Nhyiraba Arthur: 15-year-old neglected female footballer cries for help

For some parents, the prospect of seeing their daughter wearing a jersey, boots and competing in a game that hitherto used to be a man’s game is refreshing, inspirational and appeals to them greatly.

They see it as a challenge of the status quo and an attempt to break the stereotype.

Then they imagine the fame, money and honour their daughter could bring them if they manage to rise to the top then they get more excited and motivated

Call them the liberals. They embrace change and have welcomed the idea that both men and women could have successful football careers.

These parents go out of their ways to support their daughters. Buy them boots, put them in the best of soccer academies and share with their kids the success stories of Brazil’s Mata, Nigeria’s Assisat Oshoala, Ghana’s very own Adjoa Bayor.

Then there are the conservatives. The parents who still view football as not just a game for boys or men but for ‘kubolors’, also known as miscreants.

For such parents, football is haram. An abomination which should not be entertained by their daughters.

School is everything to them. If you are a daughter of theirs, only one option is on the table and its school, school, school.

Nhyiraba Arthur, a young female happens to come from a family that belongs to the school of thought that football is a ‘no-no’ for girls and she is being made to pay the price.

A victim of her parents’ misconception about football, Nhyiraba now finds herself in a quagmire of staying hungry to follow her dreams or going back home to bow to her parents’ wishes.

Nhyiraba would have loved to combine school and football but her parents’ uncompromising stance forced her to leave home five years ago to chase her dreams.

Life on the streets has not been easy for Nhyiraba. She has been battered by life and when she sometimes looks at how her other colleagues are enjoying life, she is reduced to tears.

"I sometimes feel so sad because even when most of my colleagues are talking about their families, I can't comment because my family have abandoned me all because I chose to play football ".

Nhyiraba plays for Kaneshie-based Ideal Ladies and the team as she tells Untoldstories TV GH have been trying their best to give her a decent life but no care or love certainly equate to parents love for their daughter.

"Our team officials are trying their best but it's very difficult for me because sometimes I have to beg on the streets to get money to buy sanitary pads when my menstrual cycle is due but I won't quit since I know that I will become a great footballer soon," She told Untoldstories TV GH.

Nhyiraba is hell-bent on becoming a top football star and there’s a belief that her talent will send her to the top but currently, she needs help.

To even buy a sanitary pad has become a headache for Nhyiraba, talk less of money to buy food daily.

She needs help urgently and she is appealing to Ghanaians and everyone who will read this story and watch the video below to come to her aid.

"It has come in mind severally to stop football and go back home, but that will mean I have failed myself. I want to succeed before going back home so my parents will be proud of me" she added.

Watch her interview with Untoldstories TV GH