‎“Diamond in the Rough” ‎‎‎

Gerald Hamilton founder of “Diamond in the Rough” program

The “Diamond in the Rough” program is designed to help children reach higher levels of achievement. The Non-profit Christian based program was founded by Gerald Hamilton, a US citizen and a native of Memphis, TN suburbs. Gerald has always had a passion for sports, children, and education. While surfing the internet one day, he stumbled upon an article of a young man living in a refugee camp. In this article it described how this young man helped other children reach safety in Kenya, while fleeing his country. The young man stated he not only left his country in search of peace, but to pursue his dream of getting an education and becoming an athlete. Initially after reading this article Gerald was touched, but like most people, he just went back to his daily routine. As time went on, the idea of helping this young man, continued to grow in Gerald’s mind. Finally, Gerald decided that it was his duty to help this young man in someway. After months and months of determination, Gerald’s search to find the young man and ways to help him, eventually paid off. After contacting and providing help for the young man, Gerald learned that he would later received help from outside agencies to study and play sports in the US. This experience sparked Gerald to establish a program to help other young men in similar situations.

The program now known as the “Diamond in the Rough” has made tremendous progress. Currently, there are several schools in the US that are willing to offer scholarships for children in the Diamond in the Rough program. The program is now organizing an international basketball camp designed to allow young men to display there athletic talents. Candidates for the scholarships will be selected from this camp. Several organizations have rallied their support such as: UN agencies, Ogilvy One, and local Non Government Organizations (NGO).

This international youth program’s basketball camp will take place in Nairobi, Kenya in August of 2006. This camp will consist of one hundred young men throughout East Africa such as Sudan, Uganda, Egypt, Somalia etc. The camp’s daily operations will be facilitated by US coaches, former professional U.S. players, and international basketball players. This program is destined for success and will draw international attention to east Africa. Diamond in the Rough staff welcomes all involvement from agencies in the US and East Africa that are willing to support there efforts.

Source: Gerald Hamilton