Aug 19, 2008 6:13 pm US/Eastern
Jets Star Goes Above & Beyond For African Children
Reporting
Sam Ryan
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Jets defensive end Kenyon Coleman helped raise nearly $100,000 for children's hospitals and schools in the African countries of Uganda and Burundi.
CBS
Kenyon Coleman is entering his second season as a defensive end with the New York Jets following an impressive debut. It's clear he has plenty of heart on the field, but his heart off the field is even bigger.
This off-season, he went on a 13-day mission to Africa to help those less fortunate.
"I have always been involved as far as outside stuff, extracurricular activities cause that's my heart," he tells CBS 2. "I have seen what God has given me and so I just feel like that's always been a good burden on my heart."
So a friend asked Coleman if he wanted to go to Africa, to which he happily accepted. In April he embarked on a trip through two of the world's poorest countries with a purpose.
"It was to equip the two countries, Uganda and Burundi, and the first lady of Uganda. She has a children's hospital in her village and she needed $37,000 to help build a hospital wing for the kids," he says.
"And so that was our purpose in Uganda and we helped raise that money in the states. In Burundi they needed school roofs on three of their schools. The sun is so hot there that the kids were literally baking, so we wanted to raise $60,000 and that went to them."
Coleman says the trip changed his life in a way.
"As a football player or professional athlete, sometimes people see you as a hero or role model, but I think now just going to Africa made me look at things differently, to go over and literally empower a country," he says. "We met the first lady of Uganda and to see her face when we gave her money, and we gave the president of Burundi a check for $20,000."
While Coleman is helping children a world away, he's still trying to help his own young children understand the importance of giving.
"My daughter just turned 4 and my son 3, and yet what they have already learned as far as life here, our lifestyle, they kept saying, 'Daddy went to give kids toys,' and I said 'No, daddy didn't give toys, they don't need toys. They need schools, water a hospital.' It's great at a young age to show them that life is so much bigger than them and their world," he said.
Coleman said he's working on a return visit to Africa and he is even trying to get the first lady of Uganda and the president of Burundi to the Meadowlands for a Jets game.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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