Steve Milton: Water in Mali is Forge star Abou Sissoko’s goal

Abou Sissoko cares deeply about his roots, so he wants to water them. Literally.

The effervescent 26-year-old Forge FC midfielder grew up in Montreal, but was born in the West African republic of Mali, has a home there and is committed to helping the country of his birth.

Sissoko has his own family-financed charity whose purpose, he explains, is to help people around the world, and give them drinking water."

Five years ago, before he and his sister and two brothers, all older, created Macine Fondation - the water-supplying charity named for their late parents - he was playing international age-class (Under 20) for Mali and he, his sister and his mother paid contractors to drill two water wells in an arid rural area of Mali, north of their hometown in the country's capital of Bamako.

Playing for the national team was the first time I got paid for playing soccer," he told The Spectator. I got my first cheque and did the drilling with my sister and my mother, who was still alive then. And I'm continuing to do it with the help of my siblings and my brother's wife, through our foundation. We hope to build more."

Mali is the eighth largest country in Africa, with a population of about 22 million. Through international and local relief efforts in recent years, about 80 per cent of the urban areas have gained sustainable access to clean water, but it drops to 70 per cent in more rural places, and even lower than that in areas of military conflict and closer to the deserts of the North.

Sissoko says he recognizes that some Forge FC fans might want to contribute, through him, to the cause but says, I'm thankful that people in Hamilton wish to help but I think it would be better right now for them to give to a bigger charity. My family and myself would like to do it ourselves right now ... but, maybe if it gets bigger."

While Mali will be the focus, the foundation is looking at drinking water shortages outside the country, too.

A third well, drilled by Dignite International in Kampong Chhnang Province in Cambodia is now done and was paid for by their Macine Fondation: Ma" for their father Madou, Cine" for their mother Jacine.

The first one was expensive, about $7,000 Canadian, the next ones were a bit less expensive," he said.

The average player salary in the Canadian Premier League, where his Forge play, is about $40,000, which doesn't leave lot of discretionary spending room. But Sissoko, a talented player who has scored two goals in his last four games, includng his first as a pro in a 5-1 drubbing of FC Edmonton at Tim Hortons Field, is hoping to move on to a higher-paying league somewhere else in the world. Developing Canadian talent - Sissoko has lived in Canada since 2006 and officially became a citizen earlier this year - and encouraging the players to move to more lucrative leagues elsewhere is one of the stated functions of the CPL.

It's one of my biggest goals to keep playing and doing what I love to do and keep going higher and help people in Mali when I can make some real money from soccer," the ever-smiling, but deep-thinking, Sissoko told The Spectator.

I have some places on my mind, but I have to put in the work on the field to get there. Right now, I'm thinking only of helping Forge win. Forge wants the best for me, and if I do well and there is some interest from outside (teams) I think they will help me."

Hamilton head coach Bobby Smyrniotis has used Sissoko in many of the same roles that the now-departed Elimane Cisse, a dependable multifaceted player from Senegal, filled in his three years in town. While he's a natural midfielder, Sissoko has played right back in some games and brings a natural energy and game sense to the field. He's also an uplifting force in the locker room, Smyrniotis says, arriving every morning with a wide grin, full of playful chatter, and stays that way all day, a priceless asset to a businesslike team which trains seriously at a relentlessly high pace.

Sissoko was selected by Forge FC out of the University of Montreal in the second round of the inaugural CPL draft in late 2018. But when training camp opened a few months later, Hamilton had too many midfielders with more experience and Smyrniotis reluctantly chose to release him rather than sit him on the bench.

One of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make as a coach," Smyrniotis recalls.

Sissoko returned to complete his economics degree in Montreal, went on to win the 2019 U-Sports player of the year, got a tryout with Vancouver of Major League Soccer and spent the 2020 season in the CPL with Halifax, and helped them into the championship final that year against, of course, eventual winner Forge FC. He moved on to the United Soccer League's top division with Indy Eleven last season, but his contract wasn't renewed and, despite other USL offers, he chose to come to the team which first drafted him.

I think the football we play here can make me a much better player," he said of Forge FC, which has reached all three league finals, winning the first two.

Sissoko has logged the most minutes on the team this CPL season, and will up his total when the Forge host HFX Wanderers of Halifax on Saturday (4 p.m.). The team is red hot, and with five straight wins has moved all the way from fourth to first place.

Because of the pandemic and military and political unrest in Mali, Sissoko hasn't been back to his homeland for five years but plans to visit his grandmother there after this season. When he was 10 years old he started playing soccer in Mali, where his father was a diplomat with an international non-governmental aviation organization.

The family, he says, was privileged but all my best friends in Mali were poor" and they played soccer together every afternoon. It was our spirit in Mali: if you have money you take care of people. My father and my mom took care of families there, gave some of them money to take care of their family."

The Sissokos moved to Montreal in 2006 and Abou (short for Aboubacar) played a bit of soccer, starting at Outremont, but left the game before returning to it at 18 and getting very serious about pursuing a professional career.

In 2012, after a year of illness, his father died at the age of 58. I was 16 and I had to grow up pretty quickly," he says.

Two years ago his mother died suddenly when she, too, was only 58. Sissoko was in Charlottetown, preparing for the Island Games, the CPL's shortened pandemic-year bubble tournament, and talked to his mother by phone for several hours every day. Two hours after he spoke to her one morning, she died.

Neither parent ever saw him play pro soccer.

Sometimes it's the hardest thing because I miss her," he says. I'm a joker and like to have a good time But, honestly, on the inside sometimes I'm really sad because I was close to my dad and was even closer to my mom.

But when I come to the stadium, I don't want to share that body language with my teammates, so I keep laughing. It's very natural for me to laugh and joke, it's my personality, but people don't always know that I'm serious inside. Honestly, I think it's made me a better player and mentally I'm stronger because of it.

I come from a great family and my parents gave me a good world view. I learned our spirit from them and I want to help our people in Mali."

Steve Milton is a Hamilton-based sports columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: smilton@thespec.com