TMZ Sports has learned that former Kansas City Chiefs all pro Tamba Hali is building an elementary school in Liberia. 

Hali knows firsthand how much help the education system in Liberia needs. 

He left his civil war-torn homeland when he was just 10 years old, and when he got to the United States he could barely read and write. 

"Going back, interacting with the people, the elders, the young people. You can tell because of the civil war and all the negative things that's happened," Hali said. "The country is way behind when it comes to education, what my kids are learning, kids there that are 14, 15 years old cannot even do. Kids can't even add, can't even multiply. You wonder what the [education] system is like. In my looking at Liberia, it's to try to create a better Liberia for the future."

Hali was living in America with his father and became a good student and top prep football player for Teaneck high school in New Jersey before accepting a scholarship to play football at Penn State University. 

Hali’s father is a chemistry professor and he wants the school in Liberia to focus on science, technology, engineering and math disciplines (STEM).

Building a school in Liberia will be challenging, not only financially but logistically as well. Hali wants to start small and when they achieve success, they can scale. 

"We're starting small. So we want to know we can do it on a very small level. Our goal is to just raise hopefully maybe $300,000, and start from 1st grade," Hali said. "We're not trying to do something above and beyond. We'll start with the youngest because they're the ones that are gonna make a difference in 20 years from now in the community there."

If Hali can pull this off, the potential impact on the future of Liberia would be tremendous.