NYSC palava

I have not visited my blog in over one year. I blame NYSC, i remember being so happy when I saw my call up letter, Yaaay, i was posted to Akwa Ibom state. I had heard so many beautiful things about my state of origin. I didn't fancy camp though, it reminded me of my days as a junior student in secondary school, waking up as early as 3am, so i could avoid the 4am queue in the bathroom, then being chased out of the hostels by 5am by the Soldiers. I remember how we were being told repeatedly during lectures not to bribe anyone to influence our place of primary assignment, that everywhere in Akwa Ibom was beautiful. The D-day came for us to leave camp and report for duty at our place of primary assignment. Our platoon leader would jump and say congratulations if she saw Uyo on the letter or any other slightly developed town in the letter and if you were posted to a village, you could see it from her facial expression and instead of "Congratulations", she would say "Sorry" and it got to my turn and she said "Sorry". I took the letter and knew immediately that I had been posted to a village.

It was not easy serving my country in one year especially in a village that seems to despise development. I remember how difficult it was for me to find my primary place of assignment, it was hectic. There were no buses or taxis to transport, only bikes also known as "Okada". To make matters worse, it was raining season. I was on the bike under the rain shivering and asking myself "Is this thing called "Service" worth it?

I finally got to the village, the school was fine compared to all the others I saw on my way. I got to the corpers lodge in the school and met other senior corpers who were in batch A and then met some otondos who were like me, looking lost and confused, trying to figure out how they were going to survive in a village for one year. I easily adapt to life situation, I was trained that way but deep down inside, a part of me is still an aje butter. I told myself, if there was electricity, then I can manage. I asked the batch A Corp members if they had light, a friendly corper "Chinwe" answered. I was completely sad after she answered me. The village had not seen public light for the past 8 years because of transformer theft. They told us they charged their phones at a local phone accessory shop or in a fellow corper's room. He was the only corper who owed a generator. Still trying to assimilate the information of my new environment, I felt something biting me, it was slightly invisible but its bite was so visible as I saw parts of skin swell up immediately. I started itching and wondered what kind of place has mosquitoes playing around in the day. Mosquitoes are usually out in the evening. The batch A corpers quickly told us about the insect, it was a tiny creature called "Sand fly". Suddenly, mosquitoes had lost their title of being the most annoying creatures in Africa, i gave the title to these invisible blood sucking creature.

For some minutes, I stood still, asking myself "How will I survive here?" for a year. I stopped paying attention to what the Batch A corpers were saying. I called my mom immediately and started complaining, i called my dad and as usual, my hilarious father turned my complains into a joke, i laughed but that laughter just eased my feeling for five minutes. My dad is a positive high spirited man who believes that the Nigerian system is messed up but citizens can only manage by providing themselves with the basic social amenities they can afford. So if my new environment did not have electricity, i had to get a generator, if they did not have buses or taxis as a means of transportation, I had to get a rain coat to survive the raining season, if they did not have a nearby market that operated everyday, I had to buy bulk food stuffs that would be sufficient for me till the next market day.

My fiance was helpful, He called repeatedly to know how I was faring and adapting to my new environment. My sisters found the humour in my NYSC experience because I always had a new gist of my environment. My immediate younger sister tagged my experience "Tales of Afaha Obo".

I am so happy that service is over, it was a bitter sweet experience for me. I met new people, learnt how to teach students, learnt that I am a strong lady that can adapt to any situation in life. I lost some opportunities during my service year but I am thrilled that I was able combine service with the opportunities that were close to my new environment. I hear some people say "If I was given an opportunity to serve again, i would do it over and over. Well, not me. I am glad I served but it's not experience I want repeated.