Tommie Harris looking to build African school in wife's honor

Three months after his wife died, Chargers defensive lineman Tommie Harris is continuing on the best way he can -- by trying to honor her memory.

Harris wants to start a school in the Sudan that will bear his late wife's name. (US Presswire)

Three months ago, Chargers defensive lineman Tommie Harris faced unimaginable sadness when his wife, Ashley, died at the age of 29 from either a brain aneurysm or a stroke. Harris, though, vows to keep her memory alive, and to do so, he’s planning to build a school in the Sudan for girls who have been affected by Joseph Kony’s reign of terror.

Harris is alone with his two young children, and soon before Mother’s Day, the Chicago SunTimes caught up with Harris to talk about life after Ashley and how he’s managing to get out of bed every day.

‘‘I don’t want to be viewed as a celebrity who lost his wife,” Harris told the Sun Times. “I want to have respect for people who lose loved ones every day. It makes you realize that you’re no different. Everybody is dealing with their own problems. I don’t want to make a sad story, or ‘Woe is me.’ I don’t want that.”

So, he wants to help those in Africa who have lived with horror. He’s long been a proponent of helping those less fortunate -- for the past half-decade, he’s visited Africa every year in an attempt to help -- and twice since they began seeing each other, Ashley went with him.

According to the newspaper, “In March, during Harris’ trip to Tanzania, a Massai village named its first source of water 'Ashley’s Well.’” And Harris wants to name the new school “The Ashley Harris Sunshine School.”

"She was a very kind person," said Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe, who will run the school. "She valued life, and she wanted to see these women reach a point where they could live in dignity."

Even while Harris will continue to struggle with the loss of his wife -- and his kids with the loss of their mother -- he can take solace that the school bearing her name will help provide scores of girls with the ability to live better lives.

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