Commited to Purpose in the Midst of Distractions

2025 came and we have had so much going on. With social media , news travel faster and wider now. Even news that are private and not supposed to be out there. And many times this news create divides amongst people. In Nigeria the social media has been saturated lately with toxicity. It has either a celebrity announcing his separation online, to fans pitching tents with whose side they were on concerning a divorce or failed relationship, or a former gospel artist cutting up a girl ( he said was his girlfriend)into many parts got caught and that took over the media space with the deceased family saying it was purely a case of ritual killings as their daughter had nothing to do with the killer. Again, many netzens took to attacking the church as to them, most pastors and ministers are fake and some blamed girls for sleeping out as they think that was what resulted to the girl being killed. Her family did all they could to try to prove their daughter was a victim of " one chance" a slang used to describe people who kidnap their victims for organ harvesting, ritual purposes or to demand ransom. A more recent scandal involved two serving senators in the upper chambers where one of the serving four female senators created a scene because she refused to move to her newly allocated sitting position in the hallowed chambers and the speaker of the house asked for her not to speak but to be escorted out, which she disregarded. That got Nigerians talking and taking sides. The whole thing is more complicated now as sexual harassment has been alleged to be the cause of the female senator's outburst. What about the Trump's stop-work order? And the most recent Trump/ Vance vs Zelensky argument? Trust Nigerian netzens ( just like other netzens of course!), a lot has been said and will still be said. So many horrible stories we wake up to. Sadly, the debates and arguments are not only toxic, but will be endless. Things will happen and people will have their opinions.

But what if people could be guided to use their power of choice to choose to do what will serve others instead of tearing and dragging others down?

Why couldn't we use our time online for proffering solutions to the problems that every day people go through? instead of the shaming, bullying, misinformation, reputation damage, violation of privacy and defrauding others that come with our usage of social media? A lot of the unresolved social issues in our ordinary lives off-line are now rearing more ugly heads on our spaces online than before. The gender inequality gaps widen by the day. Women are objectified still in this time and age. Women and girls experience cyber bullying more, and are more dragged online. These and more happen because of the much broader reach we get online, and because of the anonymity that social media provides.

Yet it is on the same social media platforms were all these chaos has been going on that a friend shared a picture of a 5-week old severely malnourised baby , Aisha. I came across it and couldn't sleep. I quickly asked what the situation of the baby was. When the colleague got back to me, I went ahead to share on social media and even though people are engrossed with the daily draggings and banterings going on, many were touched just like I was.

The steps we took to fundraise were

1. We identified a problem. Their were many issues making news, but not all needed our attention. And though some needs are genuine it is not all that we could handle.

2. We made a needs analysis. We needed to know exactly what the baby needed. Milk. And because the best milk a baby needs is from the mother, we also had to attend to the mother's health issues so the baby could get breast milk.

3. Defined our purpose. We were going to raise money for milk and treatment at the hospital.

4. We needed a platform so we picked Facebook. It has a wider reach and acceptability.

5. Our content was the story of the baby and the mother. We shared pictures and gave updates of their progress.

6. Engaging with the audience was key. People followed the progress. We acknowledged every effort people made. It was that important. We gave updates and answered their questions and noted their suggestions even the ones that were not to relevant to our goal.

7. We kept the audience in the know of how much we raised and how the money is being spent. When we paused fundraising,we told them why.

We fundraised for the baby and subsequently the mother who was very sick and couldn't breastfeed or tend to her baby. People gave, a little here and a little there, we pooled in financial resources to take both mother and baby to the hospital. Some gifts were in kind too. People saw the progress of the duo and basked in the result of their effort. It brought much satisfaction that in the midst of all the distractions we could put together resources to raise agency for another. People are humans after all.

Now , that in a simple way is wielding the power of social media to create a responsible audience who took action to bring solution to those genuinely in need.There are many ways we as change makers can utilize social media to amplify the voices of those who ordinarily do not have access to online spaces like Aisha and her mother. In telling their stories, we can generate necessary resources and responses to mitigate challenges they face.