A Surprising Story of Makoko

It's time to tell a few stories about the slums. Might sound a bit surprising, but the most joyful experiences I have had in Nigeria so far are the visits to a desperately poor fishing community called Makoko. But surprising is also the place itself.

Despite of being one of the most famous slums in Lagos and in whole Africa, Makoko is surprisingly small - about one kilometer wide, at most. But what it lacks in size, it compensates in everything else. It is immensely crowded and densely populated, with an estimated population between 100 000 and 200 000. Nobody really knows the number. But what makes Makoko extraordinary as a slum, is that it is mostly built on water. It's a maze of bridges, canals, huts, narrow alleys, shelters and small wooden houses supported above the water by logs. A myriad of sights and smells fill the senses. Women roasting freshly caught fish on their cooking fires, smoke hovering on the alleyways, chicken and goats digging piles of trash to find food, people skillfully carrying heavy water pots over their heads, mud splashing under the feet, canoes sliding between the huts.

But above all, the most striking, shocking and joyful thing about Makoko is the children. The sheer amount of them is just unbelievable - they are everywhere! It has been estimated that 60% of the population of the community are small children. One of the families that our organization helps has 15, and that is not uncommon at all. But what a merry sight they are! Despite of the extreme poverty, nowhere ever have I seen such an amount of joy, smile and laughter. The experience is just uplifting. Everywhere I walk, a cascade of children meets me with smiles and shouting: Oyibo, oyibo, oyibo! Despite the initial shyness, they are always welcoming, eventually surrounding, touching and hugging me. Some of them even put up a wild dance of joy - something between the best moves of the late MJ and an African tribal dance.

Visiting a slum like Makoko is an eye-opening experience in several ways. There is the poverty and material shortage, of course. But otherwise, you won't experience too many of the negative things that the stereotypes would suggest. The safety, for example, is not bad. In fact, the vibe of the whole place is the exact opposite - welcoming and generous. To my understanding, the government and the official police forces have quite a negligible presence in Makoko - it's the Area Boys (local street gangs) that keep the order in the slums. And they are doing it well, it seems. Despite of the hustle and bustle of the slum, the experience is always somehow peaceful. The people live there in a beautiful communality, helping each other to survive. Numerous ethnicities and religions live mixed up, side by side. Makoko is a place full-packed with the whole spectrum of life and human emotions from extreme pain to extreme joy - something you won't see in the rich world.