NBA legend and former Dallas Mavericks superstar Dirk Nowitzki visited kenya in May this year
The towering US athlete, originally from Germany, shared a photo of himself feeding a giraffe at the popular Nairobi attraction, The Giraffe Manor.
Not used to seeing people or things that dwarf him, the 7 feet tall basketball giant who won an NBA championship in 2011 shared a photograph of him feeding a giraffe and cheekily captioning it; “Finally I got to ask the worst question ever: “How’s the air up there?”
Nowitzki, regarded by fans and fellow athletes as the greatest player to ever don the Dallas Mavericks jersey is married to a woman of Kenyan origin – Jessica Olsson.
Jesicca was born in 1982 in Gavle, Sweden to a Swedish father and a Kenyan mother, Njeri Waikwa, from Nanyuki.
The couple met at a charity event in 2010 that had been organised for sports.
At the time, she worked at the Dallas Art Gallery and Nowitzki was flying high in his basketball career.
The couple tied the knot in 2012. First, in a traditional ceremony at Nanyuki, and a formal wedding at the family’s home in Dallas, Texas.
Nowitzki, in an interview with the Nation in 2017, said he visits Kenya at least once every year and doesn’t need to announce whenever he is around because this is a second home for him and the children.
“We came to Kenya to see cucu,” he said in 2017. “We just came straight from Kenya, my wife has a lot of family from there, uncles, aunts… we were there for over a week travelling… I love the diverse nature that is in Kenya, be it in Nairobi or the Mount Kenya region which is very cold right now,” he says.
Nowitzki explained to the Nation that he finds it important to expose their children – two boys and a girl – to “their heritage” be it in Kenya, Germany or in Dallas where he lives and plies his trade. They have three children together Malaika Nowitzki , Morris Nowitzki and Max Nowitzki .
On Saturday, August 12 2023, Dirk Nowitzki was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the 2023 class. Dirk’s induction to the Hall of Fame reaffirms his greatness and a living legend.
By Kenneth Gachie
Source-https://www.citizen.digital/
