How Africa News
Cameron Mofid never imagined he was going to receive a sizeable donation – let alone from Kyrie Irving – when he set up a GoFundMe to raise funds for a school in a slum in Nigeria and an orphanage in Ghana that he had visited during a backpacking trip to West Africa. But the Dallas Maverick star’s generous act adds up to several other donations he has quietly made on the fundraising platform.
Mofid, a 22-year-old enthusiastic traveler who wants to be one of the youngest persons to visit every nation in the globe, said he started the GoFundMe with a $5,000 target. He claimed they raised more than $10,000 in the first week of the campaign. But, the 22-year-old California native said he awoke on Sunday to a $45,000 donation from Irving.
“When I woke up to GoFundMe and saw there was a donation for $45,000 I thought it was a mistake or some sort of scam mail at first. It took me a moment to realize that it was legitimate and that it came from Kyrie Irving,” Mofid, who has so far visited 119 out of 195 countries said.
“I entered a state of complete shock. My guess is that he saw the fundraiser because it was trending on GoFundMe. It’s evidence that every share and every donation, even those of $5, made an impact.”
Mofid received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami and his MBA from the same institution in December. The valedictorian said he visited the “Part of Solution Nursery and Primary School” in a Nigerian slum and “The United People Home” in one of Ghana’s harshest slums on his journey to West Africa. He claimed he set up the GoFundMe to try to help the youngsters financially, adding that the contributions would ensure the students have adequate learning materials and access to clean drinking water.
Mofid further stated that Irving’s donation will be used to purchase a water tank in Nigeria so that all 351 students will have access to safe drinking water, as well as to build the complete orphanage in Ghana.
“We initially raised enough to buy the land for the new orphanage in Ghana,” he told How Africa. “Kyrie’s donation should be enough to fund the entire building of the orphanage as well as a sports center for the kids. We already named a classroom in the school in Nigeria after him and the future sports complex at the orphanage in Ghana will be named after him as well.”
A Dallas Mavericks representative who Mofid says he contacted confirmed the NBA champion’s donation. “I was instructed by Kyrie that he wanted the donation to speak for itself,” Mofid explained. “That just goes to show how genuine his donation was. His deed of goodwill will benefit hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals.”
Mofid’s fundraising has raised more than $65,000, considerably exceeding the $5,000 objective. Furthermore, while Irving did not leave a note on Mofid’s fundraising, his act of kindness adds to other significant donations he has made on GoFundMe.
Irving donated $22,000 in December to support a young Howard University student complete her studies at the historically Black school, according to BBC Africa at the time. He also recently gave $22,000 to an aspiring herbalist who set up a GoFundMe page to seek funds for the start-up of her Massachusetts-based medicinal herb farm.
Aside from that, the basketball player gave $65,000 to the family of Shanquella Robinson, a Black woman who died while on vacation with her friends in Mexico. Irving additionally donated another $50,000 GoFundMe donation to the family of Devin Chandler. The University of Virginia football player was one of three students killed by Christopher Darnell Jones Jr.
