Steeming our way into the heart of the largest floating slum in the world

I was born and bred in the city of Lagos, Nigeria. I have visited most places in the city of Lagos but the memory of my visit to Makoko, home to the largest floating slum in the world, is one that will live forever in my head.

The visit was in the company of other wonderful Steemians @oluwoleolaide, @peman and @sweetestglo-eu. Our visit to the biggest floating slum was aimed at touching the lives of some school children who risk their precious lives paddling their way to and fro in a bid to get education. Prior to visiting the slum, I have had a fair knowledge of the slum through a few articles and a distance view while driving through the the longest and the most busiest Bridge in West Africa known as the Third Mainland Bridge. The slum seats on the Lagoon and it is right beneath the Bridge and for everyone who go through the bridge, stealing a gaze at the slum from a distance is very likely.

While a huge percentage of the city dwellers, who tends to make their way through the bridge, are likely to catch a glimpse of the slum from the vehicle they are in, only a few is aware of the hard fact about Makoko and its inhabitants. Hard facts that I was privileged to get first hand during my visit with the @steem-lagos crew on the 9th of May 2018.

The floating slum in Makoko, which is home to over 300, 000 inhabitants, was originally founded by immigrants from the Egun ethnic group as a fishing village in the late 19th century but as the population of the community swelled, it ran out of land and this led to its inhabitant moving unto the water for settlement. As the community grew larger and earning a record of being the largest floating slum in the world, the danger of its inhabitants being evicted by the Lagos state government looms. For a state with a vision to become one of the most sought after cities in the world, the Lagos state government considers the floating slum a huge embarrassment and will stop at nothing until its dwellers are finally evicted.

Getting a first hand information and sight seeing of the slum was an experience that I cannot forget in a hurry. I have been to places that I once thought its inhabitants are enveloped in poverty but seeing these people live on the floating slum in Makoko triggered a deep rethink.

I still couldn’t wrap my head around how this people survive in such environment that emits the the most awful stench ever perceived. Right before our eyes, we saw live action as someone, who remained anonymous to us, was defecating and we watched in amazement as this person’s “POO” dives straight into the murky waters. The excrete being released by this anonymous person kept floating around disgustingly in the water as we sailed passed in utmost shock. We encountered similar sight of another anonymous person answering the call of mother nature as we made our way pass another wooden toilet floating on the water.
Without an iota of doubt, the water is home to all sort of junk and most likely the dumpsite for this floating community. One can find almost any kind of dirt floating around on the water and all of these makes the water more disgusting to our eyes but to the inhabitants of the floating slum, one can guess it is very normal as they have been used to this from time immemorial and they seem less bothered about all of these.

As we sailed pass each wooden shacks on the water, our eyes were continuously caught by the hustle and bustle of human activities such as women peddling food items, men playing local board games, men unloading woods from a boat, children playing around on the edges of the wooden shacks and some others joyfully rowing their boats with dexterity.

We were initially headed for the floating bar school but unfortunately it had collapsed sometimes in 2017 after an hurricane swept passed it. After its collapse, pupils from the floating bar school, which was owned by the local Chief’s younger brother, had to be moved to Whanyinna Nursery & Primary School, another elementary which is owned by the same man. Our trajectory changed and Whanyinna Nursery & Primary School became our host.

Whanyinna School seats confortably on a wooden building on top the murky waters and it provides basic education to over 250 pupils who journey from different part of the slum Mondays to Fridays.

A warm reception greeted us as our canoe safely reached the school and we were well received by one of the teacher and the school administrator. For obvious reasons, the pupils and occupants of nearby shacks stared in rapt attention as we made our way into the school compound in our uniformed black tshirt conspicuously crested with Steemit logo.

Finally, the moment to unveil our well packed bag containing the Lifejackets enveloped the air and the teachers helped ushered out a few pupils needed to wear some of the lifejackets as we formally hand them over to the school. The donation was highly appreciated by the Whanyinna School as they further highlighted the importance of having the pupils sail to and fro to school in safety.

That is me @sammie85 holding a pupil by the shoulder as I took a shot in the midst of the pupils

That is Captain Phil, @oluwoleolaide. Kudos to him for conceiving the idea of the visit and leading the @steem-lagos crew

The @steem-lagos crew earnestly look forward to embarking on another journey to the largest floating slum in the world and all in a bid to affect the lives of it inhabitants positively through the power of blockchain technology.