2021 has been the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic but it has featured some amazing stories that grabbed the world’s attention.
The year has witnessed tons of viral videos and social media posts featuring children who were not just showing the world how cute they were but their incredible talents.
Through various acts of singing, dancing, writing, or being philanthropic, these children were the biggest and most active on the internet. Whether deliberately or not, their actions provided some sort of encouragement and relief and it was almost impossible not to love them.
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Face2face Africa covered a wide range of such stories, but the following reached a massive audience:
Isaiah Gyamfi
The two-year-old is making a name for himself as an academic genius who has taken a keen interest in reading, writing, and counting in different languages. Besides that, the child prodigy can also impressively solve math problems.
The languages little Gyamfi can already read, write, and count in, include English, Spanish and French. The genius also recently learned how to count up to 40 in Japanese. And he achieved that feat in less than 24 hours.
Caleb Anderson
Thirteen-year-old genius Caleb Anderson recently started classes as a full-time aerospace engineering and chemistry student at Georgia Tech. The genius, who started his first day as a student of the prestigious university in August, is one of the educational institution’s youngest students in recent times.
Caleb started showing flashes of his brilliance from the time he was in diapers. Before he could even talk, he had already picked up and learned sign language. The young genius bettered that feat by learning to read the constitution of the United States at the age of two. By the time he was three, Caleb had learned how to speak Spanish, French and Mandarin besides English. He also impressively qualified for MENSA – the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world. This made him the youngest Black boy to become a member of the society during that period.
Nyla Hayes
Nyla Hayes is the creator of the Long Neckie Collection, a non-fungible token (NFT) collection worth about $3.4 million in digital currency. Hayes started drawing at the age of four and when she was nine years old, her parents got her a smartphone to make digital art.
She made drawings of people with long necks and called them Long Neckies. Her drawings feature diverse women with elongated necks inspired by her favorite dinosaur, the Brontosaurus. Hayes was introduced to NFTs by her uncle. She also watched YouTube videos to learn how to create and sell them.
Kendall Rae Johnson
The six-year-old South Fulton girl became the youngest certified farmer in the state of Georgia in October. To become a certified farmer, she received her business entity at the state and federal level under the name “aGROWKulture”, according to GMA.
Johnson started farming at a very young age. Her website says she started growing fruits and vegetables with her great-grandmother Laura “Kate” Williams, planting peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and collard greens in a small patio garden. When she was four, her parents built her a larger garden bed at their home. Johnson’s beautiful garden is already popular on social media. She hosts a kids’ garden club and her goal is to spread awareness about farming to children and others in her community.
Kingsley Rosario
The five-year-old self-taught DJ became a TikTok sensation this year after a video of him displaying his talent was shared on TikTok by his mother on February 11. In the video, his mom showed a genuine reaction of disbelief to the amazing electronic type of beats her son had produced. The video garnered nearly 9 million views by March.
The music prodigy’s beats also caught the attention of celebrities and big-time producers like TrapNation, Diplo, Billie Elish’s brother Finneas O’Connell, Steve Aoki, the Detroit Lions, and more. The Portsmouth, Virginia native’s parents are both in the music industry. They both however put their music careers on hold to start a family and deepen their relationship with God.
Gabrielle Faisal
The nine-year-old Detroit girl, who entered a White House student art competition with a drawing inspired by African-American history, emerged the ultimate winner in August after edging over 500 competitors. Titled “Enslaved African Americans Built the White House”, the talented Faisal’s symbolic painting features two huge, shackled, Black hands holding the White House with the American flag in the background.
Her choice of art came naturally as she was inspired by things she had learned about African-American history. Gabrielle’s painting was displayed at the White House visitor center through September 22.
Tanitoluwa Adewumi
The young New Yorker of Nigerian descent, who came into national and international prominence about two years ago after he was discovered as a homeless chess genius, became a United States National Chess Master this year. The prodigy was still only 10 years old and a fifth-grader. Adewumi’s new status was reported by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, one of Adewumi’s earliest media hype men. He also reiterated that the former Nigerian refugee still has a roof over his head as well.
According to the website of the body that oversees chess competitions in the U.S., the United States Chess Federation, the national master title is given “to any player who reaches a rating of 2200. Less than one percent of rated players hold the title. An Original Life Master is a National Master who has played 300 games with a rating [of] over 2200” points accrued from games.
