Natalia Ojewska – Ghana’s Old Fadama Slum: “We Want to Live in Dignity”
thinkafricapress.com. August 7, 2013. “On the outskirts of Accra, alongside the Odaw River and the Korle Lagoon, lies the slum of Old Fadama. Pejoratively referred to by many Ghanaians as a modern day “Sodom and Gomorrah”, Old Fadama is said to be home to around people, making it Ghana’s biggest slum.
Life here can be precarious and opportunities for social mobility are few and far between. Made up of a bustling, roughshod tessellation of closely built wooden structures, up to twenty people sleep on the floors of its individual ‘kiosks’ – each one an average of 3-4m2. Social amenities such as sanitation, running water, medical care and waste collection are hard to come by.