How Christian Atsu got Arms Around the Child to support the building of a school for an orphanage

Christian Atsu was constructing a school for Becky’s Foundation, an orphanage at Senya-Beraku in the Central Region until he sadly passed.

The late Black Star player was building the school with support from Arms Around the Child, a UK-based Non-Governmental Organization to which he was an ambassador.

According to the Director of Arms Around the Child, Ellie Milner, Atsu led a team from the NGO to Ghana when he found out the only school building serving Senya-Beraku and its environs was on the verge of collapse.

The dilapidated school building was torn apart and always got flooded anytime it rained.

“We first visited Senya-Beraku with Christian in 2016. During the trip we also visited the local school, which was in a hugely dilapidated state, built on a hill, and had recently been patched up from a storm that had created a river running through the classrooms,” Madam Milner recounted.

The school became a death trap raising concerns and forcing fundraising for a new school for the area.

“The school had been built underneath an electricity pylon, had no washroom facilities, no windows, and very little protection from the rain and the winds. It was at this point, together with Christian, the vision for a new school was born. Suitable land was purchased, and the fundraising began.”

The fundraising began initially with the Black Star Gala in Newcastle, with direct financial support from Christian and other donors.

Some of the donors who also supported include Sono Global, Chelsea FC, Talk of Tyneside, and Lazy Susan Furniture.

Other donors are Frank Rung, Ellie Milner, Gaynor Fascione and individual donors around the world.