How TikToker Aaron Murphy is fighting global poverty
From his early days on TikTok, Aaron Murphy’s account has grown tremendously. As of October 2022, he has a total of 5.7 million followers and more than 130 million likes and has raised millions of dollars for charity. He also has a well-established foundation,” Murph’s Life,” where people can donate money for Murphy’s cases.
Additionally, Murph’s Life maintains a blog focusing on Murphy’s adventures to raise awareness for poverty in South America. South America, specifically, has some of the highest poverty rates in the world with countries such as Bolivia, Guyana, and Venezuela all having a more than 30% of constituents living below the poverty line.
While poverty in South America has been a prevalent issue with countries such as Venezuela, Brazil, and Ecuador being among the most impoverished in the world, over the years economies have seen positive trends. These trends are a result of hardworking South Americans as well as individuals such as Murphy, backed by inspiring communities such as those on TikTok, committed to combating global poverty.
TikTok is a social media platform that allows its expansive user base to create and enjoy short-form videos. The “For You Page” allows tailored content to reach users with video-specific interests, meaning it is easy to build interest-based communities on the app. This also means content creators can more easily achieve the “TikTok fame” phenomenon. This is exactly what happened for content creator Aaron Murphy – @murphslife, the founder of the Murph’s Life Foundation.
Murphy’s videos accomplish two things. Firstly, his viewers not only get to see the conditions in which the poverty-stricken people are living, but they also get to share a first-hand account of people’s stories. This fosters empathy and awareness of the conditions in which the less fortunate ones live.
Secondly, Murphy facilitates change by using these videos to raise funding, which he then uses to help families in whatever way they need. Whether it be making children’s dreams of going to the beach for the first time come true, giving an elderly grandmother a real bed, or building a homeless family brand-new home Murphy uses whatever he raises to give back to impoverished South Americans. He states that his goal is to enable families to become self-sufficient, not just to relieve them of extreme poverty for a short period of time.
A family was blessed by the online donations received by the Murph’s Life Foundation with a new home, car, and a sustainable means for the family to not just survive but thrive on their own after the foundation is done helping them. Donations of more than $50,000 were raised for the family through TikTok and Instagram.
In a video posted by the foundation, volunteers built a new home for a family in El Salvador. Their story hits hard because after the mother’s disabled child was born, her husband abandoned them, leaving the single parent with a huge weight on her shoulders and a life she would not abandon.
The family was also given new furniture, appliances, and a laptop for a family member to continue his studies. The foundation also provided them with goods and licenses, so they could start their own small grocery store, continuing with the nonprofit’s mission of sustainability. “This is what this work’s really about, giving families sustainable income,” the founder posted on TikTok along with the video.
“I truly thank you because God has sent a big blessing through you,” one of the sons says in the reveal video where the entire family is shown the results of the hard work these volunteers put in. “In everything you’ve done here and to everyone who’s contributed to this great blessing, I thank you.”
Sources:
- https://youtu.be/f7Edu1IhlZE
- https://remezcla.com/culture/murphs-life-foundation-helps-latin-america-families-donation/
- https://www.borgenmagazine.com/aaron-murphy/
- https://nowthisnews.com/news/watch-tiktoker-starts-nonprofit-to-help-families-in-central-south-america
- https://readloud.net/
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