By Dolapo Aina
Salutations to you. You might wonder and ponder aloud why this letter is about the weather? Just read along as you munch your chinchin, popcorn, puff-puff or mandazi. Recently, I have not been able to ignore and cannot deny the powerful but silent phenomenon called weather. As a West African who has been used to and acclimatised to the tropical and humid weather that is prevalent in most of West Africa, it hits differently in East Africa and Rwanda to be specific. When it is cold, it can be really cold for no explainable or justifiable reason (though there are scientific and meteorological reasons for this). The cold weather has been so, since late August 2021 and it intensified in October. The cold season is usually April to May and then from September upwards.
The bright and smiley sun can be out, blazing and shining in the morning, only for the sun to disappear and the cold weather takes over in the afternoon till late night. One extra clothing one is expected to have along with you in the day, is your sweater or jacket. After a few instances of not leaving your abode to work or your daily activities with your extra clothing, it becomes almost an early morning ritual or instinct to take one. Do remember that these observations are from the prisms of a West African.
Now, even if the weather through the eyes of the skies promises to be bright and sunny on any given morning, one way to figure out if the weather is going to be cold later on in the day, is by observing the clothing of the moto (commercial motorcycles) operators. If their clothing is not light but heavy (a sweater or jacket); my dear brothers and sisters, it is with wisdom that you engage your legs in rapid dialogue back home and get an extra clothing. (This would resonate with Kigalians in Kigali and residents of other parts of Rwanda.)
Coincidentally, as I type this paragraph (3:08pm, Thursday, 4th of November 2021) the hot weather seems to be ushering in some cold weather and some rumblings in the bright skies. And at 4:53pm, the heavens sent down the rain. Another blistering and unrelenting cold evening awaits in the capital city of the land of a thousand hills and you are left with your own coping mechanisms and devices (some sip hot water, some sip hot tea, others eat hot supper whilst seek some might necessary and natural warmth) to cushion and mitigate the effect of the unrelenting cold weather. Dear Brethren, welcome to Rwanda, where if you don’t have your appropriate sweater or jacket with you, the cold weather is no respecter of your age, sex or societal status.
Dolapo Aina writes from Kigali, Rwanda
