A government-led eviction last week that saw men in speedboats destroy homes with machetes there left about 3,000 people homeless and raised new fears among activists that authorities may try to wipe it out the area entirely. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) Featured Image
[dropcap]Lagos[/dropcap], Nigeria – Emita Dida, a widowed mother of six, has been living in “Monkey Village” for more than a decade.
She is one of thousands of Nigerians to be calling this informal settlement in Lagos’ Ikeja neighbourhood home, sheltering in small shacks jammed together and constructed of rusted zinc. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″]
“Life is difficult,” says Dida, who runs a street-food stall.
After the death of her husband, Dida has been been finding hard to sustain her children on a meagre income. Unable to pay for their school fees, she relies on support from aid organisations to cover the cost of education.
“The little money I make is never enough,” she says. “I have to feed my family from the food I sell, I can’t afford to buy them other food.”