Pau Gasol Visits Chad As UNICEF Ambassador

The Los Angeles Lakers have always been a marquee NBA franchise on the court, but once the buzzer rings, the Lakers perform even better. The franchise has done wonders for the local Los Angeles community and they have even paid visits to countries outside the United States.

Lakers assistant coach Darvin Ham will be heading to Myanmar this week, and that is coming off a successful trip by Lakers star Pau Gasol in Chad. Gasol is visiting the African country as part of his UNICEF ambassadorship and Yahoo! Sports wrote about the goals of Gasol’s trip to the country.

Unbowed, Spain’s UNICEF ambassador took to Chad on Thursday for a week-long fact-finding mission that he hopes will raise awareness for malnutrition crises that plague that country; one of nine that are part of the Sahel region that dots the middle part of Africa between the Red Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

Gasol and UNICEF will offer the locals food and vaccinations at feeding and medical nutritional centers. According to UNICEF, the Sahel region has 1.1 million children that are suffering from malnutrition and there are a total of 18 million people in the nine countries of the Sahel region who are affected by drought and food crisis.

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The malnutrition crisis is growing rapidly and there are people whom UNICEF has not yet reached. Gasol’s main objective in his Chad journey is to spread awareness of the issue and inform people that the crisis can be solved.

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In case you missed it – Dwight Howard’s introductory press conference with the Lakers!
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