Tunde Onakoya, a Nigerian chess grandmaster, has pledged to sponsor the education of a young girl who was seen assisting her mother with a cleaning job in a viral video from Lagos.
The video, which gained widespread attention on social media, showed the mother sweeping a street in Ikoyi with her 11-year-old daughter. Human rights advocate JustAdetoun criticized the mother for involving her child in what she deemed “child labor,” warning that the mother could face consequences if she continued this practice.
In response, Onakoya expressed his concern on X (formerly Twitter), condemning the public shaming of the mother and her daughter. Reflecting on his own childhood experiences, he shared how his mother worked hard at various low-paying jobs, including sweeping homes and gutters, to provide for their family. Onakoya, the founder of Chess-In-Slums, emphasized that both the mother and daughter needed understanding and support, not judgment.
Onakoya offered to sponsor the girl’s education through university, hoping to lessen the family’s financial burden.
He wrote, “It is heartbreaking to humiliate a mother in front of her child like this, even worse that it was filmed and shared on social media. My mother used to clean houses and gutters in 2016. It was painful to see her struggle, and I felt helpless because I couldn’t financially support her. I often went with her just to help carry water so we could finish quicker and return home before daylight. The shame of poverty that forces people to hide their labor is deeply painful.”
He continued, “While the child shouldn’t be working, they both deserve compassion, not anger. The right response is to help. If no one else has stepped forward, I am willing to cover the girl’s education up to university. I hope this brings some relief during these difficult times.”
Onakoya concluded with a thought on privilege: “Our privilege often blinds us in ways we can never fully understand.”
