Fighting to educate children in Ghana

Soccer opened doors for student-athlete Daniel Boateng, so he’s leveraging the sport to offer opportunities for kids in his native Ghana.

Silhouette of a person in a green shirt with arms crossed looking out over a densely built, hazy cityscape.
A female teacher in a bright blue jacket stands before a whiteboard covered in writing, looking down at two young students in a classroom with yellow and red walls. Daniel found opportunity through education — and he’s making sure others do too. (2 min watch)

On a Sunday in late June, Daniel Boateng stares out at a soccer field in Accra, Ghana. Soccer changed his life. Soccer gave him a ticket to New Life Football Academy, then to the Cate School in Carpinteria, California, and then to the University of Notre Dame where he is a midfielder for the men’s soccer team. Soccer opened doors, but education allowed him to walk through them, he said.

Boateng, a senior, said it was his late mother who instilled in him the importance of education.

As he recalled, she said, “‘I know you want to be a soccer player. It's good to be a soccer player, but if you lose being a soccer player, what would you do with your life?’ It never made sense to me until, when I went to the academy, I got injured once, and I realized my mom was saying something and it became a part of me.”

Boateng realized the importance of chasing both soccer and education. Mirroring the lessons of his mother, Boateng is in Accra on that June Sunday to host 600 students in a soccer tournament, but he will offer more than sport.

Several boys in matching blue and yellow soccer uniforms play with a yellow ball in a narrow outdoor alley between two buildings.
In Accra, children play soccer in a school courtyard.

Soccer as a gateway to education

“Kids in Ghana love soccer. Every kid in Ghana, girl, boy, they love the game of soccer, so we try to use soccer as a tool to bring all of them together. And when we have them together, that's when we send our message to them, this is what we are trying to do,” Boateng said.

On the sidelines, doctors and nurses will provide screenings for malaria, blood pressure, sugar levels. Participants and their families can receive checkups and medications, free of charge. There will be complimentary meals. And there will be an introduction to Changing Lives GH Foundation, Boateng's nonprofit organization, which provides sponsorships for students who can't otherwise afford their education.

Two young men in soccer attire play on a dirt field under an overcast sky, one dribbling a ball past the other. A medical worker with braided hair, wearing white gloves, performs a finger-prick blood test on a patient in a room with yellow walls and latticed windows.

Soccer is the main attraction at the Changing Lives GH tournament, but on the sidelines, doctors and nurses offer complimentary medical testing and services.

“Changing Lives defines itself. We want to change the lives of many, and our goal is to build schools in every region, to just have kids go to school for free. Everything about Changing Lives is to have the kids have some sort of freedom: the freedom to be in school; the freedom to have access to quality education—not just education, but quality education; the freedom to feel like I belong; the freedom to feel like I have a say,” Boateng said.

The hidden costs of education in Ghana

Boateng explained that in Ghana, although government schools are technically free, there are fees for supplies, uniforms, transportation, food, and more. Those costs are prohibitive for families. In his case, when he went to New Life Football Academy, most of his friends left school entirely and went to work to help their families. He noticed the discrepancy, but it wasn't until his time in California that he realized the size of the opportunity gap.

Each time he would return to Ghana, he would meet children—often as young as 7 or 8 years old—who were on the streets, trying to earn money, instead of in school. From talking with them he realized how out-of-reach education was for most of them.

Several young boys in matching blue and yellow school uniforms stand or move in front of a low yellow building with a bright blue base.
School isn't a given, said Boateng, noting that there are often children as young as 7 or 8 who are on the streets trying to earn money rather than getting an education.

“I wanted to do something for the people that I care about. I wanted to help these kids who are on the street, kids who cannot afford to be in school, kids who cannot afford the education, and that was the whole goal.”

As a high school student, Boateng started offering to fund the education of kids he met in Ghana. He offered to pay for supplies, paperwork, or visas for those who were offered scholarships to the United States. And then, in 2023, he officially founded Changing Lives GH with the help of two Notre Dame teammates, Cleveland Sellers IV '25 and Liam Egan '25, '26M.S. Today, thanks to the generosity of donors, they work closely with schools to select and support 100 students in Ghana.

A group of children in bright blue uniforms face two smiling adults in a schoolyard setting with yellow and blue painted walls.
Sellers, left, and Boateng, right, with students at Tantua International School, one of the schools where Changing Lives GH sponsors student tuition and school supplies.

“I was born here. I've seen many articles that say people are helping people in Ghana and even Africa as a continent, but we never see it. We never see it for ourselves. They take the money, but we don't see the impact,” he said. “I wanted to be the first person to actually do it for the people to see it.”

