A TRIP TO THE DEPT OF LAGOS
WELCOME TO MAKOKO THE FLOATING SLUM

Makoko is a community located at the shore of the Lagos  lagoon  which of course is an extension of the Atlantic Ocean  the second  largest Ocean in the World, over looking the longest bridge in Africa the 3rd mainland bridge, with over three hundred  thousand (300,000) people living  there.
Makoko is known to be a place which home's the headquarters of two prominent world voluntary organisations which are the Red Cross and the prestigious Scout Association of Nigeria. Entering  into Makoko, it  looks all nice like every other average  communities, but little do people know how monotonous the dept of that community is. 

THE SLUM
The tail of makoko is called Ago egun which  means home of the people of egun, this area (both on the sand filled and on water) holds an estimate of 50% of the entire makoko inhabitants. Their major source of living  is fishing  and selling  smoked fish. Their houses are built with  woods and  the base goes nearly six (6) fit into the water to gain firmness,  these houses can only accommodate 8 to 10 people so as to maintain it's durable state. This is why it is called the floating  slum.  The houses on the water are more than those on the sand filled .
Surprisingly  the slum has everything  a regular  community  has,  from schools to market, saloon, hospital and bar, only that they lack better materials,  facilities and equipments, they make do with what they can afford. There are four (4) primary schools and no secondary school in ago egun, two on the land and two on the water .

THE FLOATING SCHOOL
The two schools on the water are dominated by the children who Live right on the water,  however one is famous than the other because  it has better facilities, they wear uniform and the pupils speak a bit of English, while the other school has little or no facility at all,  they  sit on the floor, they wear mufti and are being  taught in egun their local dialect. These schools are instituted to help build their children in  the little way they can, so as to march up with their peers outside their environment with  the hope they the future  holds a greener pasture. 
It wasn't shocking to see that the children which  includes teenagers at home and  on the streets are more than those in school,  for the priority of the parents are based on eliminating hunger, so therefore providing  food on the table was their primary  responsibility an example of  what a politician  called stomach infrastructure. 

The other two (2) schools on  sand filled weren't too different from the ones on water, in fact they share more similarities than differences. One of them was more chocked such that other..

Beyond all these fissures the children were happy, smiling and living  their best life,  not minding  their little, they were content with  what they have. An average child  would be happy to get on the school  bus that's  being  driven by the school driver,  but they are  happier to get on  the school canoe, pick up the paddle and row themselves. 

THE BRIDGE
The bridge is a close group of 9 scouts, who are of like minds, with the same aims and objectives of reaching out to the world by building bridges to connect people of different identities using  the sustainable development goal SDG  as a landmark. The team came up with  an idea to reach out to children, helping them in any way possible to strengthen their educational foundation. The primary  need of a pupil is a pen/pencil, we decided to source for funds within the small circle and few individuals outside. The aim was to reach out to  at least one thousand 1000 children, either schooled or not.

This course was achieved through  the consistency and commitment of the team,  Willing to build  more  bridges in other spheres. 

THE PROJECT
It was tagged  a one (1) child  one (1) pen/pencil journey, resting  under the shade of SDG goal 4 which is  Quality Education, with the aim of reaching  out to at least one thousand (1000) children, in a less resourced environment