They call her Auntie Elo, and they rarely stop trying to reach her.
Georgia Tech forward Elo Edeferioka once was one of them, a youth in Warri, Nigeria, wanting a pair of basketball shoes but unable to afford them.
“They send me messages on Facebook and Instagram, direct messages and stuff like that,” she said.
They reach out because Edeferioka, a junior, has blessed them with her thoughtfulness. In her returns home to Nigeria from the U.S. over the summer, she has made a practice of bringing her own sneakers and those of teammates to share with young players at the basketball academy where she learned the game.
“I’m like, OK, what do I give back to these people?” she said. “I’m not financially stable yet, so what can I do for them?”
She estimates the typical haul includes 25 or 30 pairs of shoes, enough to fill two suitcases, along with other gear such as ankle braces, kneepads, sports bras and jerseys. Edeferioka has distributed them at a basketball camp that she has held at Dom Domingos College in Warri, a city of about 500,000 in Nigeria, a west African nation of about 190 million.
Nigeria’s GDP per capita, a measure of average annual income, was estimated in 2016 at $5,900 in the CIA World Factbook, compared with $57,300 in the U.S. As such, a new pair of basketball shoes every season, or perhaps any season, is not a reality. Kids there, Edeferioka said, “are playing with slippers and from their shoes, you can see their toes pointing out of their shoes. It was that bad. My own situation was kind of like that, too.”
Edeferioka’s act of sharing came to light to teammates in December. Coach MaChelle Joseph has a practice of having the team gather in the locker room as one shows five pictures with personal significance and explains their meaning. Edeferioka, who joined the team in 2015 as a transfer from Hofstra, brought pictures of her camp and the kids receiving the donated shoes.
After Edeferioka spoke, Joseph suggested that perhaps her cause could grow. As a result, the team is organizing a shoe drive for its game against No. 6 Florida State on Thursday night at McCamish Pavilion. In partnership with the non-profit agency Samaritan’s Feet, the team is asking for gently used sneakers to take to Edeferioka’s community. Fans bringing a pair of shoes will receive a free ticket.
Edeferioka is hopeful for a large donation, but, she said, “I feel like they will appreciate whatever they get.”
To help bring awareness to the cause — the World Bank estimated in 2011 that 2.2 billion people can’t afford education and basic clothing such as shoes — Joseph will coach in her bare feet, as will FSU coach Sue Semrau, herself an ambassador for Samaritan’s Feet.
“It meant so much to her, so we wanted to do what we could to help support her,” Joseph said.
Joseph herself plans to donate several of her old practice sneakers. It’s her hope that the team will continue collecting shoes in years to come.
“It’s interesting how we take things for granted, and how things that don’t mean anything to us could mean everything to somebody else,” she said.
Edeferioka, second on the team in rebounding at 5.3 per game and a strong post defender, hopes to play professionally after Tech. She has been a member of Nigeria’s national team. But, a business major, she also hopes to someday own her own business and possibly transform her acts of goodwill into a non-profit.
“I feel like a lot of people look up to me back home, and it makes me feel good,” she said, “and it makes me want to keep doing what I’m doing, because I have all these kids, and when I go home, they’ll be like, Auntie, I want to play basketball. I want to come (to the U.S.) How do we do it?”
With her attention, example and gifts, Edeferioka has provided answers.
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