It was one hell of a year, 2020. A year that will forever have its permanent place in the book of world history. When I ask my friends if they just randomly think back to the time of the pandemic, I get reactions like "Haa! Don't even go there!" Some of them will be like "If the world didn't end in 2020, then I don't think the end of the world is coming soon". It is a common reaction for a lot of us still. Prior to 2020, there has never been anything like a pandemic that shook the entire world, I think that was one of the reasons people didn't believe the Covid was real until it came knocking on our doors and we had no choice but to give it a strained welcome.
I was almost rounding up secondary school when the lockdown came, we were already planning and getting ever ready to sit for our final exams. We knew there was a new virus in town and we took the necessary precautions while still meeting up for class lessons in person. Suddenly all in-person classroom activities were required to be discontinued for our safety and health. Online forums were made available for students and teachers to continue their academic engagements as best as they could. It really got us a bit worried as we were about to sit for our WAEC, especially we had a lot of science experiment we were supposed to carry out in-person for us to be able to understand them well. I didn't even know Zoom was a thing till we started using it for classes. We kept experiencing some inconveniences till it got to a point where the exam where temporary left pending to allow the heat of the pandemic cool down a little. I think I had the worst graduation ever because of the pandemic and to think we finally wrote the exam just few days after our not-so-exciting graduation ceremony, it wasn't fun for me.
I had the moments of boredom just the rest of world, constantly doing the same thing everyday was really tiring. I was staying with my aunt then and she decided we could do a little agriculture, me and the cousins. We had 3 lands we started farming on, at least that took away some of the bore the pandemic brought along. When I finished with my exams and all, the lockdown hasn't officially been lifted. We still observed the social distancing and all the likes. It kind of made me so unexcited to further my studies, I didn't want to write Jamb afterwards. When the lockdown was over I came back home and joined my Mom in her trading business which I did for some months before deciding to learn a skill in hair making.
One of the things I found remarkable and worthy to be grateful for, is how we all were able to survive despite the hardships we experienced then due to the lockdown affecting the markets and most businesses. If I remember correctly, people were still finding it hard to adjust to Buhari's rule as he was the acting president during that time. Things were quite tough, the economy wasn't smiling and then boom the pandemic came, things became tougher. People were advised to stock up their homes and buy food items that would possibly last for weeks or at least a month. But if we were to be realistic a lot of people only got their daily bread by going out to hustle everyday, so it was such a challenging moment then. Nevertheless, the whole saga ended and thing gradually returned to normal. Businesses, schools and everything slowly took their stand again and people got a bit of some relief and fresh air.
The pandemic taught me quite a few lessons to always expect anything at anytime, it might be good, it might be bad. Preparing for unexpected emergencies will be very good approach such that even something happens and knock me off my feet, my bounce back will not be so difficult for me. I missed the amount of quality family time I enjoyed during the pandemic. I spent so much time with my family more during the pandemic than I have ever done and it would be exciting reliving those moments, not in a pandemic way though. I might lose my mind if another outbreak were to occur.
Anyways, everything is over now, we're four years ahead and happy even though the economy got a lot worse. However, we thankful for the life we still have and the opportunities that came our way since then. Finding Hive was one of them and with the rapid advancement in the digital world, I have been able to apply for some Tech courses to help me get a skill or two. We keep hoping for the best and carrying on lessons we got during tough times.
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