by Darla Martin Tucker
For Saladine Ganda, the circuitous trek from his native country on the western coast of Central Africa to study and play basketball at La Sierra University was the consequence of divine guidance. When he tells the story of his journey, he says, “for the Glory of God.”
Ganda completed requirements for his business management bachelor’s degree on March 19 at La Sierra’s Tom and Vi Zapara School of Business just as the university shifted to online operations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout his academic career at La Sierra, the six-foot-eight-inch student played power forward on the Golden Eagles men’s basketball team and last June was recognized as “Most Improved Player.” He aims for a professional basketball career and is currently awaiting the rescheduling of La Sierra’s commencement ceremony which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Born and raised in the Republic of Congo’s capital city of Brazzaville, Ganda converted from Islam to the Pentecostal Christian faith at age 17, two years before immigrating to the United States on a college scholarship to study and play basketball. His Christian beliefs, developed through his reading of the Bible and the influence of a high school friend, found dedicated support in the kindness of a Christian family in Oklahoma who became his adopted family in the U.S. while he enrolled at Northern Oklahoma College. His faith was further sustained at La Sierra University where he eventually landed and studied for three years, and where he attended services at La Sierra University Church and Mt. Rubidoux Seventh-day Adventist Church in Riverside. The twists and turns, the challenges and the miracles along the way he knew were part of God’s plans for him.
“God put a lot of people who are helping me through it,” Ganda said. “I am thankful for that.”
Divine direction
Ganda first heard about La Sierra University when he was approached by recruiters from La Sierra’s Golden Eagles athletics department who saw him playing basketball at nearby San Bernardino Valley College. Ganda had enrolled at the San Bernardino school while visiting schools in California, aiming for a transfer from Northern Oklahoma College. When he first came to the United States, he played briefly with the basketball team at Weatherford College in Texas, a public community college, and then moved to Northern Oklahoma College, a community college in Enid. But through the connections of the owner of Team Up Academy youth basketball organization in Brazzaville where he previously played ball, Ganda considered better opportunities in California.
Meanwhile, Ganda continued to live with the Neel family in Oklahoma, his unofficial hosts who became his stateside family, his emergency contacts, his home base for college vacations, and his foundation. After La Sierra’s athletics recruiters piqued Ganda’s interest in the university, Laura Neel, Ganda’s host family mom drove from Oklahoma to Southern California to tour La Sierra’s campus with Ganda in August 2017. Interested in studying business, Ganda spoke with John Thomas, dean of the Zapara School of Business during the tour. Ganda cites the conversation as a key influence in his decision to transfer to the Seventh-day Adventist school.
Thomas recalled Ganda’s politeness and smiling, positive demeanor and spoke of his desire to help the student find his footing and chart a path toward his goals. “I told Saladine that he could progress in his basketball career as well as get a solid education in business if he studied at La Sierra,” Thomas said. He told Ganda he would support the student along the way and relayed to Ganda his own experience of arriving at La Sierra decades earlier as an international student from India with nothing but determination, and how God provided for him.
“Life in America is all about hard work and trusting that the unknown will be made known to you,” Thomas said. “And this university has an incredible history through the efforts of faculty, staff and administrative leadership of helping people reach their goals.”
Ganda found a supportive family network throughout campus where close interaction with professors results from small class sizes, and in particular within the athletics department.
“Our athletics coaches are like family to international students like Saladine,” said Athletics Director Javier Krum. “They are always checking on them, helping not just with their success as athletes, but as students too. Our coaches check their grades weekly, they also make sure their teams attend to study halls and tutoring. Usually the coach is the first to know when a student athlete is going through a crisis of any kind.”
John Janssen, La Sierra’s men’s head basketball coach commented on the significant improvements Ganda made while on the team and his contributions as a player through his teachable spirit and joyful heart. “There are no down days with Sal, he is always energetic and flashing his big smile,” Janssen said. “He is a joy to coach because of his attitude and his wanting to learn. Sometimes it is hard to stay positive when things aren’t going well personally or as part of our team, and Sal showed up every day with a great attitude.”
Family Love
Ganda’s adopted host family in Oklahoma is also taking care of two teen boys from Congo whom they connected with through Ganda. The boys are enrolled in Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita where Neel serves as a house mom and tutor for the two teens and other academy students while they’re attending school. Koch Industries, her employer, provided opportunities in Wichita for her work as an electrician improving software maintenance procedures and asset strategies. Her family belongs to the First Baptist Church in Covington, Oklahoma, which is near their 160-acre family farm but more than 100 miles from Wichita. She keeps in regular contact with the church prayer chain via text and Facebook. The church members have fully embraced her ‘adopted’ sons from Africa. During a period when she wasn’t working, they collected an offering to support the family.
During the 2014-15 school year, Ganda first visited the Neel home by tagging along with a friend from Northern Oklahoma College who knew the family through Fall Creek church youth camp. Ganda continued to visit the home along with his friend and others, and ended up staying for weekends to watch NBA games, play video games and eat. When Neel got home on Fridays, she would find three or five college boys hanging out. “He started hanging out more and more and we sort of adopted him,” said Neel.
“I always told people I would be a stay-at-home mom and have 10 kids, and I’m almost there,” joked Neel. In between trips back to Oklahoma during school breaks, Ganda frequently calls home to talk with his adopted mom. “He calls and we chitchat. He occasionally calls for help with homework, mostly English translations. It’s super fun. I’m loving on him for sure,” Neel said. “He’s part of the whole family.”
“My host family is very supportive,” Ganda said. “They showed true love.”
Family is important to Ganda. His own family in Congo includes 11 brothers and sisters, five of whom he grew up with following the passing of his father when he was around 11 years old. While living in the United States, Ganda also lost his mother. “Everything I do is to make her happy. That’s my goal,” he said.
Ganda will pursue his next steps playing professional basketball overseas with the knowledge of how God has led in the past, from Congo to Texas, to families and friendships forged in Oklahoma and at La Sierra University. He has confidence in the future, no matter the turns in the road.
“The best part about it is, you can’t tell Saladine’s story without God being a part of it,” Neel said. “I’m a firm believer that if God puts something on your heart, he will find a way to make it happen. You only have to say yes.”
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This story originally appeared on the La Sierra University website under the title, “Business grad, basketball player from Congo recounts God’s leading.”
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