Dear Wale,

Thank you for taking the time to write me. I believe my friend really is the person he claims to be. We are close…we communicate almost everyday and I’ve met his family too, by web chat. He is a football player (soccer), and that is what his life revolves around everyday. After getting to know him better, I decided to create a GoFundMe to sponsor him, so he could keep playing football.
I built the platform but I am not the main funding source. Through our collaboration together he has attracted a group of sponsors. He sends me photos of his life, his team, the matches he plays both locally and in other states — also his family and daily life. This is how I tell his story and show his real humanity to the world. It works... The funding team makes sure he has good shoes (cleats), bus money to travel to away games, a decent phone and enough to eat.
He has been excellent with his documentation. We send the funds, he send us pictures of everything he purchases with the money we give him. We haven’t sent him a lot of money, just enough to keep him playing. This year he went all the way to the national competition! We were SO PROUD of him, though his team was eliminated on the 3rd day, and he didn’t get recruited to anything bigger — it was still incredibly exciting for the whole funding team to see our money propel this young man so close to reaching his dream.
Now it’s out of my hands….His American sponsors love him! I keep posting photos and videos of his football games and his life. They bought him Christmas gifts this year, including a smart phone. They have decided to fund his soccer playing for another year and so it will be.

*I have warned him that I can never send him cash directly, or personally, and that I cannot predict how long the GoFundMe team will support him. He knows that…and seems just incredibly grateful for what we’ve already done.

I would include links and photos here but he has warned us not to share this information with others in Nigeria — for his safety and the safety of his family.

Wishing you best ~ Andrea