LAKE FOREST, Ill. – After participating in minicamp last week at Halas Hall, Bears defensive linemen Israel Idonije, Adewale Ogunleye and Tommie Harris are joining forces again half a world away.

Israel Idonije plays with children this week in Nigeria.

The trio is presently on a nine-day mission to Nigeria, where they will hand out college scholarships and stage two youth football camps. They’re also bringing supplies to restock medical centers as well as doctors and nurses to conduct free clinics in rural areas.

“Service of any kind when you’re helping people is always rewarding,” said Idonije, a sixth-year pro who was born in Nigeria before his family emigrated to Canada. “You do it so you can help change lives.

“We hope that the medical component is going to have a huge impact. I’m not an expert in the medical field, but we have some people who are.”

Texans defensive tackle Amobi Okoye is also on the trip.

Since arriving in Abuja on Saturday, the group has held a football camp for 300 children and a medical clinic for 300 people. For the second straight year, the NFL players will award scholarships to 10 male and 10 female students at Nigeria’s major universities in concert with the Changing Africans Through Education (CATE) foundation.

Idonije, Ogunleye and Harris are all heavily involved with chartable efforts, many involving children. Harris, for instance, traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa, en route to Nigeria, to participate in an event benefiting an orphanage. While Harris is not of Nigerian descent like Idonije and Ogunleye, he supports the cause.

Ogunleye was born in New York after his father Gabriel, a provincial king in Emure, Nigeria, emigrated to the United States in 1972 to pursue an education and the American dream. Both of Ogunleye’s parents earned graduate degrees and became social workers in New York City.

During last year’s trip Ogunleye, who is a provincial prince, delivered HIV test kits to university medical programs and helped dig fresh-water wells in his parents’ hometown.

“We do a lot of community work in [the United States], but that’s where our parents are from,” Ogunleye said. “We’ve talked about the sacrifices they made being in that part of the world. I feel like it’s my duty to give back.”

The players certainly enjoy themselves in Nigeria, but the trip is not all fun and games.

“We stay in nice hotels and eat at nice restaurants, but during the day we work,” Ogunleye said. “It’s not a vacation, I’ll tell you that. I was joking with ‘Izzy’ when I was looking at the itinerary that it’s worse than two-a-days. I don’t work this hard in Chicago. But it’s a good cause.”