Vicky Wireko; Sodom and Gomorrah on my mind
The first time I ever set foot in the heart of the Old Fadama settlement, a suburb of Accra commonly known as Sodom and Gomorrah, was in August 2009. At the time, the place was in turmoil.
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There had been clashes between two factions in the Konkomba Market which turned bloody resulting in the death of four people. I visited on a fact-finding mission, the sprawling slum of Agbobloshie which at the time was said to have been home to nearly 40,000 “squatters”.
Previous visit
My experience during a two-hour walk-about was made possible by two intelligent young men I had met, Ibrahim and Yaro, and who willingly agreed to walk me through the settlement and show me around. The conversation I had with the two inspired me then to write on the topic: “Cry my beloved Konkomba Market”.
My fact-finding walk-about with my two escorts confirmed to me that even in a slum, there is modernisation. The settlement had a nursery, kindergarten and primary schools, a number of mosques, an Apostolic church, a Church of Pentecost, an Evangelical Presbyterian Church and a clinic of some sort. I indeed lost count of the number of provision stores.
Also visible were tailoring shops, dressmakers’ shops, hair dressing salons, motorbike fitting shops, and blacksmiths shops. The smoking of cow feet was notably a big business there with customers lined up. My two escorts spoke passionately about the place they called home for the last eight and five years respectively.
Follow-up visit
Three months later, in February 2010, I made a follow-up visit to Sodom and Gomorrah. My visit was to find out how the people had settled their differences. Close to the entrance that I used this time was a school. As I walked inside, the lady who welcomed me in a make-shift wooden structure was to be Madam Paulina, the Proprietress and head teacher of the kindergarten and primary school. She took me up the narrow wooden staircase and proudly showed me round the classrooms and the school kitchen where hot meals were prepared for the children each day.
In an article after that second visit, I devoted it to Madam Paulina for her fortitude in establishing a school which she had named Queensland School because she was raising future queens and kings, she told me. The article was entitled, “Queensland in the heart of Agbobloshie”. The school, which had 110 children of yam and onion sellers, head porters commonly called Kayayei and truck-pushers was Madam Paulina’s contribution to educating children who otherwise would have been roaming about the settlement.
Visit last Saturday
Since Sodom and Gomorrah was razed nearly a fortnight ago by officials of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to give way for the commencement of the dredging of the Korle Lagoon in Accra, the place has been on my mind. I have been thinking about the three friends I made there between September 2009 and February 2010 – Madam Paulina, Ibrahim and Yaro.
With the fate of the 110 schoolchildren I met at Queensland School on my mind as well, I visited the site of Sodom and Gomorrah last Saturday afternoon for a first-hand account of what has become of the slum I last visited five years ago.
Sodom and Gomorrah was indeed down to ground zero. I certainly did not see Queensland School, or the stores that had littered the place. I, however, saw a mosque and a few structures still standing and some bulldozers busy working while some dump trucks were carting the debris away.
As I stood there and watched scrap dealers going through the rubble, my thoughts went to my three friends who had lost the place they called their home for ever. Did Madam Paulina ever have time to salvage anything from her school? The passion that she had as a teacher from the north, to impart knowledge and train future queens and kings all came to an abrupt end with the stroke of a bulldozer.
The chapter on Sodom and Gomorrah has finally been closed. It certainly would be nostalgic for those who had made it their home for years. But yes, everything that has a beginning has an end, especially when we are told that it was an illegal settlement.
What we wait to see is that the vast area that has now been reclaimed would be quickly put to better use and once again, the Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project would commence and give a transformed face to Accra. We look forward to our first water front experience.
vickywirekoandoh@yahoo.com