Ripples of Resilience

In the heart of Makoko, where the lagoon whispers secrets of generations past, two women glide across the mirrored water in a slender canoe, their silhouettes etched against a backdrop of stilted wooden homes. One rows with quiet precision, her wide-brimmed hat shielding her from the sun, while the other watches the passing dwellings—each house a relic of endurance suspended above the water.

Children’s laughter echoes faintly from a shaded veranda; an old man, crouched beside his fishing net, pauses to wave. The canoe stirs the reflective water, breaking its calm surface into undulating ripples that dance with charcoal shadows. The sky, heavy with grey mist, hovers low, as though holding its breath. In this quiet ballet of survival and grace, the scene becomes an ode to communal strength—a testimony to a people who have made a life not around water, but on it.