Time the only treasure we have

TIME THE ONLY TREASURE WE HAVE

Someone said “Your present is the result of your past, and your present will make your future. So, remember past is not past. Focus on your present and you will get a sweet result in the future.”― MD Abu Siyam. This statement makes me think about my past experience, and try to figure out the different mistakes that I made that caused me to lose some opportunities that was intended to help me to achieve my vision. Maybe you also you have some, but as you know due to different reasons we have in life we cannot stay on one vision. We usually change visions according to what life is giving out, but what I really know is that the output of life expectation has a great relationship with the input we provide, and all of this is controlled by how we use our time.

I remember it was in summer time in July 2014 when I decided to start learning how to play guitar with my colleague and neighbor, who was good at playing the instrument. I took that decision because I liked to play guitar so much, but also because I was jobless and I had nothing to do at that time- the only thing I had to do was wait until the start of my University study, and no one was ready to hire me for a job because I only had three months before starting my studies. So then I started my journey of learning the instrument, and I was lucky he didn’t ask me for money because I was not able to provide it yet- the only thing he asked me was to be patient and work hard with passion and at the end of those three months I was able to grab my guitar and play something. I remember the feeling of joy that I had in that time which still continues now, and I think it will continue through all my life.

Throughout all these years I gained many things due to that new experience I had. I helped many singers and choirs in their recording sessions, and I also managed to start a project that I called ‘The Guitarcage’ which has an objective of teaching youth and adults to play guitar and increase their love of playing guitar so that they can manage to use their leisure or free time playing guitar and learning new things. In addition to that I found something good that has shaped my life through learning new things like guitar, which requires hard work and passion that creates in you a new mindset of being able to learn new things without considering how hard it is to complete it.

However all of this was not done accidentally, and I know that I am not the best in using my time well. Although it showed me the benefit we gain when we consider or value every single second that we have in our everyday life and try to benefit from it through learning new things. Doing and trying new things is sometimes a battle we win whereas other times we lose, but there are some who don’t even fight that kind of battle just because they are comfortable with the life they live or they just keep being ignorant due to the lack of knowledge about it. Unfortunately we are busier than any other past generation and we are not effective in all the things we are trying to do. We try to manage everything but we can’t manage our time, yet we are created to be creative and what we have to know is that it takes time to be creative and our generation is very distracted by many things. Our leisure time surpasses our working time, social media is costing us too much time we, are becoming lazy and we don’t have enough time to rest due to the wrong use of our time. We are also having some incurable diseases such as diabetes and heart attack caused by our inactivity.

So I can end my story by saying that no one is born with every skill in their head. All that we can do now it is spend a different amount of time learning, and as long as you are still breathing you still have a chance to learn new things and create your own destiny that can help the world with those new skills.

According to CNS(Clinical Neurology Specialist) [https://www.cnsnevada.com/what-is-the-memory-capacity-of-a-human-brain/], our brain has a memory capacity of 2.5 petabytes which is equal to 2.5 million gigabytes digital memory. Imagine that space we have can be filled with new information and skills, so instead of spending most of our time whining and complaining and developing bad habits in our life, we need to use that time through learning new things and also teaching other new things which will change lives and destiny for many.

And what we have to remember is that the main focus of time management is not changing our time but to change our behaviour; we have to identify things that steal our time and that contribute a little to our life and replace it with things that improve it. We have to prepare our goal so that we can spend our time in order to achieve it, and try to also create habits that help you to use your time in an effective way like waking up early in the morning, reducing the time of using electronic-devices, and sleeping enough.

They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with one single step, and the time we will start to consider our time and use it in a good and convenient way we will achieve more. We will increase our creativity, we will create our own job and achieve a sustainable development, we will live a successful life that will also help our next generation to fit in. So take your time, choose what you want to be and start spending your time thinking how you will achieve that, and for sure that time will pay. We all have twenty four hours each and every day but our lives become different based on how we use that treasure, so we need to learn how to invest our time.

