Recently, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Tamba Hali joined us at a press conference to show support for Heart to Heart International’s efforts in Liberia to combat the spread of Ebola.
Now, Hali, who grew up in Liberia, has made a sizable donation to help in the fight.
In a cover story on Sports Illustrated’s The MMQB, Peter King writes about Tamba Hali, his childhood in Liberia and why he made such a large donation to help.
Peter King writes: Hali is typically reserved, and he’s not comfortable being a spokesman for anything. This is different, though. He understands that there are few famous Liberians in America, so he knows it’s up to him to speak up and try to get people to donate money and time to help contain Ebola, a viral disease for which there is no proven treatment.
“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.”