18 February 2009

It's A Hard Knock Life

Eleko Beach is a popular weekend getaway for many expats. Lined with stilted beach huts and palm trees curved by the wind, it offers a perfect break from the chaos of the city. But Eleko beach is not just a place of liesure for foreigners; it is also a place of work...hard work.

Abutting the beach huts is a bustling fishing village. Large wooden ships painted brightly with Bible verses (John 20:29) or short adages (Still Africa) line the beach waiting for their turn at sea. Those already at sea bounce up and down violently against the Atlantic current and somehow stay afloat, all the while fisherman cast and pulling fish nets to and from the vessels.

The process of moving the daily catch to market takes whole community participation. On the boats are up to 20 men helping to pull in heavy nets filled with local fish varieties. Once claimed, others from shore paddle toward the boat in canoes using oars with large serrates to propel themselves off the ocean bottom and over the breaking waves at shore. If they make it over the shoreline breaks without capsizing, they continue over the rough waters and dock tandem to the ship to collect the catch and return it to land. Others not aboard the "collection canoe" swim out with large plastic buckets or abandoned coolers to fill at boat side with fish, then carry the current back to land with their catch.

Once the catch of the day is exhausted, the ship must return to shore. Ropes are thrown toward land where men line up in file to Heave an Ho the boat in, manually and in sync. Market women barter seaside for the best quality for price then transport the fish by minibus, okada, or other means to the various markets of Lagos and beyond.

This exhausting process is not atypical in Lagos. Work is hard, it takes time, and often it takes the whole community to make it happen.

3 comments:

  1. Sarah, what great pictures, especially the one on bottom. Indeed, we live like kings (referring to your blog on the wife of the emir) while most of the people in the world work very hard for their daily bread; are we happier? With love, Grandma

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks and that's a good question...are we really HAPPIER? I'm inclined to say, generally, no.

    ReplyDelete