A 60-year-old American missionary from Kansas in the United States of America, Jack Kyle, tells EMMANUEL OJO about his trip to the Makoko community of Lagos State and his experience so far
What inspired your visit to the Makoko community in Lagos from the United States of America?
When I was a little boy, there was a saying in the United States that you should eat every food on your plate because there are starving and hungry people in Africa. In my whole life, I heard that and people still say it today and nobody said, “Let’s do something about it.” I didn’t hear anybody say that.
How did you know about the community?
So, finally, I’m 60 years old and I bumped into Makoko on YouTube and then I met a missionary who had been here (in Makoko). He introduced me to the chief of the community and his son and they invited me. The son lives next door. We built a missionary house, so anybody in the world can come to Makoko and build water cisterns or electrical work to help the community.
Why did you choose to build a missionary house?
It’s about making something sustainable so that when other missionaries come, they can have a place to settle in and this should be done in all poor communities (in Nigeria) because there are people around the world that really want to come and help but they don’t have any place to stay. They don’t have anybody. It’s hard to come from around the world and land in a poverty-stricken area and you don’t know anybody and then you are afraid that you could get robbed and whatever, but if this poor area has a house and has something like what the chief’s son did to ensure that one is okay while working, then one can bring help to the poor community. That is just an idea.
How much did it cost to erect the structure?
The house, I think, ended up costing about $3,000 to $4,000 to get it built. That’s my estimation but maybe other money went into it that I didn’t know or I didn’t contribute.
Are you married with children?
Yes. I have five kids.
Was it easy for you to leave your family in the US?
My kids are mad at me. They wrote me a letter to tell me that they were mad at me. They wanted me to stay in my bedroom, grow old and die. They don’t visit me anyway but I don’t want to stay in my bedroom, grow old, and die. I want to come here (to Makoko) and do something.
What do you do in the US?
In the United States, I grow plants and fish and I am a science teacher. These are stuff I know how to do and then my wife knows the kind of things that I do. I grew up in Kansas (State) and that’s where there are lots of farms, lots of cattle, and generally, food production. My dad holds a PhD in agriculture, so I grew up on a farm, at the experiment station, at Kansas State University. So, I have been in agriculture my whole life, always had a job, always had food. It’s pretty easy living but when I came here, it broke my heart to see that there are many people just standing around because they can’t find a job. I think many would like to have a job.
My first degree was in Biology Education, so I’m a school teacher. I teach science. My Master’s degree was in Technology Education – how to implement technology, programming, and computer automation and my doctorate work was in social and emotional learning, in other words, how one’s emotions affect education. If you go to school angry, can you learn? What do you do with your anger? As a Christian, I believe that Christ on the cross gave us a place to unload that negative energy.
What did your wife think about your plan to travel to the community?
She didn’t want to come but she allowed me to be here. She still talks to me. We communicate through phone (calls) and Zoom. In fact, I still teach students online. My Internet is better in Makoko than it was in the USA and I teach students in New York, California, and New Jersey on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. I just sit in there (the missionary house), teach school students, and earn money in Makoko, and then, on the other days, I do what I love doing,
How old is your oldest child?
She is 31 years old and my youngest is 20. They are all grown but they didn’t want me to come here.
What are the projects you are working on in the community?
Now, the water storage system in the community is something people do everywhere but it is the first one in Makoko and the reason is that when one is poor, they don’t have time to think about how to better their life. All they think of is how to get enough food for the day, even if they still have to pay for water but know how to do anything else. So, once I built the storage system, people started thinking that they could do that. With about $80, you can have a little cistern setup. So, it’s not that this is just a smart invention, it’s just that people are just busy surviving and they can’t see another solution. So, this isn’t new.
There are about 300,000 people in the community, according to the estimate I got, who excrete straight into the water. That’s what I heard and the estimation I got, I don’t know how true that is. Lagos dumps its sewage into the rivers that are tributaries to the lagoon. There are little sewage bags that we are going to try to buy and test if it works. The sewage bag will be under the house and catch the wastes and we can convert some to cooking gas, so, they won’t have to use wood to cook every day because wastes can be changed to methane and burn.
How long have you been living in the community?
I just finished my sixth week and my flight (back to the US) is sometime around mid-November because Nigeria will not let me stay more than three months. That’s all I can get for a tourist visa.
If you have the opportunity to stay longer, would you consider it?
I would really consider it.
How long can you stay if you have the opportunity?
I really needed to stay for one whole year and that’s in my opinion, just to work out all the things and projects. It just takes time. I have a working compartment inside (the missionary house) where I teach school students and relax.
What are the other projects you are working on here?
