How crowdfunding is redefining giving and support in Ghana: The Michael Kofi Asiamah case

In what is becoming a more go-to means of soliciting for financial support particularly in this day of advanced technology, crowdfunding is catching on with a lot of Ghanaians.

In a recent example of how efficient the use of crowdfunding is towards saving lives, in less than 24 hours since the mother of young, brilliant boy who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor posted her desperate plea for support, a target of $30,000 has been exceeded.

Cordelia Ama Selormey, mother of Michael Kofi Asiamah, at exactly 18:28 on Saturday, April 3, 2021, made a post pleading for support for her son who needs to undergo a second crucial surgery to take out the tumor in his brain.

"Hi guys, the last two weeks has been the most challenging for my family and I. My 13 year old son was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Close family and friends are in the known and have been doing everything they can to help support. An emergency surgery was performed on the 25th of March(A day before my birthday).

"However, we need support to complete the entire process of getting the tumor out. He'll need radiotherapy after the second surgery," she wrote.



Within the next hours, and with the support of friends, alike strangers, the GoFundMe account created in Michael's name, plus the advertised numbers for electronic money, were all inundated with contributions.

Personalities like Naa Ashorkor Mensah-Doku, Joe Mettle, Sarkodie, Gary Al-Smith, George Quaye, Jon Germain, Kokui Hanson, among others on the tall list used their respective influences and platforms online to highlight the message and solicit for help.



At 19:29 on Sunday, April 4, 2021, Cordelia Ama Selormey returned to post a thank you message, indicating how they had exceeded their target while seeking for prayers for him as he goes for the proposed surgery on Tuesday, April 6, 2021.

Unconfirmed information also show that while the GoFundMe account created for this purpose (requesting $30,000) was exceeded by a small margin, Musician, Sarkodie, made a personal donation of $10,000, taking the overall donations made to over $40,000.

While this may or may not be true, what we know is that the young man in question is a huge fan of the rapper, and is able to sing most of his songs verbatim.

"I am a songwriter. Specifically, Christian rap. I have many original songs that I’ve shared at events. My friends also call me Sark because there's no Sarkodie song I cannot rap verbatim," the description on the GoFundMe account read.



Now, it's all up to the doctors and a lot of prayers from everyone who supported them, as mother of Michael shares.



It will be recalled that in August 2020, the creative brain behind popular Instagram page, Penciled Celebrities, Ray Styles (known privately as Emmanuel Apraku) was diagnosed with a liver failure.

He needed $55,000 to undergo a surgery in India and in less than 24 hours, the amount was over-exceeded, making it one of the moments people rallied around that much and so timely to get support for a person in such a need of it.

Undoubtedly, crowdfunding has come to stay and it is the hope of many that it will continue to support people who need it the most.