Nana Tea •Spreading joy a post at a time
James Annor Tetteh is a social media influencer popularly Known as Nana Tea. Don’t get me wrong, he doesn’t sell or promote tea. His “Tea” is an abbreviation of his surname Tetteh.
On Facebook, he has become like the “area boy” or “fixer”. Need someone to donate blood, looking for an old friend or long lost relative, need funding or help finding a missing item or relative, just send Nana Tea a message.
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Through his posts, he is able to connect long lost contacts, save lives and make life easier for people in times of need.
In an interview on Tuesday, he said he didn’t struggle to help people when possible as he understood what it meant to be in need.
He said his first post that started his philanthropy journey on social media received some backlash from some users but he was happy it had opened many doors for other people through that single post.
The picture, he recounted, was of a small boy carrying a log and walking barefooted .
“I had lived in the village all my life and carrying logs was not new to me. When I saw the boy, it brought back memories. I shared the picture without the boy’s face describing the memories it came with and some people didn’t take it lightly.
“Some said I had posted it for likes instead of helping the boy carry the firewood. Fortunately, there was a lady in the US who saw the post and decided to help the boy with GH₵200. I shared that feedback and other people decided to donate more. When I visited him at home, I realised he had ring worm so we sought medical help for him, bought him stationery for school and a wheel barrow to transport his firewood. The rest of the money was invested on his behalf,” he explained.
From that single act, many people started contacting Nana Tea to either seek help or give him funds to support other people.
Blood donation drive
Long before he started helping people through social media, he was known for his jokes, funny pictures and witty write ups usually shared on “Trotro Diaries”, a page on Facebook.
He said he realised people liked the kind of content he produced and it had started gaining some following. It was then that he decided to channel that acceptance into helping society.
The number of people Nana Tea has supported is uncountable but one other thing that sets him apart from other influencers on social media is his blood donation drive.
Similar to the story of the boy he first helped, this project started as a post he shared from another user’s page. He made an appeal for people to donate blood for a leukaemia patient and he was amazed at the feedback.
“I acknowledged the donors and subsequent requests for donations kept coming in. Families who had difficulties getting blood for their relatives would reach out and people will willingly go and donate without asking for a penny. There was a lady at Winneba in the Central Region with a rare blood group who needed transfusion urgently. Someone travelled from Cape Coast, spent the night and donated the blood in the morning.
“The success of everything I have done lies highly on the people who follow me. They make sacrifices for people and are ready to go the extra mile just to put smiles on people’s faces and for that, I am truly grateful”.
The effectiveness of his blood donation drive has led him to meet the Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman Manu and the leadership of the National Blood Service to find ways of making the project more sustainable and to reach more people.
The idea, he said, was not only to rally donors when people were in need but to encourage people to stock blood banks to prevent shortage.
Difficult childhood
Nana Tea told this reporter that he appreciated the challenges people went through in life as he and his siblings had a difficult childhood.
But for the intervention of some benevolent people, they wouldn’t have gone to school.
“My mother passed away when I was 14 and my siblings were very young. My father struggled to take care of us. My education was sponsored by someone from Primary to Junior High School. When I gained admission into Senior High School, I delayed in reporting because we couldn’t afford the fees. Thankfully, the headmaster considered me and I started and Plan Ghana gave me a scholarship throughout my stay.
“I know what it feels like to not have food at home and so although the demand from people keeps increasing and can be overwhelming, I try my best to connect them to people who can help,” he explained.
On social media, he says he has been able to build credibility because of how honest he is with sharing feedback with donors. Once he transfers monies, he sends screenshots or receipts of items purchased so donors know what and how he used the funds.
Family
Nana Tea is married to Barbara Amoah, a nurse and they have a set of twin boys, Ethan Atter and Nathan Lawer.
Their easy-going love life is admired by many of his followers. He shares pictures of himself preparing banku, washing clothes, feeding his children, sweeping and other chores usually done by women.
He said those posts were not for clout or to increase his following as it showed how they lived at home. He shared them to encourage men to support their partners at home.
“ I learnt those habits from my father and grandmother. Growing up, house chores were not labelled. We all helped at home and that’s how I learnt how to do all these. My wife doesn’t prepare banku at home, we all know that is my duty,” he added.
If you follow the pace at which he shares pictures from donations, visits, moving around in search of products and how active he is on social media, you may assume he is a full-time influencer.
However, he works as a Water Quality Analyst and uses his off days or free time to embark on his personal projects.
He holds a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Science Laboratory Technology from the Accra Technical University.
Writer’s email: [email protected]
