Just a few weeks ago Nick Kristof of New York Times reported that an 8-year old Nigerian refugee won the 52nd New York State Scholastic Championships tournament for kindergarten to third-grade players. The refugee was homeless, living in shelter in Manhattan.
Now the tide has now changed. The chess champion, Tanitoluwa Adewumi (Tani for short) is no longer homeless. In fact, better still, he now has a six-figure bank account, scholarship offers from three elite private schools and an invitation to meet President Bill Clinton.
A GoFundMe account opened for his family to raise $50,000, has raised over $230,000. New York Times reports that “A half-dozen readers offered housing — in a couple of cases, palatial quarters. Immigration lawyers offered pro bono assistance to the Adewumis, who are in the country legally and seeking asylum. Three film companies are vying to make movies about Tani.”
According to Tani’s father who brought the family to New York a bit more than a year ago, the family fled northern Nigeria in 2017, fearing attacks by Boko Haram terrorists on Christians. A pastor helped steer them to a homeless shelter. Tani began attending the local elementary school, P.S. 116, which has a part-time chess teacher who taught Tani’s class how to play.
Now the family has settled in a modest 2 bedroom apartment. An anonymous donor paid a year’s rent on the apartment.
The Adewumis have decided that they will not spend a cent of the $200,000 GoFundMe money on themselves. They will take out a 10 percent tithe and donate it to their church, which helped them while they were homeless, and the rest will be channeled through a new Tanitoluwa Adewumi Foundation to help African immigrants who are struggling in the United States the way they were a week ago.
2 Comments
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