Botchway Abladey Hughes Football Academy - Ghana

Kpone is a small town situated on the outskirts of Accra, the capital of Ghana. Like most small townships in Ghana (and West Africa as a whole), Kpone has a generation of youngsters with a keen interest and talent for football; however they lack the support and right foundation to pursue this interest. In addition, a lack of basic educational resources such as pens, pencils, notebooks (all of which pupils have to purchase) strongly hinders their progress and interest in their education. In light of this, Dr Anthony Abladey and his brother Joshua Tetteh Abladey, both of whom hail from Kpone, together with their Uncle Simon Botchway and Kristopher Hughes (Newcastle, England), a good friend of The Abladeys decided to set up the Botchway-Abladey Hughes Football Academy (B.A.H.F.A) with the hope of making a positive difference. The sole aim of B.A.H.F.A  is to provide an opportunity for gifted and talented, yet underprivileged boys (between the ages of 11-16) in Kpone and its surrounding townships and villages to play the game they love, whilst ensuring that they develop and progress academically and socially. It is our hope that the above will be achieved through the following (upon joining);1. Football items (training kit, pair of boots, football bag, water bottle, shin pads etc)2. Stationary (pens, pencils, notebooks, calculator, maths set, text books, rucksack for school, etc)3. Educational sessions on basic life skills including hygiene.In exchange, all boys (and their parents ) will be required to sign a contract that implores the boys to adhere to the following;1. Endeavour (as much as possible) to maintain a 100% attendance record in school and attend extra classes provided.2. Commit to participating in community service schemes aimed at helping and serving the older generation within the town and its surrounding areas. BAHFA currently has 50 boys attending training sessions 3 times a week and playing matches on a Saturday or Sunday every fortnight. Our hope is that through fundraising schemes such as this, B.A.H.F.A  can recruit more boys and continue making a positive  difference in the lives of many more young boys in Kpone and its surround townships. Furthermore, it is our hope that as B.A.H.F.A becomes more established, the initiative will broaden its membership and begin a girl's  initiative. Long term goals include the acquisition of a bus to transport recruits (when not in use for academy boys, said bus will be used as a taxi service to generate funds for the academy) and the set up of an information technology centre.We believe this initiative has the ability took transform the lives of the recruits that join the academy and their families, and the effects will be felt widely across the town and its surrounding areas.Noteworthy, B.A.H.F.A will take NO PAYMENT of any kind from  budding and selected boys/girls, nor will any of the founding members take any money from the academy funds for personal use.