Olivier Ishimwe is a young environmentalist and climate activist highly passionate in addressing climate change issues on a national,regional and global level.Currently He works in a youth NGO called The Green Protector as a Communication Officer He believes in Learning new things as a way of progressing in life .

blogMarch 14, 2022March 29, 2022

Impact of climate change on mental health

Impact of climate change on mental health

When we think of the impacts of climate change, we immediately think about extreme weather events, drought, flooding and their effects on the environment, agriculture, infrastructure, economy, and possibly on physical health but never on mental health and we even hardly hear about it. We are familiar with the impacts of climate change on health like allergies, asthma, injuries due to storms and floods, and many more whereas we do not mention the link to mental health in the dialogue.

It is time to enlarge information and actions on climate change and health, including mental health. The impacts of climate change on mental health can arise directly and indirectly. Natural disasters and climate change-induced extreme weather events can have immediate impacts on mental health in form of trauma or shock due to injuries, loss of a loved one, loss or damage of property, loss of livelihood, which may eventually result in post-traumatic stress disorder, mid stress, high coping behavior such as substance abuse, grief, survivor guilt, recovery fatigue.

We can not only associate the impacts of climate change on mental health with disasters, long-term climate change has also a significant impact. These changes can affect habitation, agriculture, and infrastructure which impact the quality of life and force people to move thus resulting in loss of identity, being disconnected to neighborhood and community. People can also be affected before the natural disaster occurs, some disasters like floods force people to move, which can result in anticipatory trauma. A simple example is the recent Hurricane Ida that caused catastrophic floods across the Northeastern United States. Forecasters had predicted the path of the storm for several days as well as the potential for the system to intensify and people had to move. Some people are more affected than others, children, the elderly, pregnant women, people with mental illness, refugees, homeless but more importantly emergency workers and other people involved in responding to extreme weather-related disasters. These individuals are both responders and victims, having to provide emergency care while coping with the impacts of the disaster.

I remember sharing with some friends what I was writing on, and they told me how they can relate to it. One said how she recalls when she was young, she used to see on Tv what will happen to the planet with all the climate changes and anthropogenic activities and decide to not have kids if that’s the kind of environment they will be living in. Another one shared that when the rainy season approaches, she is always worried about the flood, and doesn’t get to enjoy the season, in Rwanda floods are common due to heavy rainfall. Dealing with the health consequences of climate change needs rooted actions in both mitigation and adaptation at all levels, from global to local, and from all sectors and individuals. Key aspects in climate change mitigation include reducing energy demand; a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy; reducing emissions from agriculture and forestry, and strengthening land-based emissions sequestration.

Climate change adaptation includes interventions that tackle the effects of climate change by adjusting, moderating, and coping with the risks and impacts of climate change. With a specific focus on mental health and climate change, psychological adaptation requires a set of responses, which include concrete actions on behalf of mental health practitioners. Such actions may consist of: communicating about climate change and mental health in a way that helps people to see that it is relevant and important to them. It requires coping strategies to manage the feelings and thoughts that arise so that people can face up to, and come to terms with, these threats and consequences rather than avoiding the problem of climate change.

1. Climate effects on mental health- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
https://www.cdc.gov/climateandhealth/effects/default.htm#:~:text=Syndicate-
,Climate%20Effects%20on%20Health,-Climate%20change%2C%20together
2. Paolo Cianconi, Sophia Betrò, Luigi Janiri. The Impact of Climate Change on Mental Health:
A Systematic Descriptive Review, 2020.
3. Susanta Kumar Padhy, Sidharth Sarkar, Mahima Panigrahi, Surender Paul. Mental health
effects of climate change. 2015.
4. https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/02/how-climate-change-affects-mentalhealth/#:~:text=How%20climate%20change%20affects%20mental%20health
5. https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/climate-change-mentalhealth#:~:text=Climate%20Change%20Is%20Affecting%20Mental%20Health%20%E2%8
0%94%20Here%E2%80%99s%20What%20You%20Can%20Do%20About%20It

Adeline Cyuzuzo, is a young Rwandan female. Graduated in water and environmental engineering at the University of Rwanda in 2018. Currently, she works as an executive assistant in a non-governmental organization called The Green Protector and also as the coordinator of storytelling in a youth-focused organization called Loss and Damage Youth Coalition. On top of that, she is driven by change and aspires to achieve climate justice by raising her voice and advocating for the frontline community.

blogMarch 8, 2022March 8, 2022

Women Run the Efforts in Addressing Climate Change: We Appreciate and Celebrate!

