Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Nick Page.
Voice 2
And I'm Marina Santee. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
It was the last day of the football season. All eyes were on two teams. In two hours one of them would be football champions of England. One team was Manchester United. The other team was Chelsea. They were playing in separate games that day - but the results of the two games would decide which team would be champions.
Voice 2
However, two of the players were hoping for another prize. These two men wanted to win the prize for scoring the most goals in the 2010 football season. Wayne Rooney plays for Manchester United. He had scored twenty-six goals. Didier Drogba plays for Chelsea. He had also scored twenty-six goals. The big question was, "Could either of them score today"?
Voice 1
We move forward in time. It is the end of the afternoon. At Manchester, Wayne Rooney has already left the football field. He did not finish the game. He injured his leg. He did not score any goals. At Chelsea, Didier Drogba has scored three goals to help his team to become England's champions. He has also won the Golden Boot Award for being the top goalscorer in England for the year 2010.
Voice 2
We move forward another six days. Chelsea have just played in a big game at Wembley Stadium in London. It is the FA Cup Final – one of the biggest events in English football. At the end of the game, only one goal has been scored.
That one goal has won the cup for Chelsea. It was scored by Didier Drogba.
Voice 1
That same week, at the World Football Gala awards in London, Didier Drogba was chosen as the Best Striker in the World - that is, the best goal-scorer. It is an exciting year for this West African footballer. But his best day is still to come. For at this moment, a new hospital is being built in Drogba's home town of Abidjan on the Ivory Coast. The money for the hospital is coming from the Didier Drogba Foundation. The footballer has already given four and a half million [4,500,000] dollars of his own money to help pay for this project. The hospital will also offer a home for children who have no living parents.
Voice 2
Drogba is a rich footballer who lives in London. Why is he giving so much of his money to help poor people in West Africa? For the answer, we have to go back a few years. Didier Drogba visited a friend in hospital in Abidjan. The poor conditions in the hospital made Drogba very sad. He wanted to do something to help. He says:
Voice 3
"I do not forget where I come from. I have been given the chance to succeed in life, but I often think about the people who did not have this chance. We all need to do what we can to defeat poverty...
"We hear about all the diseases that cannot be cured, but young people are just as likely to die because they do not have the right medicines...
"I decided the Didier Drogba Foundation's first project should be to build and fund a hospital to give people basic healthcare and a chance just to stay alive...
"Women dying while giving birth in the 21st century should not happen. But there are still too many today, particularly on the African continent."
Voice 1
Didier Drogba worked hard to be a great footballer. He is recognised as Africa's number one player. He is captain of his country's football team and is the best goal-scorer ever to play for the Ivory Coast.
Many people say that Drogba has used his fame to help bring peace to his country. During the World Cup competition in 2006 the Ivory Coast qualified, but the nation was torn by war. Didier Drogba made a request to both sides to stop fighting. His request was answered with a ceasefire. Five years of civil war came to an end.
Voice 2
Didier Drogba wants to help the poorer women and children of his country. In two thousand and seven [2007] he became a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. This means he will help to fight poverty. He set up the Didier Drogba Foundation and bought some land in the town where he was born. Friends and businesses have helped him to raise the millions of dollars needed to build the new hospital on this land. The new hospital is only one of the things Didier Drogba wants to do. He hopes his Foundation will provide help in other places too, giving better health and schools for the poor, especially women and children. Often, they are the ones who struggle the most. He says:
Voice 3
"The children's education is a very important matter to me, as much as their health."
Voice 2
He also wants to see men treat women and girls with more respect. He says:
Voice 3
"Women should be seen as equal to men... As an example to many young boys in Africa I will do my best to change the way they think and act towards girls and women."
Voice 1
Many people who watch Didier Drogba on the football field say that he cheats. They say that he falls over and pretends to be hurt. He argues with the referee. He has been sent off the football field for hurting another player. He even argues with his own team during games.
Some people say he is not a good example to young boys wanting to be good sportsmen.
But, he has much respect from other members of his team. And away from the football field Didier Drogba is doing much to change the lives of poor women and children far away in his West African homeland.
Voice 2
Ivory Coast played in the FIFA World Cup in South Africa this summer. But their most famous player and captain broke his arm in a friendly game soon before the big event! His arm was injured, yet he still played in the World Cup! Ivory Coast did not win the Cup. However, their most famous footballer will be giving his country something worth much more than a football prize. His new hospital will help to bring good healthcare to thousands of people for many years.
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