The Rain Stole The Day

The world is beautiful. We have trees that provide us with oxygen and prevent erosion. They also help combat climate change. We have rain that comes during its seasons, depending on the country. They help farmers water their plants, and this is a period where the crops grow well. As a pluviophile, I can't explain the happiness that dances through my heart when it rains. The world is filled with resources that make our lives better and more comfortable. Without these resources, we will find it difficult to survive. Imagine life without trees. Imagine the amount of buildings that would have collapsed. Or imagine life without rain, the soil would be dry and farmers would have to struggle to produce food. While these elements make our lives better, they can also turn against us. These elements turn against us as a result of human actions and sometimes, they just happen due to unexplainable phenomena.

For today’s Hive Learners’ topic, the community asks us to discuss climate change. What is your personal experience with climate change? You see, when it comes to “standard” or “good” countries, my country doesn't fit into the definition. In fact, it is far from that. Way too far. The economy of my country is in shambles and no one is doing anything about it. I could go on saying many awful things about Nigeria, but one thing that I have realized is that Nigerians are blessed and lucky. I remember during my childhood days when my dad would make us watch the news with him. We always see how other countries experience severe climate change like flooding, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, among others. Of course, these things also happen in my country, but they are mild compared to others. About 5 days ago, I came across a video of the severe flooding that happened in China. It was really devastating to witness the damage.

Fortunately, I haven't really had a personal experience with severe climate change. There have been times where the temperature of my locality got really hot and then we had to go around with hand made fans or those small electric fans. There have been times when we had to sleep with all windows open. About 5 years ago, I was close to experiencing flooding. Well, I did, but the damages weren't much. It was an event. A naming ceremony. When it comes to ceremonies, I always pray against it raining. Especially when the event is outdoors.

I am not the kind of person that likes attending ceremonies, but that day, I had no choice because the mother of the child is a close friend. A family friend who has been part of us for as long as I can remember. Surprisingly, the weather that morning was bright and clear. If anyone had told me that it would rain heavily that day, I would hiss at them. We got there before outsiders arrived. The venue was outside their house. There was a big canopy and sets of chairs. So when we got there, we helped them arrange. The ceremony started around 10am and that was when it started to drizzle. Talk about bad timing!

We still stayed outside for about 5 minutes, but when we saw that the rain was not planning to stop, one after the other, we went inside the house. It started raining heavily to the extent that the canopy fell and some of the chairs were flowing with the rain. That was the first time I would witness a heavy downpour. It was so violent that no one would dare to go outside. We later heard that that downpour collapsed houses in that same street.

Sometimes, we can't tell when severe climate changes will hit. We just have to be prayerful and hopeful that it won't cause much damage or any damage at all.

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Thanks for reading.