Liverpools erfarna ivorianen ger föräldralösa barn i hemlandet att fira jul.

Kolo Touré har alltid gett ett väldigt sympatiskt intryck utanför planen. Den ständigt leende 34-åringen verkar tillför positiv energi och verkar rent allmänt älska livet. Kolo har gett ekonomiska bidrag till ett barnhem i Yopougon, Abidjan sedan 2012. Han kommenterade sin support enligt följande: ”I’ve been looking after them by providing food and a small house, which is not great to be honest but is something which can help them because Crystal (the woman running the project) has about 100 kids. I am lucky that I am able to help them. Every month I send money to ensure they can have a good life and I will try to do that as long as I can provide.,” sa Kolo till The Mirror.

”We are not perfect but if you can still help people you help them and I will always help people who are honest and those kids have done nothing. I think of them as my kids and to provide for them every month is nothing. I love to see them happy, that is most important.

”Everything I do on my own and I’ve never really talked about it but with Christmas coming it is a good time to do something. With Christmas coming I’ve tried to organise a Christmas party for them. I’d like to organise one or two big events, like a dinner, to raise money for a nice place for them to live and invest money to generate more for them.”

Det finns 1,3 miljoner föräldralösa barn i Elfenbenskusten, som har en total befolkning på cirka 20 miljoner, uppger The Mirror, men enligt andra källor är befolkningsmängden cirka 24 miljoner. Över två tredjedelar av befolkningen är antingen kristna eller muslimer, och Kolo påpekar att han vill hjälpa alla oavsett religiös tillhörighet: ”There are different children from different ethic and religious backgrounds. The Muslim religion teaches us to be nice people and to try to help people, Christian or Muslim it doesn’t matter. The most important thing is to be nice with everyone you can and then everyone will respect you. It is a good thing for me to just try to help all those kids.”