Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy is still abroad on his trip to Africa with the non-profit Pros for Africa, and a funny thing happened along the way. 

He met a Bucs fan -- in Kigali, Rwanda.

Tampa native Elizabeth Davis, founder of a college for girls in Kigali, read about McCoy's visit to the country in the Times. She contacted us to see whether there was a way to reach his party, which was scheduled to spend this week in Rwanda. All we were able to do was provide an email address for one of the trip's organizers.

Davis did the rest.

She wrote earlier today to report that she cocvinced McCoy and Titans defensive end Derrick Morgan to visit the Akilah Institute, where they spent time listening to and sharing with the girls, many of whom, according to Davis, have witnessed the unspeakable horrors of the country's civil war.

"The girls were absolutely thrilled," she wrote in an e-mail. "Most of them are genocide survivors and have had really tough lives and this was such a fun treat to have the guys on campus."

Davis, whose uncle is former Congressman Jim Davis, wanted us to share the news with Tampa Bay as she said people in the area have long supported her work.

McCoy joined prominent NFL players like co-founder Tommie Harris and Adrian Peterson on the trip, which has become an annual effort to assist communities in poor regions of the continent, doing everything from building wells to providing medical care.

In the video above, provided by Pros for Africa, Harris is shown at the opening as the group departs, but later on McCoy is shown while working at a facility in Uganda, talking about his plans to go observe gorillas.

(Photo: Gerald McCoy, back row, right center, Derrick Morgan, back row, left center. Photo courtesy Akilah Institute.)