Climate Change and Mental Health : part two

Well then, settle in everyone. Thanks for that glass of water, lovelee.

So lights off and let’s listen to the rest of the story.

So then, where were we…..

Scenario Three

Climate change means that the incidence of extreme weather events increases. It also means that they are not completely predictable.

So one day, Ali, for that is his given name, is busy getting  his father’s herd ready for the long journey to the best pasture lands, which are over the next two ridges beyond his village. So he and his younger brother get their provisions ready and they get the journey going. Along the way, Ali is listening to freshly minted music on his smartphone and his younger brother is whistling along. The young boy is excited. He is heading to Form One, in the same secondary school his brother did his final year. Ali is all set to go university, he now feels like a grown up and can’t wait to step out on his own. So this holiday, Ali’s father is a proud man. His two sons are doing excellent. But to teach them the value of physical work, he has sent his two scions away for a week to look after the cows while the older son teaches his younger brother some useful life lessons.

So the two get to their destination, and while away the time taking care of the semi-autonomous herd.  As evening approaches, the weather gradually changes. The gentle wind becomes gusty, carrying bits of dried grass this way and that, swirling them around in a dance only it knows. There now is heard the shrill sharp cry of a bird, as it flies across the sky. It becomes cooler. The cows throw their noses in the air, sniffing this way and that. Some become agitated. Ali understands these signs well, .…rain is coming.

A herdsman with long horned African cattle. Can you see Noora's? - image courtesy of dabang sudan

So he gets up and hurries along the herd to higher ground. He then spies some shelter usually left for herders at night. He gets his younger brother inside. As soon as he gets inside, lightning cuts across the sky, followed by the sound of a mighty thunderclap. The first big drops of rain fall on the roof of the shelter with a splat! Ali is a bit surprised. He hadn’t expected the rains so soon. He knows of the December showers but a heavy downpour such as the heavens were promising was a bit unexpected.

Ali dashes outside and takes one last look at the animals, they have come close together and seem resigned to the heavens washing them freely. Ali gets back into the shelter, secures the door and reassures his little bro who is trying hard to be a man. Ali switches on his phone, takes note of the time and switches the gadget off. He needs to save power so that later on, he can call his family back home and enquire of their safety.

His mind wanders, taken by the sound of the beating rain. It rains and pours, by the gallons, truckfuls. At some point, Ali stops hearing the mooing of the distressed animals and he wonders worriedly if anything has happened to them. He thinks of school, university, new friends and prospects awaiting him, a whole new life. Ali is the first from his village to go to such a prestigious national institution. Everyone is proud. They don’t tell him so, but he can see the proud light in the eyes of his elders when they talk to him. He sees the way the young ones look adoringly at him, their big brother Ali.

Eventually the down pour stops and Ali gets out to look at the animals. It is now pitch dark but Ali, the experienced herdsman he is, casts a surveying eye over the shivering mass of animals. Some see him and utter a gentle moo. He weaves through the herd, pulls a stuck calf up and helps a nursing mom find her calf. He separates the bulls from the females and calves and then leaves them be.

He gets back to the shelter and finds his brother fast asleep. According to the tried and tested folklore, sleeping when it’s raining is the sweetest. One falls into a deep dreamless sleep and wakes up refreshed and to a fresh new landscape. Ali dozes off and wakes up the next morning to fully survey the damage caused by last night’s downpour.

He finds that the herd’s numbers are more or less the same. They had gotten to higher ground just in time. But the white cow, the one with the long curved horns, the one his sister Noora loves is missing. Ali panics a bit, he had promised his baby sister to keep her favorite cow safe. Noora loved the sound of the bell around its neck. Oh how disappointed she will be! Ali thinks as he rounds up the herd, wakes up his little brother and tries to call his papa on his mobile phone. The phone can’t get through. Ali is now outright worried. He shouts at his brother to get to the front as he gently but rapidly speaks to the now alert livestock. He unleashes his cane and waves it in the air. It is time to go.

Over the next three hours, the two young men and cattle trudge through the mud and slippery ground as they make their way home. Eventually, the see their village at a distance. Ali can’t quite recognize it. Everything is in shambles. Pieces of tents and clothing are strewed all over. He sights what appears to be pieces of his old exercise books, the ones he kept as mementoes of the fun times in Primary school. Ali rushes the cows along as his eyes take in the shock that is his home. Suddenly a thought crops up in his mind. Are his high school transcripts dry? Where are they? Where is his dad? Is that Noora crying? His mum is holding Khalil in her arms as she gives instructions to some person he can’t recognize.

