The Milan forward is conducting excellent philanthropic work in Tanzania
Giampaolo Ricci's family mission in Tanzania (Part 1): 'I feel obligated to do this'
Interviews
8 Mins read
More than 10,000 kilometers separate Milan from Kisaki, Tanzania, but for EA7 Emporio Armani Milan forward Giampaolo Ricci, it's a distance well worth traveling – again and again – to help change lives for the better.
It is in Kisaki, in central Tanzania, that Ricci is carrying on a mission that his parents started more than 30 years ago.
A Ricci family mission
Amani Education – Ricci's foundation – aims to improve the future for children in Kisaki some 35 years after his parents, Francesco Ricci and Marisa Di Filippo, first arrived in the East African country as volunteer doctors. The not only lived in the area for two years but started their family in Tanzania, where Giampaolo's older brother, Pierbruno, was born in 1990.
"It's really a part of my life and the life of my family," Ricci tells the EuroLeague's official website. "My parents shared with me this passion, this feeling to help others.
"Since 1990, they have kept doing a lot of projects in Tanzania. We went back as a family every two years, so I have been there a lot of times. They built an ambulatory – a small hospital with the maternity unit – and a lot of water wells because the water there is so important but it's not for everybody – it's not free for everybody. They help the population of Tanzania a lot, so I really feel this [calling] because of my parents."
In 2022, Ricci created Amani Education to try to better the lives of children in the area by helping to complete the construction of a long-delayed secondary school.
"'Amani' in Swahili means 'peace', so it means 'education of peace'. Our first aim is to build a school, a secondary school, in a city that is called Singida [and specifically in the area of] Kisaki," Ricci explains. "In this Kisaki area, there is a hill. The owners of this hill are the Assumption Sisters, who are the nuns that are, for me, like angels because they really take care of the children, the girls and the population of that area. So I decided to found this organization to help them build this school."
The lack of a secondary school until now means that most children in the area stop studying when primary school ends after seven years. Only those with money to leave the area continue their education, but that amounts to just 3% of all the local children.
"Secondary school, the most important [part] of the children's lives from 13 to 18 years old, can really change the lives of the population in that area," Ricci said.
Deciding to build a school
After being surprised at the lack of progress regarding the construction of a school upon his most recent visit to Tanzania, in 2022, the Milan player quickly sought to address the issue.
"The school's project is from 2007, so it's very old. When we got there, I saw two blocks of classes already built and behind there were like 200 bricks stocked there," Ricci recalls. "I said to the Sista Schola, the nun I talk to every day: 'Why are the bricks there? Why don't we keep building this school?' And she said to me: 'We got the funds to buy the bricks but we finished, so we have no funds for the cement.' I was like, ‘Oh, wow, they really need some help.'
"The project was there, so I said, 'Okay, let's do something. Let's try to build this school in two-three years.' In one year, we finished these two blocks of the classrooms and then we built a laboratory of physics, biology and chemistry, and we built the toilets for all the children – all the kids will be there. And now the next step is the dormitories, where the children can live, because this school will be like a small college: autonomous, where the people can live there, can eat there, and I think it will be a real change for the people in that area."
Following in his parents footsteps
Having seen his parents make a difference to the people in the area, Ricci saw the opportunity to do the same.
"I want to try to give back to life what life has given to me," he says. "I feel really privileged, I really feel lucky. I decided to use my name, my friends, my figure as a player, in a positive way. I want to use my name to try to involve a lot of people in this project to share this [work we are doing]. I think it's a small thing, but for me it's really important.
"I feel obligated to do this because I have the best job in the world – they pay me to play basketball – and I feel really lucky. We are lucky because we were born in this part of the Mediterranean Sea. I want to help the unlucky people: the least, the people who don't have my possibilities. It's just a little thing, but I'm working a lot on this. I spend a lot of time, a lot of energy [on this]. I feel that I have to help, I really think that it is my mission."
In addition to leaning on the Assumption Sisters, who carry out the day-to-day running of Amani Education's work in Kisaki, the volunteer organization is powered from Italy by Ricci himself, Silvia Fassi (his girlfriend), Maria Irene Ricci (his sister), Pierbruno Ricci (his brother), and his parents.
"We are not so structured – we are only one year old – but we are trying to do things in a good way," Ricci comments. "I spend a lot of energy every day to try to organize something, to share this with people, with friends, and I hope that some companies can join this project and help us.
"Our quote is: 'Make it happen.' Because if you don't do it, nobody will do it for you. I think that the big things start from small ones; they start from ourselves, so I want to put a lot of energy into this."
Part two of this interview will be published on Wednesday.