Erick Mbianda wasn’t planning to attend university this past year because his family in Cameroon couldn’t afford to send him.
They had endured a decade of disruption due to the armed conflict that began in 2016, forcing them from their home in the northwest to the more centrally located capital Yaoundé.
Then Mbianda received an email from the University of New Brunswick offering him a scholarship through the River Philip Foundation and the PS43 Foundation, operated by fellow Cameroonian and former Toronto Raptors star Pascal Siakam, who’s now playing with the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.