Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, economic and financial center, is also the main financial center of Africa, the city is economically prosperous, populous and well-known in Africa.
But in the midst of this bustling atmosphere, there is a large area of simple and desolate areas.
Densely packed with dilapidated shacks are crammed into a sewage river, where countless malnourished and starving displaced people struggle to survive, in contrast to the "metropolis" lagos.
It was a water town, crisscrossed by rivers, but the water was thick and turbid gray-black, emitting an unbearable stench.
On the water are tall shacks, one next to the other, some of which have been broken, and some of which are simply made of wood to make a frame and surrounded it with plastic sheets, even if it is a shed.
Communal toilets are also built on the water and shared by about 15 families, and sewage, kitchen debris and various garbage eventually collect into the water under the shacks.
Countless garbage floated on the surface of the water, and children swam around in such water, holding their breath and diving into the water.
The "bridges" used to connect the places are made of wood, or more precisely, they are pieced together with some old wooden planks, and they walk up and tremble and look very dangerous.
In addition to the shacks that float on the water the most, there are also people's daily transportation - canoes, without which it is almost impossible to walk.
However, many people here can't afford to buy a canoe, so the children of such families can't even go to school.
Children who play on both sides of the waterway are basically skinny and bone-covered, and only their stomachs are swollen.
There is no reliable clean drinking water, almost no electricity, no garbage disposal, no sanitation, only rats, poverty, malaria, respiratory diseases, malnutrition...
It is the water village of Marcoco, known as the "Venice of Africa", and the world's largest water slum.
Marco is located on the edge of Lagos, which belongs to the coastal zone, and from the location point of view, it is facing the sea and backed by the metropolis, which should be a bustling atmosphere.
But the truth is that Marcoco has become a "garbage transfer station" that Lagos is ashamed to admit, and the dilapidated shantytowns next to each other are scattered under the largest cities in West Africa, the most crowded bridges, and countless slums are clearly visible here, like a patch sewn with rags on Lagos's gorgeous robe.
Not only is the water full of garbage, but the dense population is also "garbage" expelled by decent big cities.
Marco is an embarrassment to the Lagos government because it is so poor and dirty, making Lagos, a "well-known big city in Africa", look disgraced, but it is the remarkable financial center of Lagos that has created the water slum today.
Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa and the most populous country in Africa, and as the largest city in Nigeria, Lagos has perfectly inherited the characteristics of this country.
Not only is the economic growth momentum rapid, but the urban development is also quite rapid, rapidly expanding from the original port city to the surrounding areas, but its expansion rate is far from catching up with the speed of population growth.
Too many migrant workers flocked to the metropolis for opportunities, causing Lagos to rapidly overload its population density. Coupled with the high cost of living in the city and the lack of land resources, these low-level people are naturally excluded from the water slums.
As early as 2006, two-thirds of Lagos' residents were crammed into shacks on the river and lived in slums.
Marco was originally a fishing village, the inhabitants of the fishing for a living, built a series of tall towers on the water, with the rise of the Lagos economy, more and more people poured in, and the number of tall buildings was also more and more, almost more than the fish in the water.
With this population explosion, social problems such as rampant crime and traffic congestion have also followed.
On July 16, 2012, the Lagos state government announced plans to demolish the slum stilts and issued a 72-hour eviction notice to residents there.
In a letter to the community, lagos authorities said the stilts of the fishing community posed a security risk and also undermined the status of the city's megacity.
The forced eviction sparked fierce opposition, but four days after the notice was issued, the government went out with police and soldiers, when a group of men armed with machetes reportedly began laying siege to Marco's building.
Five days later, the attack escalated, demolition workers began setting fire to the target buildings and deploying armed police to shoot indiscriminately.
A resident died under the gun.
The real bloodshed and death temporarily halted this bottomless expulsion of the people at the bottom.
But by then there were already 30,000 people homeless.
Government forced evictions have happened more than once, with experts writing in a related article, "The government can simply evict people from their homes without discussion or recognition of decades of residency... Unfortunately, this seems to be normal in Lagos. ”
So for the people in the slums, they still worry that they may be driven away at any time, and this shadow always haunts them.
