You will answer this question when you read this.
When I heard about #SaveMayowa and started reaching out to people online and offline, I saw that they had received approximately (as are all figures in this) N17million in the Access Bank account and $45k in the GoFundMe. Rough calculations (after taking out GoFundMe’s 6.5%) meant they needed roughly N5million to reach the N32million mark. Few hours later, it was announced that they had hit N31m in Access Bank and the GoFundMe had about $70k. We had crossed the mark, by far but I encouraged people to keep donating for contingencies.
So, imagine my surprise when I saw tweets saying the mark had not been met. I asked the person what she meant and she claimed she was with Mayowa, and gave me her number to call. I called her and she explained that the $100,000 on GoFundMe was the hospital bill, so they still needed money for transportation, after-care, contingencies, etc. I was furious this wasn’t communicated, and we were under the impression ALL she needed was N32m for everything. And I expressed my displeasure. The family and those announcing should have been more honest with the amount they needed. The moment people start imploring others to help, the moment people actually donate, they wouldn’t want to feel they’d been deceived.
Well, I stopped talking about the case because I felt someone wasn’t being very honest, but I kept tracking events.
Today, on hearing that Toyin Aimakhu and others who were carrying this case on their head had gone to LUTH because the family was apparently trying to milk Mayowa’s situation and scam the nation weakened me. I tried reaching the person I spoke to yesterday, I couldn’t. I checked the timeline of @d_problemsolver who actively championed this cause as well, and she also said no one was giving her answers. I believed something was up. And I took to my timeline to express my disappointment.
Now the family has released a statement saying #SaveMayowa is not a scam and she is going to Abu Dhabi (not the US as earlier communicated), I think I’m going to put my vex aside (for the sake of the girl) and give them the benefit of doubt.
Did the family scam Nigerians? Well, maybe they weren’t open with how much was actually needed (so as not to discourage people from donating); maybe they weren’t promtply updating us with next steps (once people involve their money in a project, it is fair that they know how that money is spent); maybe the fact that they had different people saying different things made it seem shady, but I WANT TO BELIEVE that the words “where there is life, there is hope” is the reason they started this campaign, and they would indeed use the monies donated to help Mayowa get better.
Amen.