Makoko Stilt Village

Alright, so I’ve now learned that I have to stop saying that anything was, or is going to be, the coolest thing I do in Africa because one thing after another just continue to blow my mind. This morning I had the chance to go the Makoko stilt village in Lagos. This entire village is literally built on stilts over the water. Makoko is home to roughly 100,000 people who all live in this self-sustaining community on the water. 100,000 people! That’s no village, it’s pretty much a city in itself. I first saw this village when driving into Lagos for the first time from the airport. As you drive over an 11 mile bridge, for about a 1-2 mile stretch you can look out and see this community on the water. I remember this being the most unique thing I saw on that initial drive in, which was a straight two hours of culture shock. Since first arriving I have heard a great deal about this village and repeatedly been told it's one thing I have to see while here. I had signed up for the NFS (Nigerian Field Society) trip last month before it was canceled at the last minute, but fortunately was able to make the list again this month. Only about 15 people get to attend each time.

We left for the village from a local marina in Victoria Island on these two single prop boats which are manually steered from the rear. Here is a picture of one of the boats to give you an idea.

Once we arrived, we were greeted by a man named Noah, who is the youngest brother of 22 siblings, the oldest of which is the village chief. Being a member of the chief’s family, Noah explained how he has a very important role in the community and how pretty much everyone (all 100,000) recognizes a member of his family. As I mentioned, Noah is the youngest, but also the luckiest in his family because he is the only one who received a formal education. Education is so rare in Makoko that generally only one or two children are chosen from each family to go to school. They do this to try and spread out the range of educated children. Noah told us that when they first tried to send him to school he refused so much that his mother and brothers had to beat him to force him to go. Now, looking back, he said he is eternally grateful for those beatings because his education completely changed his life. He is now in charge of the schooling system in Makoko and oversees the roughly 220 kids that are schooled each year. They actually just built a new “floating school” last year in large part due to a major donation from the NFS. This is why they continue to open their village to the NFS members and repeatedly welcome the visitors as special guests. Each trip to the village the NFS continues to make additional donations as well. It’s a pretty neat thing to contribute to and to see how truly grateful they are for the donations. Here is a picture of Noah greeting us for the first time in an upper room and explaining the history of Makoko and answering our questions. He even had some Coke and 7up waiting for us.

Once we departed the initial welcome, we hopped into some of the canoes the local villagers use for transportation. The water ranges from about 3 -10 feet deep most places throughout the village, so the boats are actually propelled and steered with these long sticks you can see below. They use them to push off the bottom and dig into the mud when stopping.  

Noah stayed with us the whole morning and took us through the village, showing us how it functions. He pointed out that 99% of the community are fisherman and make their living this way. He showed us a couple of the clinics and maternity wards, pointing out that there is really only one doctor for the whole community, but many midwives and trained helpers. He explained that most women have at least 6 or 7 kids, with up to 20 being completely normal, so, as you can imagine, that equals a lot of childbirths. The doctor actually came out and spoke with us for a bit, addressing some of the main concerns for healthcare in the village, which is clearly very scarce. Here is a picture of him speaking to us, with Noah translating, and also one of some fisherman throwing out their nets.

We weaved in and out of the canals for about a solid two hours seeing all different parts of the crowded village. At one point, out of nowhere it started pouring down rain pretty hard so our two hosts quickly pulled into a dock and we took shelter in a random person’s home. As soon as some people nearby saw the rain start coming down they waved us over and were happy to have us all cram under their shelter for a while. Once it pulled back for a bit we jumped back into the boats and made it over to the floating school. When we got to the school it started pouring again and trapped us there for about half an hour. Here are a couple pictures I took from the third story of the school building during the downpour. The last one is a little creepy and looks kind of like the grim reaper. 

After thirty minutes or so were up and the rain began to let up a little bit, we decided it was time to head back as it was now past noon. It continued to drizzle throughout our 20 minute ride back to the marina leaving us all sufficiently soaked when we arrived. The rain was certainly a nuisance and we may have missed a thing or two they originally planned to show us, but it certainly didn’t ruin our trip. I’ve learned my lesson now and am hesitant to say this is my favorite thing I’ve done in Africa, but it was pretty freaking awesome. It’s impossibly difficult to put into words everything I saw there or how I felt witnessing it, so I will try and let a few more pictures below do the talking. You'll notice some of the pictures look cloudy, which is because the whole village is very smoky. Some buildings actually looked like they were on fire because there was so much smoke. This is a result of smoking and grilling all the fish they haul in to preserve them. 

To wrap this up, though, I will say that, again, my mind is blown by how different some people can live and be 100% content. Once again, the vast majority of people we encountered today were extremely friendly, happy, and welcoming. The children were all ecstatic and couldn’t believe their eyes seeing all these white people floating through their town. It was so cool to just give them high fives, take their pictures, and see their faces light up when seeing themselves on camera possibly for the first time. There’s no doubt the living conditions here are poor; there is trash and sewage everywhere, no running water, most buildings look to be in shambles, and of course no air-conditioning or heating, and yet they continue on like the rest of us. They all seem to possess such optimism and it truly blows my mind. They make their livings fishing and trading and literally some live their entire lives in this village on the water and rarely make their way out. This was the second time in two weeks I’ve gotten to witness a way of life completely and utterly different from my own. Idanre opened my eyes, but Makoko truly astounded me. It’s difficult to put into words, but I just wish everyone could have the opportunity to see this place.