Content creator Jarvis has opened up about a childhood marked by hunger, an absent father and her mother’s bipolar disorder, describing how TikTok livestreams first put food and school fees within reach.
The streamer, whose real name is Amadou Elizabeth Aminata, spoke during a meeting with Spark Nation founder Pastor Tobi Adegboyega.
“My grandpa was sick and I came into a family where my mother has bipolar disorder. Growing up with her has been very stressful and depressing because sometimes the disorder is crazy. Today she is nice and good and next minute she is violent, insulting us,” she said.
She said she has never known a stable father figure.
“I didn’t grow up with my father because my mother travelled out of the country and came back pregnant and gave birth to me. Growing up without a dad has not been good because my mum is not mentally okay.”
Her grandparents stepped in.
“I grew up with my grandma and grandpa. They did their best to raise me up and they are very learned and strict. All their strictness made me who I am today.”
Money was scarce. School fees dried up and meals were not guaranteed.
“When everything was going down and there was no school fees, I didn’t want to drop out from school or go through the wrong way to make money.”
She and her sister found another way after a stranger messaged her on TikTok.
“Someone messaged me on TikTok and told me if I know that by just going live on the app I can make money. So I started with my sister and we made $5 at first and we were very happy because it was crazy.”
The hunger, she said, was the part that still hurts to remember.
“I and my sister used to watch cooking food videos on TikTok just to salivate and at the end of the day we cry and sleep because there is hunger.”
She recounted how they would cry, pray and ask God for help after those videos. Their first live pulled about 200 viewers. The family disapproved of social media, but the sisters kept going because they needed school fees and a way to eat.
Jarvis has spoken before about her mother’s illness and about searching for her Senegalese father without success. This latest testimony puts the TikTok fame that later brought her into Peller’s orbit in a different light. She said she wanted to look after her sister and build a living that did not depend on the streets.
“I wanted to take care of my sister. I wanted to be able to provide a living.”