Jake Amo: The 4-Year Old Ghanaian Boy Who Broke The Internet

Jake Amo. It was one of the trending topics last few days. An iconic picture of a young African boy seated at a desk, with a serious look on his face, writing on a piece of paper is currently among one of Africa’s most famous and widely shared memes for the past few days. Social media users across the continent quizzed about the origins of this iconic image, the identity of the boy and context within which the image was taken.

The picture of the chubby looking boy, has “given life” to many social media users and the image continues to set tongues wagging on the Internet. The picture has been edited and widely shared on various social media platforms. The image of the boy, named Jake Amo who is pictured engrossed in his writing was taken by Ghanaian artist, Solomon Adufah. Adufah shared the picture on Instagram in January as part of the artist’s ‘homeland series’ where he travels to various African countries to help underprivileged children in local communities, providing them with resources and teaching creative studies workshops.

The pictures featuring Jack have been widely shared and liked on the artist’s Instagram account. Presenting Jake, Adufar wrote: “Everyone Say Hi to my buddy Jake. This was moments in Ghana during my Art workshop with the kids. Each kid received brand new set of crayons, pencil colors, pencils, toys and other wonderful goodies. The expressions on their faces were heartfelt. I appreciate you all for making this possible for the children and support my cause”. On Jake’s picture, which has gone viral Adufar wrote: “I’ve experienced first hand the impact just the little act of kindness can make in the lives of the less privileged. The amount of joy and happiness they have in their heart despite their living conditions speaks volume about their inner beauty”. –

He continued: “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. That’s what I loved about all the children. Their enthusiasm and high spirit was refreshing and encouraged me to continue helping them,” Adufar noted.