也是刚果的缩影。在刚果，父母会告诉孩子：‘我们可能没钱让餐桌上有食物，因为我们要把钱省下来供你读书。’”
比永博表示，这幅画也提醒着他人生的使命。
“对我来说，使命就是：在职业生涯结束时，我能否回首往事并对上帝赐予我的天赋感到欣慰？我是否能够影响他人的生活？我是否能够触动他人的生命？”他说道。
为此，比永博将拍卖来自基伍学校12至18岁学生的60幅画作，为俾斯麦·比永博基金会 (Bismack Biyombo Foundation) 众多的教育和青少年项目筹集资金。拍卖会将于周五晚上7点在希尔顿La Cantera度假酒店及水疗中心举行的“改变生活，建设未来慈善晚宴”上进行。
门票可通过 https://www.biyombofoundation.org/events 购买。
“其中一些画作反映了（这些年轻艺术家）所经历的（创伤性）往事，”比永博在谈到这些画作时说，“有些画非常美丽，有些简直令人惊叹。我们把其中一些发给了专业人士，他们中的许多人都对这些作品感到震惊。”
他说，学生们非常渴望展示他们的创作。
“有时他们觉得自己被世界遗忘了，”比永博说，“当我们构思今年的晚宴主题时，我想：‘我能否给他们一个平台，让他们表达自己并被世人看见？’”
圣安东尼奥马刺队中锋俾斯麦·比永博 (Bismack Biyombo) (18号) 在2026年2月19日星期四晚对阵菲尼克斯太阳队的比赛前，在国歌仪式中沉思。这是在奥斯汀穆迪中心举行的两场“I-35系列赛”中的第一场，马刺以121-94赢得了比赛。
自2011年19岁开启NBA生涯以来，比永博一直孜孜不倦地援助刚果金。这个中部非洲国家因长达数十年的冲突而一直处于人道主义危机状态，冲突已导致数百万人丧生。他在2012年成立了基金会，并在2021-22赛季后捐出了自己在菲尼克斯效力赚得的130万美元，在刚果建立了一所医院，以纪念他因新冠并发症于2021年去世的父亲弗朗索瓦·比永博 (Francois Biyombo)，老比永博去世时享年61岁。
“19岁时，我只是个帮助其他孩子的孩子，”现年33岁的比永博说道，“我当初的想法只是想帮助一个孩子。但随后你会意识到，需求远比这大得多。所以你从举办篮球训练营转向建设学校。然后你参与到不同的项目中，帮助童兵、单身母亲、遭受性侵害的妇女。再然后，你开始翻新医院和诊所。”
本赛季早些时候，比永博在社交媒体视频中慷慨陈词，恳请他的刚果同胞保持希望。这些努力和其他行动打动了马刺队教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson)。
“这极具力量感，令人印象深刻，”约翰逊在谈到比永博为缓解家乡苦难所做的工作时说，“我鼓励任何有时间或感兴趣的人去了解一下，因为他在篮球之外做了一些非常了不起的事情。”
对于比永博和其他人道主义者来说，工作似乎永无止境。据英国广播公司 (BBC) 关于暴力冲突历史的详尽报道，矿产丰富的刚果金东部受冲突困扰已超过30年，这始于1994年的卢旺达大屠杀。
多个武装团体一直与中央当局争夺对该国潜在财富的控制权。2025年初，战斗升级，由卢旺达军队支持的叛乱组织M23攻入东部。卢旺达和刚果金领导人在12月签署了一项由美国斡旋的、很大程度上具有象征意义的和平协议，但战斗仍在继续。
“那里并没有和平，”比永博说，“孩子们在炸弹声中醒来，而不是在希望声中。实际上就在昨天，我收到一条消息，说有一枚炸弹落在我们学校附近。”
比永博指的是上周在戈马发生的一系列爆炸事件，据信是由无人机造成的，爆炸导致至少一人死亡——联合国援助人员、法籍联合国儿童基金会员工卡琳·比塞特 (Karine Buisset)。
“这令人心碎，你会继续祈祷，希望上帝能让人们内心产生一些善意，因为孩子们理应成长，”虔诚的天主教徒比永博说道，“母亲们理应能够拥抱孩子，而不用担心‘如果他们去上学，明天我可能就见不到他们了’。父亲们看着全家人，不断思考：‘我该如何保护家人的安全？’”
比永博认为，和平降临的唯一途径是每个人内心发生改变。
“我只是希望我们都能继续向彼此的生活倾注爱，因为如果我们一直等待政府带来爱，我们永远也等不到，”他说。
这也是这次晚宴对他如此重要的原因之一。他希望自己的“爱之举”能引导他人尽其所能，无论贡献大小。
“你不需要去想‘我需要影响成千上万的人’。也许受影响的是两个人，也许是三个人，有时甚至只是一个人。但只要产生了某种影响，我们就能内心平静，”比永博说，“在我旅程的终点，这就是我想要的全部——与自己达成和解。”
圣安东尼奥马刺队俾斯麦·比永博 (Bismack Biyombo) (18号) 与金州勇士队的乔纳森·库明加 (Jonathan Kuminga) (00号) 交谈。2025年3月30日星期日，金州勇士队在霜冻银行中心对阵圣安东尼奥马刺队。
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：Bismack Biyombo's latest effort to aid Congo centers on young artists
Bismack Biyombo’s latest effort to aid Congo centers on young artists
San Antonio Spurs center Bismack Biyombo (18) prepares for the start of the game against the Denver Nuggets at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio on Thursday, March 12, 2026.
