The advance Chelsea team finally arrived in Accra Tuesday evening to begin their first humanitarian visit to Africa.

Chelsea’s travelling party was without Ghana midfielder, Michael Essien leaving Jose Mourinho as the only notable face in the Stamford Bridge club set up.

Michael Essien, who is an ambassador for Right To Play is expected to join the rest of the entourage on Wednesday.

However, another Ghanaian-born player, Nana Ofori-Twumasi was on board the flight from London. Nana, born in Accra is in his first season as a full-time scholar with Chelsea and has been capped at England Under 16 level.

The FA Cup holders and former English champions will begin their working visit on May 30 with a press conference in the morning after which they get down to work on the field with a coaching clinic at the El-Wak Stadium the same day.

Work will continue with the inspection of projects run by their Global Charity Partner, Right to Play, an athlete-driven international humanitarian organization that uses sports and play as a tool for development of children and youth in the most disadvantaged areas on the globe.

The delegation will be in Ghana from May 29 to June 3 and will visit projects run by the club's global charity partner.

The second part of the visit will see the team travel up North to Tamale on Thursday.

After the trip to Tamale, the Chelsea entourage will return to Accra to observe the Right to Play Day to be held at the Efua Sutherland Park on Saturday June 2.

The Blues in January 2006, agreed a 6-year partnership deal with Right to Play, making the humanitarian body the football club's first ever global charity partner.

The partnership aims to raise more than £2 million over the period to support Right to Play's extensive humanitarian activities in 22 countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Mourinho said: "Everyone at the club is fully behind the work of Right To Play and we are all proud to support them. I'm sure our relationship will benefit thousands of kids throughout the world, starting with this visit to Ghana.

"Sport, particularly football, has a certain power. It is a world language, something where cultural difference does not matter.

"If you are in London, Lisbon or Accra, if you put down two pieces of clothing for a goal and wrap some paper into a ball and start to kick it, everyone knows what you are doing, there is no need to explain it.

"Because it is the world language you can reach everybody and if you have a big status in the game you have a big responsibility to use that power properly.

"And what better way to use it than for kids around the world to be healthier, fitter, fight disease, war, poverty. Football can and should help with this. It also reminds you that there are more important things than football."

Essien, who is one of the Chelsea/Right To Play ambassadors, added: "I'm sure our relationship will benefit thousands of kids throughout the world, starting with this visit to Ghana."

Mourinho and the other Chelsea technical staff will be conducting play sessions for children in Accra and Tamale.

He will also hold coaching demonstrations for the Right To Play coaches who are integral to the charity's purpose of raising awareness about disease, war and poverty through sport.

The trip has a dual role for Chelsea. As well as being a major initiative in the club's Corporate Social Responsibility Programme, it also serves as part of our young players' education in what is expected of them as first team players of the future.