squatters and sadness

Some of you have heard me talk about the Mechanics' Park next to our compound. Technically, the land surrounding our house has been set aside for a city park (a treeless, grassless park, but I digress...). Instead of cultivating some kind of welcoming oasis, the city has allowed the park to remain vacant, and as the story goes, squatters moved in, erecting tiny shacks made of plywood and corrugated tin roofs. The little village has really expanded, and is home to a dozen or more little homes, which belong mostly to taxi drivers and car mechanics.

I've gotten used to the sights (but mostly sounds) of my neighbors. Car horns, dogs, and crying babies are the most audible, but my favorite is the Sunday morning soccer game I hear while getting ready for church. There was a traditional wedding there a couple weeks ago, and they were singing until 3am! Have I mentioned that Nigerians know how to celebrate?! Even though I don't know my neighbors individually, I see them often: when I take out the garbage, when I walk over to buy phone credit, when I go to church. There's a food stand as well, and I've had really good pounded yam and egusi soup from there.

We arrived home this afternoon to see 5 huge transport vehicles full of armed policemen. Our driver asked a bystander (in Hausa) what was going on, and he translated it back to us: The police arrived with a demolition crew and tore down the entire park. Every house, every shop, every little building is gone. The residents were more or less chased off the grounds.

I stood on our back step and sneaked pictures of the aftermath. Some of the women just stood off to the side and watched. (The lack of outward emotion of Nigerian women is very intriguing to me, but probably a topic for another day.)

It has been eerily quiet around here since yesterday afternoon. I don't know where the residents will move to now that their homes have been destroyed. This Sunday, I won't hear the soccer game, and it really grieves me.

Part of me hopes that if the city bothered to tear everything down, they'll now make an effort to actually build a city park. Part of me hopes that the squatters return and rebuild.