Finding Michael Essien

IT WASN’T quite a ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume’ moment, but when the cocoa exporter walked across the dusty courtyard of the factory floor and introduced himself, it was up there with that famous moment of truth, at least for this writer.

“Hello, I am Stanley Quaye.”

This humble football coach, whose daytime job is supervising the export of cocoa from this west African country is the same man whose perceptive eye recognised the incipient talent that was to develop into the soccer genius that is one of the top midfielders in world football: Michael Essien.

I had come to meet the coach and to see the work carried out in the village of Essien’s birthplace by the eponymous initiative: The Michael Essien Foundation. Was this a case of a Premier League footballer returning some of the vast wealth at their disposal to the place that nurtured them or was it simply a token gesture tantamount to PR? The place is Awutu Breku, a village some 75km along the coast from Ghana’s capital Accra. And it is a hell of a job to find Stanley Quaye.

Persistent enquiries with the Ghanaian Football Association, national newspapers, the Chronicle and the Daily Graphic, as well as the Michael Essien Foundation itself had all come to nought. Surely, Stanley Quaye was a national hero in his own right along the lines of Bob Bishop from Belfast who discovered George Best among others?

I head for the tro-tro bus station in Accra with just a vague idea of where I might find the vehicle that will take me to find Stanley Quaye. The tro-tro is an improvised minibus taxi system that moves huge numbers of people about the country. Safety-wise they are about as reliable as a sardine can on wheels.

Traffic is hell and the bus seems to get nowhere for an hour. Suddenly the road clears — an accountant sitting beside me who is commuting back to his town says: “The Lord is shining on you today, my friend.”

Further along the road the religious signs are coming thick and fast — Dr Jesus Prayer Camp, Wesley Methodist Church, World Outreach Ministries, God is in Fitting out Store.

A change of bus in a teeming market is achieved in 90 seconds and we’re back on the road. And Stanley has been busy recently, preparing his team, the Black Babies, for a local tournament that will form the focus of a visit from Essien himself and a Chelsea delegation to inspect the work of the foundation.

Finally the bus pulls in, two hours after leaving Accra. A guy smoking a cigarette at the bus stop asks what I want. Teacher Richard Bonnke and his friend, census evaluator Albert Lutterodt, know Stanley Quaye. Five minutes later sitting in the shade of a giant papaya, Stanley tells me how he discovered Michael Essien.

“Formally, I was managing the local team called after Bob Marley’s son, Ziggy Marley. Then we had a team called the Black Babies where Michael played. And we played for four years. Michael would obey any instructions from the coach. I selected him to perform a few times when he was aged 12 for the Under-17 team. He was very, very good,” he says.

“If you told Michael to play the ball one way, Michael would do it. Michael’s brother was also a good player so the talent was in the family. So when he said, ‘I want to play with Ronaldo (the Brazilian)’, I said, ‘you can make it’. Now, I am very, very proud to see him on the TV.”

Essien progressed to the Ghanaian league as a 17-year-old before moving to Lyon and ultimately to Chelsea for a then record for an African player of €28.5m. He helped the team win the Premier League in 2006 and 2010, as well as three FA Cups. In 2008, he appeared in the Champions League final.

The village of Awutu Breku is rightly proud of its most famous son. Not least Richard Bonnke. “We are very, very proud to have Michael Essien to come from the village.

“He’s a hero to each and every one,” he says. “During a football game everyone says ‘I’m Essien’, everyone tries to be like him. He is an inspiration and a role model and a hero to the whole town.”

And the big question. Has Stanley any more Michael Essiens lined up?

“Oh, surely. The talent is within this town,” he says. He is still coaching in division two and loving every minute of it. However, he does allude to the fact that the government could do more to help the youth.

Richard and Albert then bring me to see some of the work of the Michael Essien Foundation. There is a public toilet and a bore hole/pump. For a top Premier League player that doesn’t seem perhaps a lot.

However, it is not as stark as it seems. The development model for aid agencies is to take things a step at a time, not to swamp a place with wealth. And the foundation does have ongoing plans to develop the area with a view to expanding to other areas.

Kweko Akosua explains its targets. “The foundation aims to create opportunities and hope for the underprivileged in the Awutu Breku area. The goal of the foundation is to promote basic community amenities and opportunities for various groups through different projects and activities,” he says.

There are offices in London and Accra but the main organisation is done by purepersona.com which is based in London and which is developing a five-year plan. The aim isn’t necessarily to produce a conveyor belt of Michael Esseins but just to get the children to play sport.

“The aim is to get them playing sports, although we may ask Chelsea to host one or two as part of Chelsea Foundation Summer School. It is only a seven-day programme to give the kids a chance to experience world class facilities,” says Kweku.

One year after it was set up, around 400 children took part in the sporting activities for the Michael Essien day and over 5,000 children turned up to support. Soccer for the boys and volleyball for the girls. Kweku says the facilities are badly needed and similar projects are envisioned.

“The facilities will come as a welcome boost to help develop the health amenities in the area. Some of the next projects include renovating the existing hospital for the local people and in time possibly building a school block and/or library. These are part of the five-year plan.”

And the foundation is looking beyond the immediate area says Kweku. “At the moment we are concentrating on the Awutu area and if it all goes to plan we will expand without a doubt but its Awutu first.”

In the meantime, Essien’s Chelsea team-mate Didier Drogba of the Ivory Coast has announced fundraising plans for a hospital in Abidjan. Over to you Michael.

Back in Accra, I meet the famous reggae star Osagyefo for a beer. The dread-locked one proves in no uncertain terms the popularity of Essien in Ghana with a song penned in his honour:

“Chelsea man, Michael Essien, man of the Black Star, Buffalo Soldiers,

Essien, Essien, the power and the pillar straight from Ghana

Essien, put your Nike boot on, put it on, put it on your foot

Chelsea fans when I feel blue, Essien will always do.”

* Dan MacCarthy travelled to Ghana with the assistance of the Simon Cumbers Fund.