Photo: MICHAEL TRAN / AFP / Getty Images
YouTuber Mr. Beast's latest video where he builds 100 wells across Africa has inspired activists to speak up about their local governments, according to CNN.
The American content creator, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, uploaded the video on Saturday (November 4), wracking up over 58 million views as of Tuesday (November 7). Footage shows him and his team installing wells that provide clean drinking water to up to 500,000 in Cameroon, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
The trending video also shows additional charitable acts, such as donating supplies to Kenyan schools, giving bikes to a Zimbabwe village to help kids get to school, and installing a bridge connecting a village to local schools and hospitals. Donaldson said a fundraiser to support local water aid organizations got over $300,000 by Monday morning (November 6), per the news outlet.
Donaldson's videos usually draw online criticism due to allegations of exploiting vulnerable people for views and profit, but some public figures in Africa said the water wells video sheds light on the failures of African governments. Boniface Mwangi, a high-profile Kenyan activist and photojournalist, called his home country "shameful" after the video went viral.
“Every five years we give newly elected members of parliament, and senators a Sh5 million car grant ($33,000), fuel those cars every month but we have no money to drill boreholes for our people?" he posted on X. "We are a begging nation governed by multimillionaires."
Freelance journalist Ferdinand Omondi had similar gripes, saying per CNN, "It’s embarrassing that a YouTuber jetted into Kenya on a charity tour to perform tasks our taxes should have completed ages ago.”
While some activists took the opportunity to call out politicians with Mr. Beast's video, others are criticizing the YouTube star for several reasons.
Saran Kaba Jones, founder and CEO of FACE Africa, an organization working to improve water infrastructure and sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa, told CNN her frustrations following the video's publication.
“I’ve been doing this for 15 years, but we’ve been struggling to continue the work because funding, awareness, and advocacy all take work," she said. "Overnight, this person comes along, who happens to be a white male figure with a huge platform, and all of a sudden, he gets all of the attention. It’s kind of frustrating, but it’s also understanding the nature of how the world is.”
While she praised Donaldson for highlighting these issues, she warned about the future sustainability of the wells. She explained to reporters, "It’s one thing to go in and install the well, it’s another thing for us to go back to three, four, or five years from now, and see if that well is still functional.”
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