Climate Change: A Reality I’ve Lived Through

Climate change is one of the problems our world is facing, and despite that, some people still think it's a distant problem that hasn't hit our community, but in reality, that's not true. In fact, I believe climate change isn't just all about the news I read online; this is something I've felt, lived, and watched its effects play out right before my eyes at different times. Back in the day, it was quite easy to predict the rainy and dry seasons, and that's because seasons had rhythm, and that usually helped farmers like me know when to plant and expect harvest. Fast forward to the present day, and that's no longer the case, because rain now shows up late and sometimes comes with a force that literally washes everything we've planted away. Even the dry season is so hot, it's like we rented an apartment next to hell.

All of these usually affect the soil, from heavy rain that not only washes away what we've planted but also washes away soil nutrients, to dry ones leading to cracks in the soil, which is more like a punishment to the land, and that's not to talk of how those heat waves affect us and drain every bit of energy in you. This is a major concern that we need to look into and find a way to stabilize or navigate around it, because even harmattan seasons are unpredictable; you'll sometimes exhaust the month of December without sighting it at all, and when it ought to fade around February, you'll still see it showing up heavily. That's how far climate has changed through the years.

One of the toughest experiences of climate change I recalled was a heavy rain that lasted days that happened during my secondary school days, and I can remember how overwhelming the rain became to the point where we students were asked to stay at home. The reason for that proclamation isn't far-fetched, because our community drainage system couldn't handle the amount of water, leading to the streets being flooded with water and people unable to decipher between where the road is and where the drainage system is because the flood had covered everything. It was so serious that it even carried some people away to God knows where.

Our house is no exception to the devastating ruins of the heavy downpour that lasted for all those days, because it got to a point where rainwater found its way into our house, and we had to place most of the important things that could be affected by water on other objects in the house. We were literally walking and staying inside the water for days, and there's no point trying to throw it out, because it was via the overflow from the street that led to our house being drenched. Thankfully, we didn't have to evacuate our house before the rain stopped and the water dried up, but not everyone was so lucky. I witnessed people's houses being weakened and crashing down due to the same rain.

Climate change is an aspect we really need to look into, because it deals with real people and causes real havoc, and it's not about the scientific data we see analysts talk about on the news alone. This is about out-of-school children who can't study due to floods, health issues, food scarcity due to farmers crops being affected, displacements, and the like, so I guess it's high time we work towards slowing it down by speaking up, taking intentional action, changing our habits, and overall protecting our environment, because climate change isn't something we're expecting; climate change is already here, and we should have, in all honesty, started acting since yesterday.

All photos are mine.