Meet the 4-year old social media sensation everyone is talking about

NAIROBI—There is a young boy that has become a social media meme in Africa whose identity remained unknown until he was located on an Instagram account managed by an award winning photographer— Carlos Cortes.

He’s referred to as the darling of the media. Jake is a Ghanaian pupil. Photo/ Carlos Cortes

His name is Jake Amo and he is barely five years old. He lives in the remote districts of Ghana and his iconic photograph was captured while in class participating in a drawing and artwork competition.

It was shared in January on  Instagram by Solom Abdufah as part of his #homelandseriesghana posts.  Solomon Adufah is a Ghanaian artist.

Nine months after the boy’s picture was posted (without him knowing, of coarse) he became an internet sensation with different people editing and applying hilarious graphics to drive a point home.

Jake became an internet meme. Photo/ Instagram

At one point he trended on Twitter in Kenya and South Africa, the continent’s huge chunk of  internet users. Social media users were awed by his “cheeks and cute face,” according to female “stalkers”.

Explaining the picture on Instagram, Solomon Adufah said he was inspired to “give back more to the communities.”

“The amount of joy and happiness they have in their heart despite their living conditions speaks volume about their inner beauty. Jake was one of the children I taught in Ghana. He was always gentle and quiet.. Ever present in class and was eager to learn everyday,” the 27 year-old artist currently pursuing fine arts at the University of Illinois, Chicago, explained.

“That’s what I loved about all the children. Their enthusiasm and high spirit was refreshing and encouraged me to continue helping them,” he added.

“We captured that image this time last year and we have since came back to set up an arts school in Ghana to help children identify their talents at an early age,” Adufah responded when Kulan Post asked about the photo on email.