By Isingizwe Sandra, Honorine Isingizwe, Eva peace Mukayiranga, Adeline Cyuzuzo, Olivier Ishimwe, Hyacinthe Niyitegeka, and Ineza Umuhoza Grace

Not only in science, but in all aspects of daily life. Many of us grew up in communities where women were overlooked in almost every aspect of our lives. In different regions of the world especially Sub Saharan African countries, women suffer disadvantages compared to men due to cultural and social differences. Women were thought to be inadequate, particularly when it came to so-called difficult work that request either physical power or intelligence. For example, women were pictured to undertake household activities, taking care of husbands and bearing children. We are leaving in an era of possibility where women can do professional work and at the same time embrace their full potential as women, Rwanda is a small country that excels in making this a living reality. For the past 28 years, the Rwandan government has been promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment across all development sectors.

The world is confronted with a common crisis, climate change, and we are all trying to cope and find solutions to limit the negative effects on our lives. Unfortunately, women and girls are among the most affected by the crisis, with most girls being forced to marry at a young age in order for their families to recover what they have lost, and they are not actively engaged in the decision making process. for example, after being hit by extreme events such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, etc. some families marry their daughters to more stable families in order to save them; the Climate change crisis increases early child marriages. Girls are the ones who primarily miss classes or drop out of school in order to care for their families. Women are found to be more affected by climate change because they are the ones who take care of household chores, such as during droughts, they are the ones who mostly travel a long distance to fetch water, and during floods, they are forced to stay at home taking care of their household livelihoods.

The climate change crisis is hitting differently in vulnerable least developed countries, where communities are unable to cope as effectively as they should due to limited capacities and resources. Women and girls are more exposed and in addition to that. COVID-19 pandemic, a high percentage of girls in developing countries dropped out of school; the e-learning system is not as developed as it is in developed countries, which leads to dropouts because not every student has access to resources for e-learning systems.

Every March 8th, we celebrate women internationally; this year’s 2022 campaign theme is #BreakTheBias. We must all be involved and

solicit opinions and actions from both genders, without undermining our abilities. For this year’s International Women’s Day, we want to celebrate all the women who take part in addressing climate change, those on the frontlines of climate change impacts who unceasingly contribute to design solutions for their communities and those involved in research to ensure that the frontline voices are captured to each and everyone we celebrate.

Allow us to name a few of them:

The Minister of Environment in Rwanda, Dr. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya,
The Director General of Rwanda Environment Management Authority, Juliet Kabera,
The Chief Executive Officer of the Rwandan Green Fund, FONERWA, Teddy Mugabo,
The 46 least developed countries (LDCs) group Chair in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference of parties, Madeleine Diouf Sarr,
Many other women representing their countries are actively participating and demonstrating their capabilities, and more on the ground, facing the effects of climate change while also contributing to coping with those effects.

Your contribution and work are extremely valuable to us and you hold a candle of hope to achieve climate justice.

Women are the climate heroes that were no cap! They are more prevalent in the climate change sector, they are making interventions in the decision-making process, their voices are making a difference, they are taking small steps with an unfailing determination. They are the voices of the voiceless communities. As men cannot do everything on their own, neither can women. We must all be involved and solicit opinions and actions from both genders, without undermining our abilities. With our collective work, we will be building a better world now and for future generations.

Everyone can be a candle of hope in the climate change sector!

blogFebruary 25, 2022February 25, 2022

25 years old, ready to grow and glow!

I always planned that after my bachelor’s degree studies I will be a young girl shaping her life towards what I wanted to be and working hard to have what I needed and wanted, that would be starting at 24 years old and at my 25th birthday, I would be on the right path towards that. I said at 25, I would be growing personally, professionally, and especially starting to be financially stable to support myself, my family, and later after people in need. It went well in line with what I had planned and even better as I was working with friends and working in a field I enjoy, that was the best work career I could ever wish for.

