Floating School in Lagos Lagoon Brings Hope to Nigeria's Slum-on-Stilts
Makoko, a vast slum of houses on stilts in a Lagos lagoon, now boasts a new school - pyramid-shaped, floating and capable of withstanding the waterways' extreme weather, it is a beacon of hope for the nearly 100,000 Nigerians who live there.
With room for 100 pupils, the school - built with locally sourced wood and floating on hundreds of recycled plastic barrels - throws a spotlight on the poverty that pervades the commercial hub of Africa's most populous nation.
Aid-funded Makoko Floating School offers free education to local children, most of whose parents fish for a living and who, like most of the megacity's 21 million residents, lack a reliable electricity and water supply.
Rainer Wozny
