How not to #SaveMayowa: lessons from the “scam” allegations
By Adeleke Afolayan
“For it is in giving that we receive … ” is a line of charity from the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, an Italian Roman Catholic friar who lived between the 12th and 13 centuries. The recent Save Mayowa fundraising is however in danger of jeopardising the moral of that line owing to developments in the matter.
Mayowa, full name Mayowa Shukurat Ahmed is a 28 year-old woman on the throes of death no thanks to Stage 4 cancer that has rid her completely of her lively and pretty look. But only there is the surface of it all.
A report surfaced on July 28th claiming the fundraising to save Mayowa is an absolute scam, intended instead to set up the family of the ailing woman for (a recouped) life when she finally gives in to the cancer.
In a time of ₦145 per litre of fuel, a dollar edging closer to ₦400 rather than ₦200, increasing unemployment and inflation rates complemented by leaner wallets and spending power of Nigerians, that report was damming. More so after appearing on arguably the most visited blog in the country.
The emotions burst forth and the discourse began. ‘How can one be so cold to take advantage of people’s goodwill at such a time?’ ‘Why did Mayowa’s family hide that key detail of her case being a forgone?’ ‘People who genuinely need help in the future will surely not get it from us again’ and on and on.
Whether the #SaveMayowa fundraising – which realised about ₦30m and $50,000 within 72 hours via donations to her local bank account and a gofundme page – is a scam or not remains to be fully ascertained as at typing this, but the outcome of the report has highlighted a number of issues we should all consider thoroughly.
The timing and language of the scam report, as well as the platform it showed up on all achieved the purpose set. The Linda Ikeji Blog is a digital media goldmine and, despite being only a blog, is the source of information for millions of Nigerians and, possibly, a good number of non-Nigerians in and outside country.
A portal with such magnitude of following ought to provide viable information, rather than create posts in a manner that will bring hits to it at the expense of an ailing cancer patient and her family.
As renowned writer Chimamanda Adichie put it in her 2009 TED Talk, “The danger of a single story … demonstrates how impressionable and vulnerable we are in the face of a one-sided story.”
Thus, that report on LIB (fashionably duplicated by countless other blogs) sparked a discourse but, significantly, did so ill equipping the pawns of that discourse (the people) with the incomplete or worse, wrong information.
A great many seem to brush aside an eternal fact that information is power and end up making up firm opinions based on information that is wrong, incomplete or misleading, all without considering the ripple effect of their opinions. Such opinions then grow to become ‘fact’ and consequently, a norm.
RELATED: Police investigating #SaveMayowa “scam” – LUTH source confirms
While Mayowa’s family have remained silent so far following the report, there are a number of facts and other pieces of information the report (which has achieved its primary goal at the expense of proper journalism) failed to consider.
Before calling the fundraising a scam, did the author of the report consider the meticulous process one is required to meet before setting up a campaign on gofundme? If the proper documents and medical reports had not been brought forward, Mayowa would not have had her case published on the fundraising platform.
While one must admit any cancer at Stage 4 prognosis has minimal survival rate, 17% is much better than 0% and the family have the right to hope until the very end. As another line in that prayer of St. Francis of Assisi goes, ” … where there is despair, hope.”
Did that report consider this before painting the family in poor light without first reaching out to them? Admittedly, no mention of Mayowa’s cancer being at Stage 4 was made in the texts of the fundraising and that is enough to raise suspicion among some.
Then again, it may have been an oversight as the mention of cancer alone is usually enough to show the seriousness of the situation. Instead, a number of people who donated towards saving Mayowa have become hugely skeptical about doing so for others in future, which is only natural.
Bringing us to another line of that prayer, “Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console”. Implying should we all decide, based on that report alone, that no lending hand will be extended in future cases, what happens then when you or a loved one becomes in dire need? More so after all previously available resources have been expended?
We need only to put ourselves in Mayowa’s footwear and begin to imagine the situation in its entirety before making decisions that will affect innocent parties. Sentiments are good for the soul, but logic must be considered especially when the point of consideration is not from the desperate side of the coin.
Therefore, it is imperative for everyone to always seek to know the whole story before forming their final opinion. And what better time to make use of data for browsing for full information than this period which has seen the mobile networks crash prices for data subscription; albeit without commensurate improvement in quality but that’s another matter.
St. Francis of Assisi ended that prayer thus, “It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life”. Mayowa may give in to the cancer or she may yet rebound and live to recount her tale. Human instinct in most scenarios pushes a will survival more than it does dying. And no loving family will nor should give up in light of even the slightest hope of survival..
