Episode #23: No Space For Greys

On how not to feel an alien and leaving the camera at home.

Apr 14, 2025

How not to feel like an alien in such a different world?

A good friend of mine asked me this when I told him about my latest movements.

I’ve been writing Project Home every two weeks for almost a year now. Yet this time, I felt like skipping it was the right choice. At the end, who would even care if I didn’t send a new story?

The truth is: I would.

I realized how easy it is, when life changes suddenly, when something new takes over, to leave behind what used to feel right.

New city, new pace, new people.
The old becomes old too fast.

Over the last two weeks, I stopped reading. Stopped writing. Stopped watching movies. Anything that involved fiction, I shut it out. It wasn’t a decision, I just couldn’t find the space for it. And I think the reason is in the sentence below.

Life brought me to Lagos, Nigeria.

A place I never expected to see this year. And yet, as soon as I landed, something changed inside me. My sense of reality. Of presence. Of how life works.

Let me give you a few facts from this place before going on:

Home to 22 million people, the most populous city in Africa. More than London & Paris combined.
Lagos contributes to >30% of Nigeria's GDP.
65% of Lagosians work in the informal sector: street vendors, tailors, mechanics, drivers.
Capital of Afrobeats: Fela Kuti’s Kalakuta Republic was born here, and now dominating artists like Davido, WizKid, and Burna Boy.
Heart of Nollywood, the second-largest movie industry by output.
>60% live in informal housing.
In just two years, the Naira (local currency) has lost 71% of its value against the dollar. Salaries have barely moved, but food and housing prices have skyrocketed.

Enough for now.

I left my camera at home for days. I didn’t want to be chased by the thought “I need to create something”.

I don’t care about content. I don’t care about going viral. I don’t care about monetizing. When content becomes the priority, the magic of life experiences goes away. And I didn’t want that.

Lagos is tough. But also magnetic.

There’s no middle ground. No greys. No in-between.

Either the sun eats you alive, or rain floods the entire city for days.

Either you're a millionaire, or you're working 20+ hours a day to make a living.

Either you eat spicy or you better stay far from food.

Either you make it, or you don’t.

That’s the brutal beauty of this place.

And yet, this city is giving me a lot. And I respect it for this.

I don’t know yet what’s coming next.

But I’m slowly returning to the things that keep me grounded. Still learning how not to feel like an alien. And maybe in the future, when it feels right, I’ll tell some stories from this unique place.

For now, enjoy a few snaps made around the city.