By Klyde Manansala
OKLAHOMA City Thunder center Enes Kanter is set to visit Manila on Thursday to promote his Light Foundation and other sports and educational advocacies in San Juan, Metro Manila.
Last February, the Turkish big man launched the Enes Kanter Light Foundation—a charitable foundation which provides fundraising activities, food, scholarships, and other useful resources for the underprivileged youth.
Kanter will spend his whole Thursday visit in San Juan to present gifts and other supplies at White Cross Orphanage in the morning head to Greenhills West Clubhouse in the afternoon to have a talk and exhibition game with the students of the Fountain International School, which is hosting his Philippine trip.
The NBA player already visited several charitable organizations and schools across the globe.
Among the countries his visited are Belgium, Netherlands, France, Spain, Germany, South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, Uganda, UAE, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico.
After the Houston Rockets knocked out Kanter’s team in the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs, he immediately looked to spend his vacation helping children in different nations. This time, the Philippines will be one of the countries the Light Foundation will visit and help.
Fountain International School is a private, non-sectarian educational institution which welcomes pre-school, grade school and high school students from diverse cultures, race and religion. It is a Cambridge International School offering courses on Secondary 1, Secondary 2 IGCSE and A/AS Level.
Kanter is a Turkish professional basketball player for the Thunder in the NBA. Standing at 6’11”, Kanter made his debut for the Turkish national basketball team at the 2008 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship in Italy. He dominated throughout the tournament, averaging 22.9 points, 16.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 34.6 minutes per game. However, Jonas ValanÄiÅ«nas was chosen as the MVP after he averaged 14.3 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 23.5 minutes. Kanter went on to earn MVP honors at the 2009 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship after averaging 18.6 points and 16.4 rebounds while leading Turkey’s junior national team to the bronze medal. He declined to play for the senior national team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship which was being held in Turkey as the team went on to win the silver medal.