Fikayomi is a Nigerian teenager who moves to Abuja from Jos for her NYSC program. Kano feels different to her than Jos. It is more populated and quite hotter than the predominantly cold city of Jos.
Fikayomi possesses a degree in Agricultural science, which is quite suitable in an Intensive Agricultural state like Kano. Her role at her place of primary assignment is Supervisory. This entails walking around an enormous expanse of farmland to supervise farmers now and then and taking an inventory of stocks before they are dispatched in large trucks to major cities.
Fikayomi is ecstatic at the chance to work and earn money at first, “the first responsibility of adulthood” her father says about jobs. But sadly, this feeling does not last as she quits after one month. A week later she secured a new place of primary assignment, but she quit after a month. This pattern continues in eight other jobs she secures until the end of her service year. She is denied from passing out with her mates as she failed to offer proof of having a place of primary assignment and the requisite final clearance letter. Fikayomi is distraught and drinks a poisonous substance to commit suicide, and, as luck would have it, she is discovered on time.
People had a lot of questions about Fikayomi’s case, but the most prominent was why she quit ten jobs in a year. Everyone who knew Fikayomi knew she is focused and goal-oriented and truant behavior wasn’t a thing with her, then what happened?
The truth is Fikayomi has an anxiety disorder called Heliophobia. Heliophobia is an intense, sometimes irrational fear of the sun. People who have this phobia when exposed to the sun often experience feelings of dizziness, quick temper, panic attacks, inability to relax, problems with concentrating, palpitations, aches and pain, migraines and headaches and fatigue, etc.
Before moving to Kano State, Fikayo had lived all her life in Jos Plateau State, one of the coldest states in Nigeria with a 17-degree temperature. Kano is one of the hottest states in Nigeria with a 36-degree temperature, twice the temperature of Jos. Fikayomi struggled with being productive in an environment whose weather triggered anxiety in her. Her degree in agriculture science offered her job opportunities which were more in the field than in an office. This meant frequent exposure to the sun. Fikayomi battled with the understanding of the sudden anxiety that comes over her from waking up to prepare to go to work, to commuting in an overcrowded bus to work each day. She struggled with understanding the prickly feeling she did get beneath her skin during the daytime as if she had hundreds of beetles crawling around her insides and laying eggs. Nor could she understand the migraine and body ache she felt while supervising the work at the field and the general uneasy feelings of low productivity which loomed over her like dark clouds on a windy night.
I am a Fikayomi. There are lots of people like Fikayomi in Nigeria. Sometimes we are the ones the society’s hustle culture describes as lazy because we cannot leave the house when the sun is out. Sometimes we are the ones who ignore social interaction with our peers during the daytime and later worry about being alone. We are the ones with heightened mood swings, sweaty palms, and panic attacks on sunny days.
The term Environment connotes the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates. Components of our environment that can influence our mental health range from aesthetics, people, culture and values, sensory familiarity, etc. Each part should be treated to be of equal importance as the other.
The totality of our environment undoubtedly influences our mental health. From the institution of the home as growing children to friends, religion, culture, climate change, etc. It all plays a role in the sort of stability we would have.
In a personal survey I conducted in Abuja on November 18, 2020, only one in two hundred people knew what Heliophobia was. Fikayomi’s story is only but one example of how the environment can influence our mental health and that’s why it’s important for every one of us to always come from a place of understanding, love, and support to people around us as we can never tell the battle they face behind closed doors.