Life in the Slums: Amazing Documentary Trip to Gberefun Village, Badagry, Lagos State

What will be the joy in this life if we do not seek out people in obscure locations to check out how they live and how we can impact them positively.

I continued my lifelens trip with my journey to Badagry, Lagos State.

We all know Badagry as that location (based on history) where the slave trade happened. You can read details of tourism in Badagry by Social Prefect here.

The Lifelens documentary is not really about telling stories about the history of Badagry town, but forging out a narrative of the people living on the other side of the River, the Island of Gberefu.

Badagry roundabout

In a Village that houses fishermen and other artisans, Gberefun is indeed a haven when it comes to fishing, and this is evident by the domination of the community by fisherman.

As expected we paid a visit to the Palace of the Oba Akran of Gbadagry where we learned about the history of Badagry. Founded around 1425 AD, people lived along the coast of Gberefun, (where we went to). Gberefu Village is an island few minutes away from Badagry, 2 hours from Lagos and 30 minutes from Benin Republic.

Oba Akran’s Palace – Badagry

Badagry Town market

The name of the town was informed to have evolved from Agbedegreme (which means Agbedeh’s farm in “Ogu” lan­guage) to Agbedagari and from Agbedagari to Badagry by Yoruba settlers and European slave traders respectively.

Badagry is lorded over by the Wheno Aholuship, a kingship head by the Oba Akran of Badagry and has about 7 white cap high chiefs, that takes care of the quarter which the Badagry town is divided into. These quarters are Aho­vikoh, Boekoh, Jegba, Posukoh, Awhanjigo, Asago, Whalako and Ganho.

Entry into the Gberefun Village from Badagry town.

The sea port is the first port of call after leaving the Badagry town. Boats are already on ground to move transporters from the Mainland to the Island, here you get to stay on the boat for about 8 minutes before reaching the other side of the River – the Island.

On getting to the island, there are motor bikes on ground to take you 20 minutes into Gberefun village. ( How the motorbikes got to the other side of the river, I do not know).

The video below has captured all the narrative that I needed to write, and the pictures will do justice to the rest.

All the pictures that tells the story

Pictures of the Gberefun Village – Entry into the Community.

More pictures

A fisher-woman at work!

We are young but our future is bright!

Watchu looking at?

The only source of pipe-borne water in the Gberefu Community  – Spoilt with no hope of repair anytime soon

Recreation – Betting/ Baba Ijebu

Landscape pictures – There is beauty in Nature

Can you see the live Crabs stepping out of the ocean?

The little support we had from Sapient Vendors, WilsonsJuiceCo, BellAfricana & 100+ effects.

These were the observations from the visit and interviews:

1. One of the persons interviewed mentioned the fact that the village needs electricity
2. They need more speed boats to transport the school children from the village to Badagry town
3. Gberefun village does not have a pipe borne water, the community fetches from a central well (isn’t this pathetic, really?)
4. They need corporate organizations to come to their aid to assist them with infrastructures no matter how little, since these corporate organizations send their representatives to make purchases from the Gberefun town.

All in All, well meaning Nigerians can also lend a helping hand to these people, a little assistance here and there would definitely go a long way to impart their lives positively.

Thanks for reading. Do let me hear from you by dropping your comments below! Can something be done to better the lots of people living here?

Lifelens is a category on Deedeesblog dedicated for slums and under-developed areas in Nigeria (and Africa) with a bid to triggering assistance for the SlumDwellers.