Kyrie Irving is known as an NBA point guard who plays for the Brooklyn Nets, but helping to bring water to a Pakistani village may be his highest score.
Michigan-based Paani Project teamed
up with Irving’s KAI Family Foundation to provide water and electric power to individuals in one of Pakistan’s most unprivileged locations called Rohal, The New York Post reported.Rohal’s location in Tharparkar experienced a severe dry spell. It left destitute villagers in a position of trekking to the dessert to obtain consumable water. But now 1,000 people can leave all of that hardship behind. Power can illuminate places such as schools. They have clean water to drink and use at their convenience, too.
“Very few people ever even want to help out people in Pakistan and if you’re part of the Pakistani diaspora you know this,” the Paani Project’s founder and chairman, Sikander ‘Sonny’ Khan said to The New York Post.
Irving and his foundation kept the good deed under wraps, but the Internet drew attention to it. Then, it spread to viral proportions, according to SBNATION.
Khan’s journey to solicit celebrity help was an intersection of good fortune and grace.
The Irving admirer reportedly initiated contact with the KAI Family Foundation but never had a face-to-face meeting with the sports star. He explained how much has been accomplished to help others in need with a volunteer crew and track record of raising more than $1 million.
Without extreme formalities which could have caused the project to take much longer than four months to make a reality, a village was changed for better.
Image – Twitter
“One day I was just scrolling online and came across his( Irving’s) surreal track record of philanthropy. I was surprised to see how much work he’s done in Africa, the work he’s done for low-income communities, and work towards women’s empowerment,” Khan said in the interview.
The lack of access to drinking water remains a serious issue. It impacts “785 million people” who do not have access to “a basic drinking-water service,” the World Health Organization reported in 2019. And by helping the Paani Project, Irving made a slam dunk.