Three male students wearing Notre Dame apparel work collaboratively at a round table in a bright atrium with large windows.
Boateng, center, said Sellers, left, and Egan, right, were immediately supportive of his vision for Changing Lives GH.
Two young boys in matching blue and yellow shirts concentrate on writing in a shared notebook at a wooden desk in a classroom.
Students in a classroom at Tantua International School in Accra, Ghana.

The ideal student-athlete

Chad Riley, the McFarland Family Head Men's Soccer Coach and a 2004 Notre Dame graduate, knows soccer well. Riley was a student-athlete at Notre Dame under head coach Bobby Clark, and he remains one of the University's all-time leaders in assists. He was an assistant coach under Clark before becoming the head men's soccer coach at Dartmouth. He came home to the Irish in 2018. Soccer has been his career, and he believes the sport has power as a great equalizer.

“Soccer's a game that really all you need is a ball and something that you can sort of say is a goal. Whether it's a street, whether it's a dirt field, whether it's grass, it has this universal language to it that once you get playing, you don't even actually need to speak the same language. You just know that there's passing, dribbling, there's defending, but it's one of the few games you can go anywhere in the world and drop a ball down, and a group of people can organize themselves and start to play,” Riley said.

Three boys in blue soccer uniforms play with a yellow ball on a bare dirt field, viewed from a high angle.
“Soccer's a game that really all you need is a ball and...a goal,” said Riley.

“For things like Daniel's doing, it's this great icebreaker that you're playing this game that you all love . . . it's that great window for him to use to go try and help people and to set things up,” he said.

Riley insisted that Changing Lives was not a result of any directive from him for community service or a requirement to go do good. Changing Lives was all Boateng, he said.

“Through Daniel, I think you see exactly that highest ideal of what our student-athletes should be all about—as they're doing well in the classroom, they're doing well in the field, and then they're going out there and they're trying to make a difference in the world,” Riley said.

“Notre Dame's unique where we want you to be great not just as a student, not just as a soccer player, but also as a person. I think it's threefold that you want to seek excellence. We try to win . . . you push yourself to learn, but then there's that third component at Notre Dame that's saying, OK, how do I use these skills that I'm developing while I'm here to help kind of the greater good and to be a force for good in the world?”

A smiling male soccer player in a navy Notre Dame uniform dribbles a ball on an indoor turf field while other players practice in the background.
Boateng at practice for the Notre Dame men's soccer team.
A group of young male soccer players in matching blue patterned jerseys and white shorts stand on a dirt field, some looking at the camera and others interacting.
In Accra, Ghana, a team donning Notre Dame gear prepares to compete in Changing Lives's Beyond the Field tournament.

Riley said Boateng, and his teammates Sellers and Egan, embody that excellence in mind, body, and spirit. They have an innate desire to use what they have and what they've learned to help others, even though they have a busy schedule.

Boateng acknowledged that the demands on his time are great. Between a grueling Division I training schedule, academic rigor, and an organization trying to serve a country of 34 million people, he humbly noted that “it's tough.” But, he added with a smile, there's no giving up.

Chasing goals that change lives

The high stakes motivate him, he said. Before he graduates, Boateng is trying to learn and do as much as he can, especially while at the Keough School of Global Affairs. The course Poverty, Business, and Development taught him to network with other organizations and to be transparent about his plans when asking for donations. Lessons on countries like Chile, Brazil, and the Netherlands have shaped his strategies when he goes back to Ghana. And his teammates have been quick to lend a hand whenever needed. He knew when he visited Notre Dame as a high school student that he was meant to be here, but he never could have imagined just how it would shape his life.

“I felt like this is where I want to be,” he recalled. “I just felt like my spirit was here.”

Now his spirit is pulling him back to Ghana. He recently partnered with his alma mater, the Cate School, and its Metherell Memorial Service Challenge grant program to build a well for the community of Olebu in Accra. The well will mean women and children spend less time fetching water, and it will lower the risk of waterborne diseases.

Next, he hopes to build a school. And another, and another, until there are schools across Ghana where students can get a quality education, regardless of their ability to pay. It's a lofty goal, but for an accomplished midfielder, goals are always worth chasing.

A smiling man wearing a bright green Notre Dame long-sleeve shirt walks down a dusty street filled with people and activity in a Ghanan neighborhood.
“That's the most important thing: I just want to make people smile,” Boateng said.

Produced by the Office of Public Affairs and Communications

  • Writer: Tara Hunt McMullen
  • Photographers: Michael Caterina
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