When Dikembe Mutombo arrived at Georgetown in 1987, he registered as a Pre-Med major. (Imagine that Bio 101 teacher bumbling through the big man's real name -- Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean Jacque Wamutombo -- on the roll call.)

The rigors of college basketball, however, failed to allow Mutombo the proper amount of time to dedicate to the intensive major. He switched his academic focus but never his goal -- to return to his homeland of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) and help people there.

Fourteen years later, it ends up that Mutombo's blocked shots and tip-ins will help more people than an M.D. ever could. On Sept. 15, ground will be broken on a $14 million hospital project in Congo's capital of Kinshasa. Mutombo spearheaded the project by raising money through the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, which he founded in December of 1997.

Along with donating $3.5 million of his own cash, Mutombo has coerced fellow Georgetown alums like Alonzo Mourning ($200,000) and Pat Ewing ($100,000) to donate some dough.

At Gaston Hall in Georgetown on Wednesday night, Mutombo spoke eloquently and passionately about the project. Things are so bad in the Congo that one in every five children fail to make it past their fifth birthday. There hasn't been a new hospital built in Kinshasa in 40 years.

In his familiar gravelly voice, Mutombo told the audience of about 400 an old African adage: "When you take the elevator to the top, don't forget to send it back down."

While he didn't wag his index finger and shake his head in trademark mid-paint form, the advice rang through the lecture hall with equal poignancy.

It took a Dikembe drop step from Pre-Med to the low post, but he's already practiced what he preached. His generosity will give countless folks in the Congo an elevator ride to a better life.