Barely five days ago, a GoFundMe campaign was kick-started by a concerned group of individuals to raise $50,000 for a new school in the Makoko water community in Makoko, Lagos, and this has achieved almost ten percent of its goal already. Following the collapse of the Makoko Floating School and the need for a replacement, longtime supporter of the popular water community, Jonathan Millard, collaborated with the leaders in the community, local architects, and other interested individuals and launched a GoFundMe campaign.
On June 8, much to the dismay of its host lagoon community and fans of the structure within and outside of Nigeria, the famous Makoko Floating School (MFS) succumbed to the effects of a storm and collapsed. Immediately after the incident occurred, various plans to reconstruct the floating school were announced by the architectural company responsible for erecting the fallen structure – NLE Architects. But community members, apparently unimpressed by the entire existence of the school, decided that it was time to have a different conversation about what purpose a floating school really serves.
While it stood, MFS symbolised the collective hope of many that the slummy Lagos water city could in fact be regenerated and transformed, as well as provide the community with an avenue for improving the educational needs of its children. Therefore, it was disappointing for the community to note after a while, that the floating school served a more aesthetic function than it did a socially benefitting one.
Because of this, Noah Shemede, the Director of the Whanyinna School which MFS was supposed to be annexing, publicly expressed his desire to reignite his past dreams of truly expanding his school to accommodate the physical and academic needs of the children in the “Houses of Lagoon” community. Speaking to Ventures Africa after the incidence, he stated that he still nurses plans to build a real extension right next to the Whanyinna School which would cater to around 200 children, and will see him continue to contribute his quota to the educational development of the community.
However, Jonathan reiterates that neither Noah’s plans nor the present campaign for funds to build a school for the community has anything to do with the amount of critique the MFS project has received since its collapse. Instead, the focus is on providing the hopeful water community with a sustainable plan for the children and the future of the community. They hope that individuals who desire to participate in providing poor children with basic education can be moved to make donations which could see a new, functional school built for the community in six months’ time.
For more insight, listen to the podcast below :
