This has been one of the toughest weeks in Sam Dalembert's life, as the 76ers center has had to watch from afar the devastation that Tuesday's earthquake has wrought on his native Haiti.
Dalembert has been working relentlessly, trying to do as much as he can to raise money and awareness. He also has been working the phone and his computer tirelessly, trying to find out the status of family members.
His father, a brother and a sister all made it through fine, and Dalembert learned yesterday afternoon that an uncle who hadn't been heard from is OK. His godfather, who was visiting Haiti, was still among the missing.
"My godfather is from France, and I told him not to go yet, wait until the summer, and we'll go together," Dalembert said. "I have no news from him.
"My father, I laugh at him. He loves being part of helping people out. He's just like his mother, who was principal of a school. She loved to help people out, too."
Dalembert had planned to charter a plane this morning and help out for a couple of days before rejoining the Sixers in Minnesota for Monday's game. That plan was put on hold when Dalembert couldn't get clearance to get into Haiti.
"I might have to wait about a week for things to calm down," he said. "If I could, I would go down after every practice."
For now, it's watch and wait.
"It's very difficult. I try to stay away from the TV, but I can't," he said. "Everything is right there. I've been on the phone with different organizations, and try to figure out what's going on. I've been on the phone trying to get people connected with each other. You try to do as much as you can.
"Sometimes it's kind of hard to get away from the TV and step on the [basketball] floor to block it out for a little while and refocus. I got to bed about 3 or 4 a.m. [yesterday morning] and got up at 7 for shootaround. I think I'll go to bed right after the game."
The Sixers said they collected a little more than $30,000 from fans at last night's game, a total Dalembert said he intended to match, in addition to the $100,000 he gave from his foundation.
Tyreke home
For the first time as a pro, Chester native Tyreke Evans returned to Philly. And for the first time, he played at the Wachovia Center.
"It's good to see my family; I got to spend some time with them," the Sacramento Kings rookie said. "My main thing is to try to stay focused. People that I haven't talked to since high school are calling to get tickets. I only have a certain amount of tickets, so I gave them out to the people I thought who deserved them."
What Evans couldn't get, his brothers did what they could.
"One of my brothers got 40, and my other brother got 200." *
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