Liverpool’s striker has become an international super star due to his goal scorning exploits. It is well know that this Egyptian footballer comes from a small remote village. According to the news papers he has become a local hero. Everyone in the village follows his progress and that of his team, they claim he has put the village on the world map and a simile on the faces. But it turns out that this is misleading. The villagers are poor, unemployment is high, and Mo success has not changed this. It’s has been a couple of years now and the villagers are board and feed up of foreigners journalist visiting looking to find happy smiling faces and feel good stories about how the success of a local boy can lift a whole community. Many enjoy watching him play but many think this success comes with a down side. Mo’s generosity has built a new school but has also resulted in the government diverting much needed infrastructure money to other villages that don’t benefit from the patronage of a rich footballer. Parents who once stressed the importance of education to their children as the best way to get out of poverty and have a better future now find they can not get their sons to look beyond the football field as they are now convinced this is the path to glamour and wealth.
Blair Mcpherson www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
