\u2018I don\u2019t want any child to suffer like I did\u2019

When Arms Around the Child, a charity based in Ghana, India and South Africa, chose professional footballer Christian Atsu as one of its key ambassadors, it was because his renown as a player for the Ghana international team and English Premiership side Newcastle United gave worldwide prominence to its work of providing homes, protection, education and support for orphans and other vulnerable children. But for the 27-year-old winger with the nimble feet and blazing speed there are deep, personal reasons why the role means so much to him.

Atsu was 13 years old and had just starting his football journey when his father died. The talented young player was boarding at Feyenoord African Academy, in Accra, more than 100 km away from the family home in Ada Foah when he heard the news. The emotion is still evident in his voice as he tells me about the events at home in Newcastle hours after a training session in preparation for the weekend’s game with fellow mid-table club Crystal Palace.

“I had a very difficult time dealing with it,” he says. “My father died because our family didn’t have the money to take him to hospital. It still affects me and now I feel that no child should suffer. That is why my work with Arms Around the Child is so important to me. I feel happy when I help these kids. I’ve been with the charity a long time and it’s doing a great job.”

The charity’s work has included supporting the lives of more than 50 orphans in Senya Beraku, a village around a 90-minute drive along the coast from Accra.

Giving back to Ghana

“We are just trying to help these kids get a better education and have clean water and food,” he says. “Little by little we are getting things done. The children deserve education and respect.”

Atsu is a humble man, despite his achievements as a footballer and a philanthropist. When talk about his footballing influences brings up former Ghana national team captain Abedi Pele, Atsu rhapsodises about the older man’s dribbling skills. I suggest these are qualities Atsu shares with his hero, but he immediately deflects the compliment with “most Africans are confident on the ball”.

Similarly, though Atsu’s dedication to his chosen charity’s cause is admirable – he returns to the orphanage each football off-season bringing gifts such as Newcastle kit, boots and sweets for the youngsters and has been instrumental in securing funding for the building of a nearby school for 300 pupils – he says such efforts to help others do not single him out as special, but rather are part of a belief among Ghanaians, and indeed across Africa, that one should always help others.

When he was a boy, Atsu was on the receiving end of such altruism. His parents didn’t have a lot of money, eking out a living fishing and farming at the junction of theVolta River and the AtlanticOcean to support their 10 children.From the age of seven,Atsu would go to fish with hisfather and help his mother sellkenkey at the local market. Itwas, Atsu admits, “a difficultlife, but we tried to be happyand have fun”.

Football was definitely partof the fun. Atsu would playon pitches with more rocksthan grass or pick-up gamesof street football with friends.During one of these kickabouts,Atsu’s skills caughtthe eye of the U-12s coachat Feyenoord Academy and he wasinvited to train with the team.

The academy training sessionsdrew crowds of local people keento support young talent and watchquality football. The way Atsu tells it,their support would often take theform of handing over cash to playerswho performed well after, or evenduring, the game. “This is normal inGhana when they see a good player,”he says.

Still, the 12-year-old Atsu wasshocked when, after one match,before he was due to play in atrial tournament organised by theacademy, a total stranger handedhim a new pair of football boots ashe came off the field.

Atsu has never forgotten thegesture. He has kept in touch with hisU-12 coach throughout his footballcareer and has since found out thebenefactor’s name is Joshua and heis a mechanic from Achimota. Atsuplans to meet him this June.

Joshua has made it clear hedoesn’t want anything in return forhis gift, but one gets the sense thatAtsu has already repaid him withexactly what he was hoping for –that the young player would go onto make the most of his talent and make a career for himself.

The boots played their part. Atsufelt special wearing them and playedwell in the tournament. It securedhis future at Feyenoord Academy,where trained and studied until theage of 17, and has seen him go on toreach the top flight of the UK clubgame and become an integral partof the national team.

Premiership player

His club career has taken an, attimes, circuitous route. He wasat FC Porto in Portugal for twoyears before he signed for Chelsea;however, he never played a minutefor the London side, insteadseeing himself loaned out to aseries of clubs, including Everton,Bournemouth, Málaga (Spain) andNewcastle United. During his timewith the last of these, Atsu wasinstrumental in getting the Magpies,one of English football’s most vociferouslysupported teams, back intothe Premiership.

In 2017 Atsu and Newcastle Unitedagreed a four-year deal, said to beworth £6.2 million, and two seasonsin it seems to be working out forboth of them, with Newcastle establishingthemselves in the Premiership and Atsu impressing with his speed and cultured left foot.

“I’m very happy here,” says Atsu. “I’ve been given a lot of chances to show myself and I’m very happy with the staff, the players, coaches and fans.”

A nation expects

He’s even starting to get used to the weather. The chilly north-east coast is a world away from the palm-lined beaches and sultry heat of Ada Foah, but Atsu is finding it’s a good place for a jog, although the chances of him taking a dip in the North Sea are always going to be slim.

“The first time I was here I really struggled with the weather,” he says. “It was very cold. But now I’m getting used to it. I’ve taken my family to the beach and I go there to run on the sand.”

He has set up home in Newcastle with his wife, Marie-Claire, a make-up artist from Hamburg, and their two children. Both youngsters compete with me for Atsu’s attention during our phone conversation.

Perhaps they know their dad has a busy few months coming up and want to get as much time with him as they can. As well as ensuring Newcastle retain their Premiership status through the season’s remaining games, Atsu will be going to Cairo in June with the rest of the Black Stars, hoping to win the AfricaCup of Nations.

It’s a competition with goodmemories for Atsu. He first madehis name on the international stagein the 2015 Africa Cup of Nationsheld in Equatorial Guinea. The BlackStars winger was named player ofthe tournament and also achievedgoal of the tournament for an audaciousshot, swung in with his leftfoot from way out on the right wing,that secured the team’s quarter-finalvictory against Guinea.

Still Ghana were beaten in the finalthat year and bowed out in the semisin 2017. In fact, you have to go back39 years for the last time the BlackStars held the trophy. Atsu says heand his teammates are aware of thecountry’s expectations and, havingfinished top of their qualifying group,believe they’re in thekind of form to go allthe way this year.

He says: “Theplayers are reallydetermined. Andwe want to end thiswait for victory inthe tournament. Wehave had chancesin the past and weblame ourselves. Itwas difficult to lose inthe semi-finals in 2017– the fans deserved better. We have put that behind us. We know the fans are really interested and want the best for the country. That pressure is going to push us to win, I believe.”

Atsu loves to represent his country and putting on the Black Stars shirt seems to bring the best out of him, with nine goals in his 42 caps. International duty is a chance to meet up with teammates usually scattered around the world with their club sides and play football the Ghanaian way – with a strong sense of fun and pride.

Playing with joy

“Being in the national team is a great honour,” he says. “I am always happy to meet my friends in the team. We try to learn from one another. We have a great team spirit. There are a lot of jokes – especially from [experienced defender] John Boye. There is so much joy and unity in the team.”

The atmosphere around Ghana’s Africa Cup of Nations games is bound to be electric. Atsu talks warmly of the celebratory, party atmosphere that international games create.

“There will always be people dancing and singing around the game,” he says. “It brings back memories of my childhood playing football in Ghana. First we would sing and dance and then we would play football. It’s all part of the culture here.”

This celebration of football along with kindness to others are Ghanaian qualities entrenched within Atsu and both will keep him coming back to his home country no matter where his stellar football career should take him.

If you would like to help Christian complete the school build, please visit the Arms Around the Child website armsaroundthechild.charitycheckout.co.uk/donate