Living between the sea and a lagoon must have forced residents of Glefe - the densely populated fishing community in the Ablekuma West District of Ghana’s capital – to resign their fate to destiny. It is like having to choose between a rock and a hard place.

[Glefe Community]

The once small and beautiful coastal community popular for its serene beach line now bears scars too appalling for human comfort, the effect of environmental degradation imposed by hurriedly constructed structures to accommodate the teeming mass of new residents arriving by the minute, literally.
[Shores of Glefe Lagoon]

Like light and darkness, flooding is a must after every rainfall, sometimes with fatal consequences.

[State of the road Linking to Glefe]

 Drains are almost alien here, and the roads very poor.
With a little access to potable water and toilet facilities, Joseph Lamptey, a resident, says he is the least enthused about his abode especially when friends want to visit. In local parlance he retorted, how for do?

[Flooded Heaven Academy Basic School Compound]

In the absence of the rains-causing-floods, residents must contend with the ever present danger posed by either the lagoon or the rising sea between which the community is wedged.

[A Flooded Compound]

Flood waters usually recede after a couple of weeks, and are usually the culprit for epidemic outbreaks. Children play freely in muddy spaces and kept away fromschool for weeks when it rains. They pay a high price though, in skin infections.

[A heap of refuse in the flooded neighboughhood]

To worsen matters, Glefe falls within earthquake prone zones along Accra’s costal line. An earthquake is a threat, and so are tidal waves.

[A man walking on concrete slabs with his son]

In the meantime, everyone is engaged in a blame game. A section of residents are blaming Pambros Ghana Ltd, a salt producing company with salt ponds along the lagoon, for their plight.

[Anytime it rains, the whole community becomes impassable]

 Others charge the chief of Sempe with selling every available piece of land for interested buyers – without regard to any laid down planning. Applying Ghanaian methods for a solution, you may want to join in a prayer for the residents – as we all watch and wait for the next disaster.

[Glefe Beach]

 

[Glefe woman sweeps human excreta into the lagoon]

 

[The entrance of a house is covered by a pile of plastic waste]

 

[The lagoon side of the community]

 

[This is where the lagoon enters the sea]

 

[The lagoon side of the community]

 

[Two women walk on an arranged cement blocks to their homes]

 

[Glefe woman walks on a makeshift stone bridge to her house]