Popular Ghanaian YouTube personality and influencer, Berthold Kobby Winkler Ackon better known as ‘Wode Maya’ has clarified the idea behind his Chinese name.
According to Wode Maya, his initial funny videos on YouTube angered his father, who believed he was going astray from his educational activities. He alluded that the relationship between himself and his father became bizarre for some time.
In an exclusive interview with PM on Y97.9 FM’s ‘The Drye’ radio show, he early disclosed that he thought it wise to take advantage of the stable distribution of internet service during his days in China. For him, his curiosity and adventurous nature influenced him to create such content on YouTube.
He mentioned that his hilarious videos of “wooing Chinese women” later caught his father’s attention. He (his father) reiterated the purpose of his presence in China, “to become an aeronautical engineer.”
Wode Maya said, “I had 24/7 internet in China so I asked myself what can I do. I started doing research on what I could do apart from my major, then YouTube came in. Then I asked what I wanted to do on YouTube. I love having fun and I’m a very curious guy so I decided to share my experience on campus with people. It all started as a joke, chasing Chinese women all the time. My father actually chanced upon one of my videos and he got extremely mad at me. He literally told me I was in school mainly to learn and not to carry camels around and other stuff that I did. So I decided to stop creating YouTube videos because my dad didn’t speak to me for two weeks.”
However, he indicated that he persuaded and resolved issues with his angered father as his mother was very instrumental in the process. For that, he rebranded from the “Ghana Baby” to “Wode Maya”, an appreciation to his mother for her worthy effort.
“Later on I managed to convince my Dad but then I couldn’t do that without my mom. My mom did all the convincing and my dad accepted. So I changed the name from ‘Ghana baby’ to ‘Wode Maya’. It’s a Chinese phrase that means my mom. Just thanking my mom for convincing my dad that YouTube is the way forward.
Highlighting his groundbreaking revolution he recounted, “My first video was about wooing a Chinese woman since it was Valentine’s Day. So when my Dad actual accepted what I did, he advised me to use my Chinese to educate Chinese people about Africa. That was my breakthrough.”
Wode Maya has since travelled across most African countries, promoting the African story and displaying the beauty of the continent.
