Guardian Life cover personality and founder of ChessinSlums, Tunde Onakoya has garnered worldwide attention for his inspiring works. After several published pieces, including Guardian Life which he described as the “best interview, he has ever done ”, showing his investment into his chess project, he has gotten buzzes from notable personalities and establishments.
A tweet from Onakoya caught the attention of American businesswoman and “Hilton” heiress Paris Hilton. The heiress of the “Hiltons Empire’’ Play and win chess applauded Tunde Onakoya for his humanitarian service to his community.
Paris Hilton quoted Tunde Onakoya inspiring tweet of one of his prodigies and adopted sons, Sunday, Horse Betting Odds who grew up in the slums of Ikorodu. Onakoya’s tweet on Sunday reads,
“About a year ago, I found this little boy in the slums of Ikorodu, picking scrap from the floor. I adopted him and he has lived with me ever since then. Today is his first day in school. He aced his entrance examination and will be starting from Primary One.”
“Y’all need to see the joy in his face when he came to wake me up from bed this morning, saying Uncle Korayy, sports betting I’m ready for school. Proud to be part of this journey with @chessinslums x @Tunde_OD,” he wrote.
@AdeleyeOuwako1 who is Onakoya’s associate also posted a video of the chess champ “Fawaz Adeoye” and captioned it “What love cannot transform doesn’t exist.”
In a response to Adeleye’s tweet, Hilton wrote, “Love this, sure virtual betting and God bless you both.”
To support the aspirations of @chessinslum, Hilton posted the organisation’s official Twitter page and their channels.
It does not end there with just Paris Hilton, the International Chess Federation, which is the world governing body of chess, also gave recognition to his input by highlighting Guardian Life’s article via their platform. Play Chess Bet Games and Win Big! The interview tells a deeper story of his good works.
Besides this, the project’s GoFundMe page has now raised over $81,000.
Speaking about how he was able to gain the trust of the children, Onakoya who says he was inspired by the film, Queen of Katwe, told Guardian Life, “I’ve realised that there is something about human interaction that works like magic. When you treat someone with respect, by default, they’d respect you, too. So we (Chess in Slums) didn’t go there to be condescending, we went there as friends conversing with them.”
