Ubuntu Ball


About Ubuntu Ball

In September of 2024 I had the opportunity to continue work on my photography project about the “grassroots” basketball scene in different countries and cultures around the world. I was originally inspired to begin this project in the basketball-crazed country of the Philippines, where hoops is king. Looking to expand, I decided to venture to the country of Rwanda, a small republic located in East Africa. Rwanda had been on my radar as a basketball hotbed since my first visit as a tourist a couple years prior. The mix of beautiful scenery (commonly referred to as “the land of a thousand hills”), friendly and welcoming people, and a safe and strong infrastructure made Rwanda an easy choice for this project.

Unlike my trips to the Philippines, this time I would not be working solo. I partnered with a non-profit called Shooting Touch, a phenomenal international sport-for-development organization that uses hoops as a tool for health and social change in rural communities in Rwanda (and in Boston). Their mission is to “mobilize the power of basketball to bridge health and opportunity gaps for youth and women facing racial, gender, and economic inequalities.” The focus on women was a wanted contrast to the work I had done in the male dominated basketball scene of the Philippines.

I am excited to be sharing a series of images and stories I gathered at the Shooting Touch courts in Eastern Rwanda, where basketball is much more than a game - it is a lifestyle, a place of physical and emotional freedom and expression, a connection to important health services and education, and a community builder.


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Children of the Mist