Tamba Hali Is Doing His Part To Combat Ebola
By Ben Nielsen
Peter King has a tremendous article up on Monday Morning Quarterback about Tamba Hali’s efforts to partner with Heart to Heart International to help stop the spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa. Hali, if you remember, was born in the the war torn region before being sent by his mother to America in an attempt to avoid the chaos of Liberia. But even though he is away from his native country, Hali is still deeply moved by what is happening in birth nation.
"Tamba Hali was born in Liberia in 1983. Ten years later, with the country in the midst of a civil war, his mother sent him to live with his father, a chemistry teacher in New Jersey. On Wednesday it didn’t take long for the Chiefs’ outside linebacker to acknowledge what his fate would have been had he never left West Africa.“I know what would have happened,” said Hali, one of the NFL’s most feared pass rushers. “I would be dead. I would have gotten older and thought it would have been okay to join the army. I would have gone to war. So I’m really blessed to be in the position I’m in, and I don’t want to ever forget that.”"
Wow… Talk about putting life in perspective.
Hali is working with Heart to Heart to fund the construction of treatment units that would contain 70 beds for those infected with the virus. The goal is to get 21 units up and running in the region, but only six have been completed so far. Hali donated $50,000 to the cause and is helping spread the word about what is happening in Africa.
"“We can’t really wait on this,” Hali said on Wednesday before the Chiefs hit the field to practice for Sunday’s game at San Diego. “I’d be the first one to tell you that every time I do charity work, I like to do it on the hush-hush and help people quietly. But there are some matters—like this—that are way bigger than me. All I can do is lend my help in ways I know I can.“This is not a type of disease you can contract and then there are vaccines and it goes away. People are dying within weeks and within the first month of contact. So we have to act now.”"
You can find out more at the Heart to Heart website. Be sure to read King’s article to get a full idea of the scope of the problem Hali is trying to help solve. And then maybe send Hali a tweet or something and let him know how cool of a guy he is.