Ali & Pedro
WHY ALI IS “THE GREATEST”
San Francisco, CA– Having read a plethora of stories about Muhammad Ali this past week, I was taken aback for the most part seeing few writers that are scribbling today really knew the man. Seriously, most of the so-called scribes of 2012 are just are not old enough to recall the Sonny Liston fights, the refusal to enter the Military Draft in 1966, or the “Fight of The Century” with Joe Frazier. Today, it’s a short story on Ali, myself, and a trip to a Chinese orphanage in 1994.
ON THE ROAD IN MACAO AT 10 AM!
Our breakfast was prepared by our own American chef, this after Ali lost 12 and I shed 10 lbs. during our one week trip to Beijing, the capital of the Peoples Republic of China some 18 months prior in 1993. The highlight of our first trip to China, as far as cuisine is concerned, was a trip to McDonalds. At one function, I was holding Ali’s plate as we were walking the “buffet” line at the Presidential Hotel when I came upon a man serving soup. Ali asked me what kind of soup it was, I replied, “meatballs.”
A NARLY “SURPRISE” ITEM ON THE MENU
To be sure, I asked the server why kind of meatballs they were as he was serving what was to be the first of two bowls. When I was told it was “pigeon heads” and not meatballs, the Ali’s, Muhammad, his lovely wife Lonnie and I, we all almost heaved!
MACAO WASN’T CHINA, BUT A PORTUGUESE COLONY AT THE TIME
After devouring eggs and the like cooked to our preference, we thanked the chef at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and prepared for a day of meeting VIPs and hotshot politicos. Having been drinking at a party the night before, I was hungover as I drank both my shots and Ali’s, because as a devout Muslim, Ali didn’t drink. In total, I think I did about 12 shots of the world’s finest cognac. With headache in tow, we jumped in the van that would take our party of 10-12 people around Macao, then leased to Portugal, which like Hong Kong to the United Kingdom, was returned to China circa 1999.
THE MEDIA IS FOLLOWING US AROUND TOWN
Our first stop upon leaving the five-star hotel was a meeting with the Governor, then the Mayor, Chinese millionaires, by noon Ali had had enough. “Tell him (the driver) to take us to a hospital for the poor,” said Ali who was tired of VIPs, politicians and yet our itinerary still had four more scheduled stops for picture taking sessions with people that Ali had little desire to pose with. When I explained to the driver that we were tossing our schedule out the window, he then took us to an orphanage run by a Catholic Nun.
ONE OF THE MOST SHOCKING THINGS I’VE EVER SEEN
When we entered the orphanage, I was shocked! The sweet Nun and her small staff were “star struck” that Ali and his people were visiting her and the 30 kids she looked after. Ranging from three months to ten years of age, these were not your average kids. Some of the children were missing arms, legs, had deformed craniums, were retarded, dwarfed, you name it, but anyway you looked at it, this was a true eye opening experience. Kids with no legs were crawling across the floor of the playroom, others, who were rarely if ever visited, I asked the Sister how did she end up with so many handicapped children?
SHE FOUND THEM ABANDONED IN THE STREETS
The cruel custom of the Chinese people in Macao was that if you had a deformed or retarded child, you cast them away like you would trash, only the kids weren’t put in cans, they were thrown in the street. Stunned, I for once was speechless. Having brought some candy with us, Ali, in a Santa Claus-like mode, along with staff was distributing candy to the kids which activated my tear ducts. While the kids were happy as Ali held almost every child in his arms, I was a mess as I had never seen anything quite like this before.
ALI DEMANDED (ASKED) FOR CASH FOR THE KIDS
Ali walked over to me and asked me how much money I had on me? With four pictures of Benjamin Franklin (US $100 bills) and a couple of Andrew Jackson, I gave Ali the $400. The champ then moved to the event promoter, who is such a sleaze and a crook, a convicted Felon who brought me to Dubai last year and drained my Debit card for better than $5,000, and extracted $500 from him. The last person Ali “hit up” for cash was his wife Lonnie and his personal photographer Howard Bingham.
BEING BROKE WITH ALI GREATER THAN HAVING CASH WITH ANYONE ELSE!
In total, Ali had gathered up $1,400 in US greenbacks. With this fat wad of cash in hand, Ali folded it in half and slipped it to the Nun in such a manner that most people in the room did not see what was transpiring. The Nun was ecstatic and told me that the money was enough to feed the children and staff for a year or more. A few minutes later, we all boarded the van as the teary eyed Nun waved goodbye to us while holding a child with no legs.
THE VAN WAS SILENT AND I WAS TRYING NOT TO CRY
Sitting next to me, Ali realized I was fighting back tears as we were in transit back to the hotel. In a gesture that clearly illustrated why Ali is “The Greatest,” he says to me. “Don’t be sad. We gave them food for a year. Be happy!” What a man of unequaled passion and kindness. With each word he was speaking, you could see Ali was laboring to speak. “We did good, you did good. Be happy” he said. “You can’t save everybody, (but) we helped the kids.”
Pedro Fernandez