Ali, now distraught runs to his mum and questions her in rapid Amharic interspersed with Somali. Where is everyone? What happened? How did it happen? What are they going to do? His mother attempts to quieten him, telling him as much of the story as he can comprehend in his state. Suddenly, he hears a joyful shriek. Noora is cradling her favourite white cow whose bell is tingling. She was in the herd after all. Ali now spots his father, who has just come back to the homestead. The semi-permanent house the family occupies is still standing, but things in it are wet and in a heap. His father signals him over.

Slowly, the story comes out. It rained too heavily, Hassan, Ali’s dad explains. And it was unexpected. We were all in the house and sat still expecting it to cease. It never did. It all happened in the space of a few minutes. It was Noora who noticed the water seeping into the house. Hassan gestured to the family to get up and stand on the beds and any other high place. The family watched disbelievingly as the dark violent water swept up their belongings, dashed them against each other and threatened to take the bed too.

The flood dissipated as quick as it had come. But the damage left behind was massive. Their electronics were ruined. Some of the goats and weak cows that were left outside were washed away. In fact, everything that was outside was washed away . Only the heavy things were left behind. Hassan is gloomy. Last year a time like this there was drought. Half their animals succumbed. This year there were flash floods, another number of livestock is gone. He shakes his head. These weather patterns are crazy. Hassan has lived here all his life. He has never seen anything like this. He shakes his head again, wistfully, wishing for when he was a boy, when the seasons were predictable.

Now he is financially ruined. How will he take care of his family? Noora and Khalil both need to finish school and be responsible adults. Ali needs to go to university. His mum is sick. And now his property is ruined. Gone. Suddenly he wishes he was dead. Or somewhere else. The weight of the world on his shoulders is too much. Over the next few days, as he tries to pull himself together, Hassan knows that Ali can’t go to university this year. His heart aches to have to disappoint his son, but he has no choice.

Ali, on hearing the news tries to be strong but a tear escapes his right eye. He had been so happy, nursing the joy here in his heart. A whole new life! Independence, a chance at being the engineer he always wanted to be. He wanted to study civil engineering, come back and help the government build good quality roads in this part of the country, the place he called home. Now his dream is up in the air. Ali knows how hard it is to bring up a calf to a full grown adult bull or cow. It will take months and perhaps years. Good pasture. They have to start from scratch.

Ali sighs, and walks away to the hill near the village. He loves this place. Its quietness helps him to think. To review life. To evaluate his chances. He knows he can’t go to college this year. He becomes forlorn and for the next few weeks both he and his beleaguered father become broody, sad and short tempered. They pick quarrels with anyone. So everyone avoids them. They feel that each has failed the other. Hassan, for not getting the fees to send his son to school and Ali, for not being there to help his family when he was needed. Ali additionally feels that he is a burden to his father. He retreats into himself and becomes a shadow of his former self. He stops eating and finds it hard to take the few remaining animals out to pasture. Sometimes he can’t concentrate. Hassan on noticing these changes in his son blames himself even further and takes to chewing khat. He absconds  on his responsibilities leaving his wife and mother of his children, Naema, often bitter and overworked. There is tension in the household.

But there’s a silver lining in the cloud. One day, Ali’s principal at his former high school comes looking for him. He had heard of what happened and in the traditional African way, came to comfort the family. He brings with him good news. There is a rich businesswoman who came visiting the school the other day. She is an alumnus, a former student, and she wanted to pay forward a good deed someone had done for her. She wanted to sponsor a bright student to college. The principal suggested 

Ali. Would he be interested?

Ali was overjoyed but confided in his former schoolmaster, he had little energy these days. He could barely summon the energy to walk back home. School in a faraway land was too difficult. The principal looked him over for a while and appeared in deep thought. He then took his former pupil’s hand and started talking to him. Hours passed by. The principal eventually leaves but not before telling Ali to be coming to the school every Saturday afternoon, for there the two could talk in silence and privacy. In the next one month,  the teacher counsels Ali. He explains to him what early depression is and slowly Ali comes back to life, as a wilting tree planted in the banks of a deep mighty river. He blooms again.

Ali eventually heads off to college, and studies both engineering and climate change, sharp kid he was. He aces school, graduates with honors and gets employed by a reputable company. Incidentally the company wins a government tender to build roads in the province where Ali hails from. Ali is picked as the head engineer, partly because of his mastery of the trade and also because he is a good bridge between the company and the locals.

Ali oversees the construction of the roads, which are of course climate proofed. He also teaches the community around him what climate change is and how it affects them. In fact, Ali enlists the services of his formers schoolmaster, now a trusted and respected elder. Together, the two slowly but surely help the community adapt to climate change. They are now on the right path thanks to Ali.

 Ali is an example of a bad story turned into a good one.

Ali is a winner.