Throughout my entire life, I was not the sick type of person, so when I started losing weight I did not think that It would be because of health issues. People around me noticed it and I did too but I could tell myself, it is fine it won’t hurt you losing some kgs. But that slowly changed as I started hating myself as I did not love the way I looked, it even scared me too much when one day I realized I lost 3kg in one week. I was like I am not doing anything to lose that much it is just happening and I did not know the cause. So one day I went to see a doctor, after some medical exams on that same day I was told I have diabetes. I did want to believe that it was not possible for me to have such sickness, I am nearly never sick, I came here on my own, I am fine. That is what kept popping in my mind till I Had the fourth exam results from different Hospitals.

That was so hard to digest but it was my reality from that time on. I went from Doctors to Doctors for more checkups to know if there were no other health issues for me to be treated accordingly, fortunately, at that time there was nothing more. Through that time I spent more time on that than on the other part of my life which I was beginning to shape, it lead me to miss some opportunities and also reached a point where I did not do anything, even things I did could not work as expected, like nothing was going right in my life and on top of that my family was very worried and I hated myself more for making them worry, I should be the one helping them and now i am adding to their worries with my sickness, i should have taken care of myself, i said to myself. But later on, I knew I had type 1 diabetes, so I was sick not because I did or did not do what I had to, that should have eased my culpability right? But It did not.

I knew I was sick in December 2019, in our country we had the first total lockdown due to the pandemic in March 2020. The lockdown, with fresh news for my sickness, was the worst match ever in my life. I went in a period where I did not want to be me, Sandra. Nothing was going well, even one thing I could hold onto, going to work meeting with people who could help me forget for some hours my sickness was no more. I did not want to speak to anyone at all; yes, I did respond

to calls and messages but I wished they stopped reaching out to me. I even stopped trying to grow professionally and personally after receiving negative responses from all the applications I did either school or work-related. During that time I could also blame myself for giving up, it was not the worst thing that happens in the lives of humans but there I was not feeling okay. Later on, I slowly realized it was fine to feel bad, that was part of me too.

Even if I was sick it never came into my mind that there were things I would stop doing, especially work-related. I was so confident about that. I just needed to stand up and create that opportunity that will help me improve my life. Yes, people around even my parents put barriers on me but I always said to myself I can do that. I remember one day my mother saying to my brother that he should not let me do more of the house shores as then I could not do as much as I used to because I was sick, that sounded like I won’t be doing any work again as they were already dismissing me from simple daily house chores. But as days passed I got to realize that in case you have the same illness as me you can continue your life routine and take of yourself, especially letting people around you know you are sick so that in case of a low blood sugar level, they know how to help, cause this is even fatal in case you do not get help in time. Know that we are capable and we can still live our lives as long as we do not forget to live by our current health situation.

You are wondering how I am doing now right?? Well, fortunately for me I did get out of that bad emotional phase if I can call it like that, and the people I wished stopped reaching out to me were the ones that helped me. One day I did this common thing of writing down what I have and what I do not have and I realized that there is one thing that I did not lose: LOVE. I felt love and care from so many people and I decided to hold on to that and smile again, to be the self I once loved and it worked! It was not an easy thing to do but slowly I got better emotionally. I did struggle and I still am, we all are struggling from one thing or another in this life, that will never change, but again we owe to ourselves to try and be okay and be happy.

Whenever we feel like we are not able to hold on to our lives, let’s try to find what to hold on to even if it is one thing, hold on to that. Remember also that if we feel we are not okay, it is fine not to be, just remember to move on from that and continue your journey. Also reach out to people you know, even if it is a call or a simple message, we never know we might be doing more than saying hello and saving someone. I am here almost two years later and I am starting to see my way now. This is my time and you will have yours too for that thing or that someone you have been wishing to have or to be. It did not happen when I planned to, but it is happening and I am ready to grow and glow.

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TIME THE ONLY TREASURE WE HAVE

25 years old, ready to grow and glow!

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