In the tank I have at the back of the building are fishes. They are local fishes that can handle salt water and fresh water. I wanted to grow tilapia because that’s what I’m used to but the people here grow the type of fish they use. So, I went with the local set. So, we use a machine to pump the water up. The fishes excrete in the water and that’s food for plants and the plants turn the faeces into food. This is called aquaculture. ‘Aqua’ refers to the fish and ‘culture’ refers to the plants, so, we run the water through the pipes where the plants are planted and it goes back and forth and the plants clean the water for the fish and it goes back to the tank and that’s a cycle that keeps going, and food is produced here end there.
How can you describe the Makoko people?
Makoko people are kind and good-hearted. They’re suffering but they have joy. They are so used to poverty that it just becomes a way of life for them, generation after generation.
What have been the challenges here for you?
The chief’s son and his family are really taking good care of me here. Maybe the Malaria and Typhoid I had may just be the biggest thing and I had that just once in six weeks.
How did you get treated?
A doctor came here for about $8. He gave me pills. He only came back about two or three times to check on me.
How did you contact the doctor?
Well, the chief’s son did. I don’t know where he found the doctor. Without him, it wouldn’t have been possible (to get the doctor).
Do you nurse any fear or concern about your safety, that you could be attacked or robbed?
I did. I had some concerns and in the middle of the night, I would wake up and wonder if I was doing a stupid thing, but the missionary who came to this community before me made friends with a lot of people and started an orphanage, started a relationship with the chief, his son, and the whole family and that’s how I got to know and he assured me that the whole people would love me.
Do you find this fulfilling?
Well, ask me that in a few weeks, when you see the tomato plants doing well (laughs). I really do, I’m just kidding. Even if all my science experiments fail, we still have a missionary house and somebody else can pick up right from here. Nobody can take this house away and the cisterns made here. So, the longer I stay, the more projects we can have but this is the longest I have stayed.
How has your conversation with the residents of the community been?
Well, the conversation has not been that much. I feel like the Lord said I should come and try to grow plants, solve problems of water, and sewage, and try to solve problems. So, I haven’t interacted with them that much. I go to church, and meet people there. They asked me to preach last Sunday, some of the people came here and I interacted with a small group. We are trying to start a cooperative with the people of the community, work together to solve utility problems like water, sewage, and electricity. So, I am interacting but not like a typical missionary. It’s about what the people need. There is a verse in the Bible that says, “What good it is to share that God loves people if they are hungry?” First, figure out the food problem and they will know that God loves them. At least, get in there and try.
How easy has it been coping with the weather, food and way of life in the community?
It’s getting harder for me now. When I first arrived, the weather was milder but I noticed that as we get closer to the dry season, it’s getting hotter every day and I am a cool-weather person. I really don’t wear a shirt and you saw me when you came that I wasn’t having a shirt on.
Do you also swim in the water like the indigenes?
I did but I stopped. I got in it initially but I’m a biologist and I know how dangerous the water is. I took a lot of vaccines, like a vaccine for cholera, before I came. Cholera is a killer but it’s a mystery to me to know how these (Makoko) people are not dying of cholera. They must have immunity or something but in any way, I feel that I needed to get into the water to tell the people that the water is the most important resource they have.
How did they react when you jumped into the water to swim?
When I got into the water and they saw me do that, they said I shouldn’t do that but kids get in to swim all the time. I actually got an infection and my foot is still swollen. So, I stopped going (into the water). You could go farther to swim. It’s cleaner over there.
What do you think the government can do to help the residents of Makoko harness the water they have as an important resource?
In my view, this can turn into the Venice of Africa. People come from all over the world to go to Venice (a city in Italy). There are romantic boats and canoes here (in Makoko) and at night, it is magical to go through the community. The houses are laid up and you hear songs and it’s just really cool. So, we can train people to stop throwing their trash (in the water) and there are ways to figure that out. If there is a sewage plan, a freshwater plan, or an electrical plan, I believe people from all over the world will come to Makoko and buy things, take a boat ride, and try to clean it up and that will be a win for everybody and it’s a doable thing because when you grow plants in the water, you clean up the water.
Yes, it is possible to grow plants on the water without soil, just the way I have the tomato plant setup behind the house. You pump it (water) up here for the plants and it empties back into the water as clean water. The plants use the wastes as food and supply clean water back into the system.
You have just a small setup. Is it possible to set up something that will match the volume of water in Makoko?
Yes, and I have been thinking about it. Looking at that large boat there, I can run the pipes in
How do you get potable water?
It usually rains here, so, we have a system that collects it from the roof to the tank inside and we have a filter that can make that produce clean, drinking water. At least, during the rainy season, we solve the problem of water and when it is dry, we will figure that out. So, one step at a time for this real-life problem.
What has been the biggest eyesore for you in the Makoko community?
The pain of seeing kids with open sores, running noses, mothers paddling two or three kids, and trying to sell something, and some houses with rags torn on them hurt. I have been to Mexico and there were shanty camps there that I stayed in but this (Makoko) is tougher. A community floats on water and the water under them is polluted and I don’t know what number of immunity they have. The water is not good. This is the hardest place I have seen with the nicest people. The President should come and see.
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