On the outskirts of the big city Lagos, many islanders live their lives based off and center their future on sand-dredging, partially because there aren’t many other opportunities for work. This involves extracting the sand from the bottom of the lagoon and transfering it into larger, wide-sided boats where it is strained of all the water. The blue boat you see below is one of the boats that strains and carries the sand to the island, which is eventually used to make concrete. These boats actually get filled so much that they often seem on the verge of sinking – the boat sinks about 3 feet into the water as it fills with sand. This can be seen in one photo below where the driver is in the back controlling the motor. Believe it or not, that boat, when not filled with sand, is just as buoyant on the water as the blue boat is. When we would pass by in our ferry, we had to go to a no-wake speed because they would get mad at us and yell across the lagoon if we went any faster, because it would make enough waves that could tip their sand-filled boats. The other boats shown below with large tubes coming out and reaching over the water are the ones that dredge the sand from the bottom and transfer it into the larger boats.
Tag: culture
Mopane what?!
One morning I came downstairs while we were living in Johannesburg, South Africa and opened the fridge to find this! I was horrified! I did actually scream and then my domestic helper from Zimbabwe began to laugh! She explained that Mopane Worms are such a yummy snack when fried, becoming crunchy and quite tasty. Unfortunately, my inclination towards chocolate and disinclincation for eating worms got the best of me and I could not try one.
