Drogba targets lasting goal

Drogba: Targeting lasting goal

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Didier Drogba is preparing to go into battle with Arsenal on Sunday - but considers a project off the pitch as the biggest challenge of his life.

The Chelsea striker is currently raising £2.5million towards the construction, staffing and supplies of a new paediatric hospital in Abidjan, capital of the Ivory Coast.

The Ivorian has already given the fee from his sponsorship deal with Pepsi which bought the site, while a charity ball at the Dorchester Hotel in London last Saturday raised just over £500,000 for the project.

Speaking from the site of the proposed hospital, Drogba told The Sun: "I grew up two miles from here and I wanted to build a hospital here where the people of my village can come and be treated.

"The people who live around here are really poor. I grew up in a shanty town and I want to say thanks for the kindness I was shown here and to prove that you can come from this sort of place and give something back.

Very emotional

"I feel very emotional to be standing here and think of what it will become. I know it's hard to imagine a hospital now, but I'm very excited about getting started on the build."

He added: "When the doors of the hospital open that will be the greatest achievement of my life. After all that has happened here in six or seven years with all the suffering, this would be my contribution to Ivory Coast."

The Chelsea striker was inspired to set up the Didier Drogba Foundation - which has since donated money to the victims of flash floods in Senegal and Burkina Faso as part of its charitable activities - when the younger brother of his best friend was ill with leukaemia and later died.

But Drogba's desire to build a new hospital came after the worst footballing disaster in the history of the Ivory Coast.

A gate at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium collapsed under the pressure of a crowd surge last March and 20 people lost their lives, with 132 injured.

Stark truth

The Ivory Coast team were unaware of what was unfolding as they beat Malawi 5-1 inside but the following day Drogba discovered the stark truth about the conditions of the country's medical services.

He added: "People could not afford a taxi to get there and, if they did, they couldn't afford to eat when they did get there.

"They cannot afford medicine and I was so overwhelmed when they asked me for help. I wanted to do something specific for kids.

"At the same time I visited the hospital, I went to a small room with six kids who were all seriously ill - some with leukaemia.

"Their families were sleeping by the bedsides, the conditions did not look to me like they would help the children to get better.

"I was told later that only one of the kids survived. I felt awful. Nobody wants to see kids suffer."