OU football: Pros For Africa makes its case

I spent fascinating couple of hours Thursday night on the OU campus. Former Sooner great Roy Williams and Oklahoma City lawyer Reggie Whitten, who co-founded Pros For Africa, presented their vision and experiences in a forum sponsored by the College of Engineering.

After their presentation, I moderated a panel discussion that also included Damon Webster, an OU engineering student who made the most recent trip to Africa with the group.

Pros For Africa is an Oklahoma-based group that seeks to help African children. PFA has made two trips already, including a trip in March to Uganda and Rwanda that included Williams, Mark Clayton, Adrian Peterson, G.K. McCoy, Tommie Harris and other NFL players.

But Pros For Africa is not limited to pro football players. Lawyers, doctors, nurses, engineers, all kinds of professionals are part of the missions. We’ve written several stories about Pros For Africa, but Williams’ personal presentation will make you see the need like never before. Much of the charitable work so far has been with Sister Rosemary, a Ugandan nun who runs a school for girls, most of whom have been subjected to horrors of civil war.

Williams, who has played nine years in the NFL, long has been involved in charitable projects, including a foundation for single mothers. Thursday night, explained from where his compassion  came.

Williams said that when he was a little boy, seven years old or so, in Union City, Calif., his mother took him to a homeless shelter and had him help volunteer. She instilled in him the belief that he was blessed and needed to help those less fortunate.