Central's Fuamba finds refuge in US — and on basketball court

Central Community College freshman Ruben Fuamba Photo by: Zach Chriswell/The Columbus Telegram
Central Community College freshman Ruben Fuamba Photo by: Zach Chriswell/The Columbus Telegram

10-27-15  • By Zach Chriswell / zchriswell@columbustelegram.com

COLUMBUS -- After fleeing to the United States as a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ruben Fuamba has found a temporary home playing basketball for Central Community College.

Born on the border of the Republic of Congo and war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo in the capital city of Kinshasa, Fuamba followed in his father's and brother's footsteps, taking refuge in Boston in February 2014.

After a pit stop in Tampa, Florida, playing basketball for the Talented Athletes Around the Globe Academy, Fuamba found his way to Columbus to play for Jerry Drymon's Raiders.

"He actually played for a friend of mine in Florida, at T.A.A.G. Academy," Drymon said. "We ended up getting in contact with each other and I recruited him. In the middle of the summer, he decided he was going to come this direction. Being a refugee, he had his U.S. citizenship, which makes the process of paperwork and so forth much easier to get him into school."

Working for a presidential candidate in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Fuamba's father found himself in a tough situation. Fuamba said his father's boss, the presidential candidate, was incarcerated after the election. Fearing for his safety, he fled the country, bringing the majority of his family with eventually.

"My dad worked for the government," Fuamba explained. "The man he was working for wanted to become president. He didn't get it and is now in jail."

Fuamba's brother Randy lived in America prior to their father's arrival, paving the way for the family's move.

Aside from the improved safety associated with moving to America, Fuamba has found opportunity here that didn't exist in his home country.

"Here, people have opportunity," he said. "I wanted to play basketball, and here, it's up to me. In my country, you can give your best, but we don't have opportunity to do what you want there."

Billed as a rim protector for the Raiders, Fuamba knows what's asked of him on the court.

"In the game, the first thing I'm doing is rebounding," he said. "The second is (looking for a) block. I can score around 10 points (per game), but I hope to get the most rebounds."

The 6-9 center/power forward started playing basketball at the age of 15. He took a liking to watching the NBA greats of the '80s and '90s.

"I started to play basketball when I was 15," Fuamba said. "I wanted to play basketball because I love basketball. I liked to watch some NBA games. I liked to see players in the NBA like (Michael) Jordan and Shaquille (O'Neal)."

Fuamba has the talent to potentially realize his dream of playing basketball for a living, according to Drymon. While the talent is there, the Central freshman is a raw prospect.

"He's very raw talent-wise. He's got a great personality -- always smiling," Drymon said. "He wants to get better and puts in a lot of time to get better. He's got a tremendous upside and ceiling to work with because he's kind of a blank slate. So I think after two years, his potential is extremely high."

Fuamba wants to one day play basketball for a living. If not the lofty goal of playing in the NBA, perhaps somewhere else. But Fuamba knows he needs to start somewhere.

"I wanted to play basketball for (a living)," he said. "My brother has been here for a long time. He said if I think I can play basketball in the NBA, I have to start in college. If you are good, you can go to the NBA."

But he's got a lot to work on first -- in the classroom and on the court.

"Everyone really enjoys him. English is a little bit of a challenge for him still, but you can see every day his personality comes out more and more, which is a lot of fun," Drymon said. "On the court, he does a pretty good job of protecting the rim for us. Offensively, he has to develop some more finishing moves. Working with coach (Jack) Johnson and myself, we're optimistic we can get some of those things developed over the next few months."

While Fuamba's parents, brother and three of his four sisters currently reside in Boston, it's his brother Randy who has taken an interest in Fuamba's education.

"His brother is very involved with his schooling here," Drymon said. "His brother has kind of taken him under his wing. His brother helps him more than his parents do. His brother was educated in the United States. He's an engineer in Boston."

Columbus is a nice change of pace for the 21-year-old.

"I like it," Fuamba said. "It's nice to just focus on school and play basketball."

Even with all Fuamba's talent, it might be his work ethic and determination that stick out most to Drymon.

"They bring such a work ethic, all our international kids do," Drymon said. "They work really hard because, I think sometimes in the States, we take for granted the opportunities that they don't get in their countries. He's a great example that there's not a lot of opportunities in those countries. The highlight films we get from some of those kids, they're on a concrete court with broken hoops, and that's where they play."

"That's the part that makes coaching rewarding, is dealing with those kids that want to make something out of their life, regardless if it's the NBA or whatever."