Spurs center Bismack Biyombo has earned enough money in 14 NBA seasons to decorate his home with expensive art work if he so desired.
But rather than purchase pricey paintings from SoHo art galleries in New York, Biyombo prefers pieces by young artists from a school he co-founded in his war-ravaged country, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“All the paintings I have in my house are from these kids,” he said.
His favorite: A slice-of-life scene painted by Munganga Kituku along a river that flows near the Kivu International School in Goma, a vital trading and transport hub home to more than a million people.
“You see fishermen bringing in the fish. You see mothers and their children playing,” Biyombo said. “It is a beautiful painting, an expression of this kid’s life, an expression of the Congo, where parents tell their children, ‘We might not have food to put on the table because we use the money to educate you.’”
Biyombo said the painting also reminds him of his life’s purpose.
“The mission for me is: Can I look back at the end of my career and feel good about the gift God has given me, that I’m able to impact other people’s lives, that I’m able to touch other people’s lives?” he said.
To that end, Biyombo will raise money for the Bismack Biyombo Foundation’s numerous education- and youth-focused initiatives by auctioning off 60 paintings by students ages 12-18 from the Kivu school at the foundation’s “Changing Lives, Building Futures Gala” set for 7 p.m. Friday at the Signia by Hilton La Cantera Resort & Spa.
Tickets can be purchased at https://www.biyombofoundation.org/events.
“Some of them are about the (traumatic) things (the young artists) went through,” Biyombo said of the paintings. “Some of them are beautiful paintings. Some of them are just incredible paintings. We have sent some of them to professionals and a lot of them are amazed by these works.”
The students are eager to show off their creations, he said.
“Sometimes they feel unseen by the world,” Biyombo said. "And when we were thinking about the idea for this year’s gala, I thought, ‘Can I give them a platform where they can express themselves and be seen by people?’ "
San Antonio Spurs center Bismack Biyombo (18) takes a moment during the National Anthem ahead of the Spurs’ game against the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night, Feb. 19, 2026, the first of two “I-35 Series” games in Austin at the Moody Center. The Spurs won the game 121-94.
Biyombo has worked tirelessly since his NBA career began at age 19 in 2011 to aid DR Congo, the Central African country that has been in a constant state of humanitarian crisis caused by a decades-long conflict that has killed millions. He began his foundation in 2012 and made headlines after the 2021-22 season for donating the $1.3 million he earned with Phoenix to help build a hospital in Congo in memory of his father, Francois Biyombo, who died at 61 in 2021 from COVID-19 complications.
“When I was 19, I was just a kid helping other kids,” said Biyombo, 33. “My whole thing was I just wanted to help one kid. But then you realize the need was far greater. So you go from basketball camps into construction of schools. Then you jump into different programs, working with a child soldier, working with single mothers, working with women who have been sexually abused. And then you jump into refurbishing hospitals and clinics.”
Earlier this season, Biyombo made an impassioned plea in a social media video to his Congolese countrymen to maintain hope. That effort and others touched Spurs coach Mitch Johnson.
“It’s extremely powerful and extremely impressive,” Johnson said of Biyombo’s work to ease suffering in his homeland. “I encourage anyone who has time or any interest to look into it because he does some pretty impressive things beyond the game of basketball.”
For Biyombo and other humanitarians, the work seems never ending. The mineral-rich eastern DRC has been plagued by conflict for more than 30 years, starting with the 1994 Rwandan genocide, according to a comprehensive story about the history of the violence produced by BBC News.
Several armed groups have competed with central authorities for control of the nation’s potential fortune. Fighting escalated at the start of 2025, when M23, a rebel group backed by Rwandan forces, pushed into the east. The leaders of Rwanda and the DRC signed a largely symbolic peace deal in December brokered by the U.S., but the fighting continues.
“There has not been peace,” Biyombo said. “Kids are waking up to the sound of bombs instead of the sound of hope. Yesterday, actually, I received a message that a bomb dropped (near) our school.”
Biyombo was referring to a series of explosions last week in Goma believed to have been caused by drones that killed at least one person, U.N. aid worker Karine Buisset, a French national and a UNICEF employee.
“It’s heartbreaking, and you continue to pray and hope God can put some goodness into people’s heart because the kids deserve to grow up,” said Biyombo, a lifelong Catholic. "Mothers deserve to hold on to their kids without the thought of, ‘I might not see them tomorrow if they go to school.’ Fathers are looking at their whole family constantly thinking, ‘How can I keep my family safe?’ "
Biyombo believes the only way peace will come is if there are individual changes of heart.
“I just hope we can all continue to pour love into each other’s lives because if we keep waiting for governments to bring love, we will never get it,” he said.
That’s one of the reasons the gala is so important to him. He hopes his “act of love” will lead others to do what they can, no matter the size of the contribution.
“You don’t need to think, ‘I need to impact tens of thousands.’ Maybe the impact is two people, maybe it’s three people. Sometimes it’s one person. But as long as there is some kind of impact, we can be at peace with ourselves,” Biyombo said. “At the end of my journey, that’s all I want, to be at peace with myself.”
San Antonio Spurs Bismack Biyombo (18) talking with Golden State Warriors Jonathan Kuminga (00). Golden State Warriors v San Antonio Spurs on Sunday,March 30,2025 at the Frost Bank Center.
By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News