This is clearly not the only problem they have encountered.
Marco resident Sunday Merunu shares a two-room cottage with 3 other adults and 8 children.
The family used buckets to buy water to drink, cook and bathe.
Like the rest of Marco's residents, all of the family's wastewater and untreated sewage went straight into the pitch-black water beneath their home.
Drinking water is bought here, electricity is almost non-existent, and most nights, the home is illuminated with kerosene lamps.
Poverty is as obvious as black water, and in Marcoco people have to maintain multiple incomes to survive, fishing, selling fish, digging sand to construction sites, canoe riders, building canoes, sewing fishing nets...
In a report two years ago, Owolabi James, 25, was a canoe rider who had been transporting residents and tourists in these waterways for nearly 20 years, meaning he had been doing it since he was 5 or 6 years old.
"I started doing this work when I was a kid, and now I have my own canoe for work."
A canoe rider drops off guests
Sarah Tinsheme, 24, who sells fish and a side hustle as a tailor, also helps her mother sell perishable foods such as bottled water, dried pasta and seasoning pieces.
These people basically rely on daily income to survive, their hands are shut, and the outbreak of the epidemic can be said to be a fatal blow to them.
Originally, Marco's crowded and dirty environment is very prone to breeding germs, and people here face great health challenges, such as malaria, respiratory diseases, malnutrition, etc.
Female childbirth is also a major challenge, as there is no corresponding antenatal care and maternal mortality is high.
In the aftermath of the outbreak, the Marcos had a harder time living, after all, in this environment, health and social distancing are almost useless.
The threat of disease from the pandemic is not too scary for them, and most importantly, the pandemic has made their already difficult livelihoods even more difficult to sustain.
Canoe rider Owolabi said, "I used to work five or six times a day, but since the new crown came, everyone has been told to stay at home, and now I only run about three times a day. ”
Marcoco's fish market is one of the largest in Lagos and must be an important place for Marcoco residents to survive.
It's where families buy food, where residents earn a living, and where most social events take place.
However, due to the epidemic, the market was closed, and people's lives around the fish market came to an abrupt end.
Even bystanders who watch all this will feel that the days here are too hard, but for the people here, even if it is more difficult than before, this is still their home.
Just because they live on a dark, stinking patch of sewage doesn't mean their lives will rot like that water.
Sarah, a fish girl, said, "I love our life here. We often have parties in Marcoco. ”
Canoe rider brother Owolabi said that although he was poor, he did not want to live anywhere else.
"I loved staying on the water. When I don't want to work and want to relax, I call my friends so we can hang out, relax and enjoy each other's company, I don't have any plans to leave because I love it here, the cool breeze and fresh air will calm my mind. ”
A scene of Marco's party
In a video of a YouTube blogger visiting Marco, a local guy who takes him around also shows this ability to "make fun in pain".
He would show the camera what he ate, because he was afraid of being eaten by rats, so he had to hang on the roof;
He will "show off" the inviolable physique that he has exercised from here, even if he falls into the dirty water, he will go home and rinse it again;
His financial conditions are "superior" here, there is a TV, he will let his relatives, friends, neighbors come to the house, everyone watch TV together...
Some netizens were deeply moved by him,
"It's so inspiring that Nigerians can still smile and be content in the face of difficulties."
"I was pleasantly surprised that despite the extreme poverty and harsh conditions in which these people live, their morality and sense of community are astoundingly high. In contrast, what I experienced in developed countries was 'everyone is for themselves'. ”
"He lives in the worst slum in the world, but he behaves like a prince."
It is indeed admirable to be able to maintain happiness and friendship in the slums, but more people may feel sadness, sad that people have to live in such extreme poverty, and that children have to grow up in black water.
Now that Marcoco's stability is in jeopardy, the government and private developers are trying to evict its residents and turn it into a luxury estate for the wealthy.
Last month, the government issued a plan to demolish Marcoco through real estate developers, which was boycotted by residents, but as long as the reality of the serious division between rich and poor in this city does not change, the government always regards Marco as a thorn in the eye, such a demolition notice will not be the last...