What's happened to Harmattan? Where is she hiding? It's been a while since I have seen her. Indeed Harmattan or dry season, the season affectionately but wrongly referred to as African winter seems to have been missing for a few years now. Even when she has shown her face, her presence has not been felt in the same magnitude as it used to be. Personally its been two years since I experienced Harmattan and while I know not everyone is disappointed at her disappearance, I am curious as to why she's missing.
I was in Junior Secondary School two (JSS2) when I heard about climate change for the first time. I do not remember much about school back then because I was not the model student but I do remember my Geography teacher struck a nerve in me when he seemed to suggest that climate could change. I told him in no uncertain terms that the weather stays the same each year, he then proceeded to tell me that climate change could take a while, thirty years he said. I was twelve at the time and hadn't lived thirty years so I didn't have enough evidence to fault his theory so I let him have that round. Its been twelve years since then and the effects of climate change have been too profound to ignore, no less in the case of Harmattan. Traditionally, Harmattan period is experienced in Nigeria between the end of November and the middle of March. The word is coined from a Twi word "Haramata" and the season is brought upon by a dusty northeasterly trade wind, of the same name, which blows from the Sahara Desert over West Africa into the Gulf of Guinea. Harmattan season differs from winter, because it is characterized by cold, dry, dust-laden wind, and also wide fluctuations in the temperatures of the day and night. Temperatures can easily be as low as 9 °C all day, but sometimes in the afternoon the temperature can also soar to as high as 30 °C, while the relative humidity drops under 10%. Harmattan has always had a profound effect on me with some accompanying experiences. I never was one to moisturize my lips so I had lips that cracked in more places than a glass cup that had been dropped from height of six feet. I would nibble on the dead skin until it bled and left my lips discoloured. My hands and feet would also turn white like a Zombie's because I could never be bothered to cream them. My mom used to call me "Harmattan's first child" because of my appearance albeit not affectionately because it was often after I had received a slap for not making judicious use of the cream she had spent her hard earned money to purchase. My most intense relationship with Harmattan however has to have been during my Senior Secondary school. I had transferred to a catholic missionary school that had intent on giving kids missionary grade survival lifestyles. I often had to bathe in the early hours of the morning around 4:45am. In November- December, this was quite a challenge when the Harmattan cold was at its peak especially with water that would freeze if it got 1 degree colder. The blazing sun in the afternoons meant washed clothes got dried faster. This was helpful so I could "harvest" my washed articles before pilferers paid a visit and helped me to do so. It was a love-hate relationship with Harmattan. After exams, in the week we had to remain in school before vacation, we would play football under the scorching sun, breathing in the humid brown air, sometimes when we were done, we headed over to the taps to re-hydrate by having a drink of water. It was quite common to turn on the tap just to be disappointed that there was no accompanying rush of water. You see, the school often ran out of this precious liquid during Harmattan, so the water supply was managed and the taps only worked reliably at meal times and shower hour. I suspect that the disappearance of Harmattan has something to do with global warming. I am no meteorologist and I do not have the scientific facts to back this hypothesis but I know for certain that since global warming has become a topic, Harmattan hasn't. I wonder what her disappearance means in the long term. The significance of the effects on our lives, what it could mean to our country in terms of agricultural and economic significance. Should we be worried? Should we pray for God to send back the horrid wind? Or is this this change more advantageous than worrisome? I wonder.
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A lot of young people and teenagers I just meet are often surprised when I tell them "I just actively started appreciating music", especially when I seem to be competently versed in all other things, and when they inquire as to what genre and artist I listen to they are even more surprised to hear me reply with Pop or Soft Rock. What I have gathered is this, not only do I seem to be seven(7) years behind in my foray, but Pop or Rock music is not as popular with my contemporaries as other genres such as Hardcore Rap or other sub-genres of Rap like Grime or Trap music.
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AuthorThey say am weird; for while they see with their eyes, I see with my mind "Let us read and let us dance; these two amusements will never do harm to the world"
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