Meet Jake, the boy behind the class captain meme that went viral

The pensive looking boy’s whose picture became a hit meme all across Africa has been located and it turns out he is Ghanaian.

According to an article written by one Arthur Chatora for This Is Africa website, the boy, said to be called Jake, was shot by a Ghanaian artiste by name Solomon Adufah who was at the time having an arts workshop with a group of children in Ghana.

If you had ever wondered about the origin of the famous meme of a young African boy seated at a desk, with a pensive look on his face, frantically writing on a piece of paper, your search is finally over.

Jake’s photo is currently amongst one of the continent’s most famous and widely shared memes due to its nature.

The most popular meme from this picture is the one where they portray Jake as one who reminds many of a mean class captain who was always ready to issue out names of his colleagues to be punished.

The Ghanaian artist behind the photo, Solomon 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.

“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.