The Pandemic Culture
Sometimes, looking at the world move like a running stream, I wonder what the first trimester was like for me. When the news came that we had to travel back home due to the scary surge of the virus. With the daily deaths and rapid spread, I felt my fear rise each day. Amidst all […]
Down, Not Out
The harmattan is harsh. I’m wearing a pair of socks over another pair of socks, and a thermal coat over two t-shirts. The air is dry, seeming to clutch and squeeze whatever it touches. My nose is only just healing from its grip and I’m learning not to move my mouth too much when I […]
Beyond the Storm
Albert Einstein once said that time is only “a stubbornly persistent illusion.” While there are many ways to interpret the illusion of time, one can rightly say that it doesn’t matter what year it is or whether it counts as the past, present, or future, there will always be darkness as much as light. The […]
Mi Said Life is Fickle
There was a time I felt that shaking hands as a common culture of greeting will be without modern implications. It was a time when I associated happiness with the cheering excitement of football fans, and my friends talked about 2020 like it was a holy grail. Mi thought the same too only that she […]
Of Highs and Lows
I leapt into his arms like I typically do at the departure hall of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. I lingered in his embrace for longer than usual, not wanting to let go, as if it were my last. Thank God it wasn’t but it almost felt like eternity till the universe would present me […]
Thantophobia
Days leading to December 31, 2019, and beyond, were masked in prophecies for me. Cowardly prophecies; they only showed their faces at night. I grew familiar with a particular body temperature that came with them. I recognised the faces of the sweat, even if they had dried off my skin. I knew their impending threat […]
A Lockdown Hero
One of the perks of anticipating the end of life is the way it makes you value things you once took for granted. First time you heard about COVID-19, you laughed it off, you assumed it was just another form of influenza that would have little effect on your life. In a remarkably short time, […]
COVID-19 and Me
The world was used to running. It appeared that every single person on earth thought it impossible to not continually be in motion. Since the clock was always ticking, time was worshipped. I thought the world would stop if we all stopped moving. If we all thought the earth moved around its orbit because we […]
Only When You Speak Up
When I welcomed the new year, I was a 22-year old medical student enthusiastic to continue her fourth year. Armed with my new year resolutions, I was ready to take on the first year of a new decade. I was ready to make better decisions in my life so I wouldn’t mess up the new […]
High Hopes
2020 started on a great note for me. Hopes were high. It was time to achieve the Vision-2020 as we had conceived it since we were kids. Little did we know what is to come and then, days into February, news of a ravaging virus began to trend. When the outbreak started in 2019, I […]
No One Knows
Just like every other person, I was really looking forward to 2020. I just had this strong conviction that 2020 was going to be my year, and I would do great things in the year. Normally, I come up with my goals for the new year during the last week of the previous year but […]
Dear Diary
Dear diary, Today, my cousin, Ellie said that the year of our Lord, Two thousand and twenty has so far felt like seven years compressed into one, and with its wealth of content and the experiences we have had, I most definitely agree. Today included my typical sleep-wake-eat-read-netflix routine, which I won’t bore you with. […]