Makoko Pearls

MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN MAKOKO 

I'm raising money to help the many children like Yemoja living in Makoko, Lagos — Africa's largest floating informal settlement.

One evening in October 2020, like many others that blurred together at the start of the pandemic, I was nursing my wounds having had a rejection from a publisher earlier in the day who had been considering another novel I’d written. As I prepared to eat my feelings, I queued up a video to watch on YouTube over dinner — I’d taken to watching any food programme that came up — and this one turned out to be an episode of the Best Ever Food Review Show taking place in Makoko. For those 21 minutes, I was captivated as I watched Sonny Side navigate a part of my country that I'd shamefully overlooked, discovering dishes and people.

While watching the programme, a character appeared in my mind. I pictured a young woman piloting one of the canoes I could see on the screen. I saw her face so clearly, felt the power in her sinewy arms, and heard the sound of her laughter. I even knew her name, but what I didn't know then was her story. So, when my partner challenged me to find out, I took the bait and disappeared down the rabbit hole.

Months later and novel completed; I just knew it was special. It helped me secure a new agent, and a new book deal after many years in the literary wilderness.

When I told my father about my latest project, he reminded me of the painting hanging in the dining room and sent a photo of it. A wooden hut in Makoko. It struck me at that very moment that perhaps this story had been years in the making despite my journey with Yemoja at that stage feeling relatively new. I hadn’t visited the settlement, but at my earliest opportunity after Covid restrictions were lifted, I planned my visit to Makoko to ensure that I had portrayed elements within the community accurately and respectfully. My guide had arranged some sights on the water as well as a visit with a local primary school.

Despite my months of research, nothing prepared me for the kaleidoscope of emotions I felt the moment I lifted my foot to step into that canoe. As we skimmed across the black water, scenes from my book played alongside the reality we were witnessing as we sailed by. I was struck by how life endured despite the enormity of waste surrounding us, the logistical complications of the lagoon itself, and the lack of basic social amenities such as electricity, schools, and healthcare clinics.

Armed with a bagful of carefully sourced books for the school, my heart plummeted on arrival as I took in the sea of children. Too many to count. All in need of supplies and an education in too small of a confine. They welcomed me so warmly and I was stunned by their eagerness to learn, irrespective of the lack of resources at their disposal. I wondered what these children would be able to do — and to achieve — if they had access to more. (Statistics about the settlement and its communities are often inaccurate since the area appears as a near-blank space on maps, but it’s widely estimated that 25% of people under 30 are stark illiterate.)

As we pressed on, I told myself that I'd done something; that I'd helped a little via my gift of new books, but it was barely a drop in the bucket.

But the thing about buckets is — and anyone having experienced a bucket bath in Nigeria with its poor water supply knows this — drop by drop, the bucket eventually fills up. As our tour continued, my mind was busy hatching a plan for how to connect those drops. I knew I had to find a way to try and give the community a fuller bucket!

Some of the universal themes of my novel, WATER BABY,  are societal obligation and personal responsibility. Yemoja — though everyone calls her Baby — is the girl I envisaged while watching the food programme on YouTube. We meet her at a pivotal point in her life where opportunity has come knocking, and we see what she does with that chance and that privilege. It hasn’t gone unnoticed by me how much my life is imitating my art as I seek to do something with this moment, to raise awareness about this incredible community, as well as much-needed funds for Makoko by setting up Makoko Pearls to help benefit the lives of its inhabitants.

The average cost to sponsor a child through school per session (1 year or 3 terms) is N200,000 (Two hundred thousand Naira); just over £100. To build a new canoe costs approximately the same amount.

It would be simpler if it were just one child. One image I could point to, one story I could tell rather than hundreds of nameless, faceless children, but that wouldn't be the truth of the matter. There are many little ones in need.

GIVE whatever you can. Please don't think that any amount is too small (tax-deductible). As I said before, drop by drop, the bucket fills up!

SHARE on your socials (Instagram/Facebook/X)

EMAIL this page - crowdfunder.co.uk/makoko-pearls to your family + friends.

Thank you again for being willing to touch many lives, and to make a difference.

WHERE YOUR MONEY IS GOING 

Your donations will go towards charitable projects and beneficiaries within the community, identified with the help of local partner organisations and community leaders. We’ll work closely with some incredible people already dedicating their time and energy to improving the lives of those within Makoko, including by constructing new boats to act as school river taxis, providing educational scholarships for students, addressing hygiene poverty within the community, and trying to improve living conditions. 

Amazing organisations like Chess in Slums Africa, whose initiatives like chess training and life skills, STEM_Education/ Robotics, digital skills and empowerment tools give children the fighting start they need.