Rebuilding Dreams After the Flood

In the quiet dawn of Saturday, August 15th, 2025, the rain came softly at first, drumming on the rooftops of Igbe community in Ikorodu, Lagos State. For many, it was just another August morning; after all, the month was known for its heavy showers. However, the rain continued until Sunday, the 16th, and that was when it became clear that this rain was not just a random rain like every other rain in July and August

For Stella and Eunice, two mothers, two farmers, and two women whose hands fed their families and sustained their communities, this rain would change everything.

Stella’s Story

Stella, a 41-year-old, was already deep in her morning routine—preparing food for her four children, getting them ready for school, and keeping her household in order when the rain began on the 15th. For her, the rain was background music, nothing unusual. But as the downpour grew heavier and continued into the night, unease crept in. Her thoughts wandered to the small farm she and her husband managed just a stone’s throw from their home, a poultry and piggery that had been their lifeline.

By midday of August 16th, when the skies finally began to calm, neighbours came knocking with news that froze her heart: “We saw pigs floating in the floodwater… they must be yours.”

She didn’t think. She ran. With her husband chasing behind her, Stella bolted towards the farm with the desperation of a mother running to save her children.

What she saw when she arrived broke her. The pens were drowned in floodwaters. Pigs squealed helplessly, some already lifeless, their bodies drifting in the muddy current. With trembling hands, she and her husband waded into the water, throwing open gates, trying to let the water escape, and praying to salvage what little they could.

But nature had already taken its toll. Twenty pigs were dead. Others had vanished with the flood.

For Stella, each pig wasn’t just livestock; it was school fees, meals for her children, a future her family had been piecing together one day at a time. In that moment, soaked, exhausted, and broken, she realised the rain had washed away more than animals; it had stolen her family’s security.

Eunice’s Story

Not far from Stella’s home, Eunice, a 36-year-old mother of five, was also battling the cruelty of the same flood. For years, she had built her livelihood on a thriving vegetable farm. Trained by ActionAid Nigeria in agroecology in 2023, Eunice hadn’t only transformed her own farming practices, but she had mobilised women in Igbe to form a Village Savings and Loans Association, helping each other sustain their livelihoods through small loans.

Her leadership and resilience had earned her the role of Lagos State Young Farmers Association leader, where she worked tirelessly to spread knowledge about climate-friendly farming practices. Farming wasn’t just her job; it was her passion, her identity, her children’s future.

On that same August morning, the floodwaters did not spare Eunice. Her spinach, pumpkin, and vegetables, all of it, were submerged. Standing in the middle of her drowned farm, Eunice was heartbroken as she began calling out for other women to come to her aid with tears in her eyes. Out of desperation, she waded into the water, pulling at vegetables with bare hands, hoping to salvage something, anything, that could feed her children or earn her a little income at the market. But it was futile.

Days later, when the flood receded, the full extent of the damage was revealed. The soaked soil had choked her crops; the leaves had yellowed, and the plants had rotted. Her harvest was gone. So was her family’s only source of food and income.

The Bigger Picture

For Stella and Eunice, the flood wasn’t just water; it was a thief that stole years of hard work, dreams, and dignity. It left them staring at empty pens and barren fields, wondering how to feed their children, how to rebuild, how to keep hope alive.

Now, they are calling for support from the government, from organisations, from communities. Their stories are not isolated; they are a reminder of the devastating impact of climate change on women farmers, who carry the double burden of feeding their families and sustaining local economies.

Climate change is no longer a distant threat. It is here, it is personal, and for women like Stella and Eunice, it is the difference between survival and despair.