Overview
In collaboration with UNHCR and a group of young basketball players from the camp known as the “Dream Team,” CorpsAfrica Volunteer Amadou Alpha Ba secured support from the NBA to build a new basketball court for youth at the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi. The project received funding from several partner organizations and now serves as a vibrant space for ongoing sports programs that promote dignity, social inclusion, and overall well-being among youth living in this protracted refugee situation.
Alpha Ba, a CorpsAfrica Exchange Volunteer from Senegal, served at the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in 2017. Working alongside UNHCR and the Dream Team, he helped make the vision of a new basketball court a reality, creating opportunities for young people to connect, grow, and thrive through sport.
Home to an estimated over 57,000 as of April 2025, Dzaleka is Malawi’s largest refugee camp, originally designed to accommodate just 9,000 (Source: UNHCR). Its residents come primarily from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia. The new court was designed to give the camp’s large youth population a safe and constructive outlet for developing essential life skills.
The Dream Team now aspires to compete in Malawi’s national basketball league. The day before the court’s launch, Catalyst Basketball Movement and Franck Traore of NBA Africa conducted a Coaches’ Training for more than 30 local coaches. These coaches will lead youth basketball programs that emphasize healthy lifestyles, teamwork, inclusion, and discipline, furthering the impact of this remarkable Volunteer-led initiative.
Amadou Alpha Ba is from Dakar. He has a degree in Applied Foreign Languages (English and German) from the University of Saint Louis. Very active as a student, he was President of the Google Student Ambassador Committee.
As a member of UGB Verte since 2013, a structure that advocates for the environment, he participated as a volunteer in the Citizen Camp on the Carabane and Souloum Islands. He also attended leadership training sessions through AIESEC.
Alpha has participated in activities with Afrobarometer, visiting more than 50 villages in Senegal, which sparked his interest in helping people in remote areas. After finishing his Master’s in Tourism and Hotel Management, Alpha served as a CorpsAfrica Volunteer in Senegal and then in Malawi at the Dzaleka Refugee Camp.
