Essien devotes time off to charity - now Chelsea need his help

As bleak as the past month has been for Chelsea, Ghana international Michael Essien has kept a strong sense of perspective, thanks to a charity trip to his hometown of Awutu Breku in Ghana. Squeezed in between losses to Sunderland and Birmingham, the mercy mission saw the suspended midfielder joined by Chelsea officials as he launched a programme that will provide water, sanitation and health facilities to 15 local communities. He also oversaw projects that educated youngsters on malaria and encouraged them to read through soccer. The initiative was backed by the Michael Essien Foundation in association with Chelsea's global charity partner, Right to Play, with Essien helped out by fellow Ghana-born superstars Sulley Muntari, of Inter Milan, and Marcel Desailly, the former France defender. Promoted on Facebook as 'A Day With Michael Essien', the event attracted more than 20,000 fans to Awutu Breku, a small town an hour's drive from the capital, Accra. It was another reminder of just how far Essien has come from his days as a youth player for local club Liberty Professionals. 'I did not have a clue I would become who I am today through football,' Essien said. 'It was very strange to begin with and sometimes I wasn't sure how to deal with it.' Essien is due to return to Premier League action today as Chelsea host Everton and it can't come soon enough for the struggling champions. His three-match suspension for being sent off in the final seconds of their victory over Fulham has hit Carlo Ancelotti's side hard. They've earned just one point from a possible nine, allowing Manchester United to overtake them at the top of the table. Receiving a second yellow card for a two-footed lunge on Clint Dempsey, Essien's automatic ban was the start of a miserable few days from which Chelsea haven't recovered. The next day, assistant manager Ray Wilkins was sacked during half-time of a reserve team game. On the Sunday, they slumped to their first home league defeat since February, thrashed 3-0 by unfashionable Sunderland. The sidelining of the man they call the 'Bison' has crippled Chelsea, perhaps even more than the injured John Terry and Frank Lampard. The Blues' midfield - weakened by the summer departures of veterans Michael Ballack and Deco - has revealed a soft centre. Brazilian import Ramires, a Euro22 million (HK$223.67 million) recruit from Benfica, has struggled to adapt to the English game. Before his suspension, Essien was making up for lost time after missing much of Chelsea's double-winning season - and the 2010 Fifa World Cup - because of knee problems. Essien is a humble yet charismatic man who is not so big in stature, but rippling with muscles. When he speaks, you have to listen carefully because he's very softly spoken. 'This is my sixth year here and it's really important for me to do well after missing so much of last season,' he said. 'The body feels good, especially the knees and there's been no reaction at all.' One silver lining in the bleak November was a continuation of Chelsea's strong Champions League form, although Essien was rested to get over a lingering toe injury. Already guaranteed a place in the knockout stages, they travel to Marseille next Wednesday looking to complete their group F games with a perfect record. Essien remembers only too well how close Chelsea were to being crowned European champions in 2008 when they held the upper hand in the penalty shoot-out in the Moscow final before losing to Manchester United. He played the entire match, including extra-time, in the less familiar position of right fullback. 'Winning the Champions League is of course a very big ambition for me,' he said. 'You need a bit of luck but we'll keep pushing and hopefully we'll eventually get there.' A December 19 home game against Manchester United is already looming large on a busy fixture list. The otherwise laid-back Essien bristles when reminded about August's 3-1 defeat to their arch-rivals in the Community Shield. 'It's always hard to lose, but the Community Shield is really like a pre-season game for us,' he said. ' 'They're among our biggest rivals but we don't think about them, we are just thinking about ourselves.' That's the paradox of Michael Kojo Essien, who turned 28 on Friday. In a soccer sense, he's totally focused on his important job within the team. But off the pitch, he's often thinking of the bigger picture, whether it's through his foundation, his new role as one of 14 African Union Peace ambassadors, or even as a regular contributor to the Chelsea website. 'Being a peace ambassador was not in my plans when I was growing up - I just wanted to play professionally in Europe,' he said. 'But now I know that there's life after football and I'm starting to do other things so when I finish my playing career I can try something else. I'm living my dreams at the moment.'