congratulating you on exam success. It is big business and designed to connect ordinary people to the public figures they admire.
With BBC Africa Eye, I investigated the origins of this video, who made it, and where. Analysing hundreds of clips to find out more, our team were then able to geolocate the exact location these children had been filmed – a village on the outskirts of Lilongwe, Malawi. The bulk of the content filmed in this village had been uploaded to Chinese social media platforms by a man in his 20’s called Lu Ke.
Susu denied everything we put to him and was keen to clear his name – this was not exploitation, he had fed the children and their poor families, and taught them Chinese culture – this was all ‘good will’. But when Henry Mhango, my co-reporter, and I left the village, my mind could not help but wander to the other operations being run elsewhere on the African continent.The problem with this industry is so much bigger than Susu alone.I lived in China for six of the best years of my life. In many ways, I feel I grew up there.
Content creators like Susu are able to position themselves as authorities on Africanness. They, collectively, are in complete control of the narrative they choose to spin – and to anyone who knows no difference, this then becomes an acceptable truth.
America don pay your opinion writer? Eyin werey