Cameron Mofid, 22, returned home to Miami two weeks ago after backpacking in West Africa with huge aspirations and a modest fundraising goal.

He set up a GoFundMe account in the hopes that enough of his relatives and friends would contribute $1,000 toward his larger aim of raising enough money to build a school in a Lagos slum and an orphanage in Ghana.

Within a week, 170 contributors had responded, prompting Mofid to raise his aim to $5,000. Then came Sunday, when Mofid awakened, went to the GoFundMe page, and discovered a $45,000 donation from “Kyrie.”

“I actually thought it was a mistake or a scam, like spam mail,” Mofid told The Dallas Morning News on Monday. Mofid Googled around and saw that, sure enough, Mavericks star Kyrie Irving has in fact been recently donating to GoFundMe efforts that touched him in some way.

The Mavericks confirmed on Monday that Irving had made a donation to Mofid’s cause. As of Monday evening, the GoFundMe total had reached $65,000. When Mofid received word back in Nigeria, students and teachers created thank-you movies and images, as well as a homemade sign indicating the “Kyrie Irving Classroom” for the yet-to-be completed school.

“It’s really amazing,” Mofid said. “I haven’t slept much because we’ve been figuring out all of our new plans. Initially we had just raised enough money to buy backpacks and to buy the land for the new orphanage.

“His donation single-handedly will build the entire orphanage in Ghana. It will buy a water tank for the kids in Nigeria. They live in a village with little access to clean drinking water. And so we’ll be able to buy a water tank; we’ll be able to buy shoes for all the kids. And books.

“And we will build a new basketball court in [Irving’s] honor.”

Cameron Mofid (left) started a GoFundMe account in the hopes of raising $1,000 to build a school in a Lagos, Nigeria slum and an orphanage in Ghana.(Courtesy Cameron Mofid).
Mofid, a San Diego native, recently graduated from the University of Miami. He is on a mission to be one of the youngest people in history to visit every country on the planet. He has visited 119 countries so far and has 76 more to go. His recent journey to West Africa clearly sparked his sympathy and inventiveness.

And now, a prominent basketball player whom Mofid has never met has accelerated those plans. Mofid stated that he sent a thank you note to the email account from which Irving’s donation arrived, but he is unsure whether Irving will get it.

“I’d just like to figure out a way to thank him,” Mofid said. “Just so he understands what an impact he’s made.”

When the Mavericks acquired Irving from Brooklyn in a blockbuster deal on Feb. 6. During All-Star weekend in Salt Lake City, Irving explained his charitable efforts.

“The philanthropic things I’m most excited about is continuing my GoFundMe of just dropping in onto people’s pages and just helping out humanity as best I can,” he said. “The purpose here on Earth is bigger than me, so I have to selflessly pursue things that may not interest everyone else.

“I just love to be there because people were there for me. I grew up with a large family and village that helped me every step of the way, all walks of life, and whenever I had questions, they would be there to answer, and they taught me how to really selflessly serve a community.

“You do it every day. Small acts of kindness go a long way, so if you can move an inch and then continue to work towards your goal, just imagine what you look like a year from now after putting an inch in every single day.”