Exactly twenty three days ago, I shared my last blog post. It was a football match review which I posted in threespeak. The football match between Chelsea vs Leicester which ended well in my favor as did everything else for Chelsea, haha, if you know what I mean.
On the 19th of May 2021 I got the much anticipated call-up letter to serve my country. There is a scheme in my country Nigeria which is the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC). It is a compulsory 1 year program set up by the Nigerian government to enable graduates of Universities and polytechnics alike to take part in nation building and development true service. Created in May 22 1973 after the civil war as an avenue for restructuring. reconciling, and overall rebuilding of the nation with a sole aim of fostering unity. Corp members, I.e participant in the national youth service, are deployed to states away from their origin to meet and mingle with people of different ethnicity. Nigeria has over 250-300 ethnic groups with over 500 spoken languages, chances are that an average Nigerian hasn't being to more than half the ethnic group or heard the language. The one year service is also divided into three weeks of orientation in various defined location in all 36 states of the country. Then the rest of the year involves working in the place of primary assignment to which a corp member was posted. During this year, corp members are also expected to participate actively in Community Development Service (CDS). Then of course, the passing out.
My Experience
It was an experience I looked forward to. On the 19th I embarked on the journey to Ogun state. The state I was deployed to, one of the 36 states in the country. I hadn't being there or lived there before so I looked forward to the place and people. I will try not to go into all the details because I think I Wouldn't stop writing if I don't, lol. Arriving at the orientation camp we were subjected to covid19 test, God it felt nauseating when the nurse stick that swab in my nose. Then luggage search for contrabands and then we got into our hostels, got our kits and settled down. Evening of that same day started the never ending parade.
Through out our 21 day stay at the orientation camp, we were informed that we should always clad in all white. White shirt, white shorts, white snickers, white NYSC socks, and then your NYSC cap except on swearing in which you're supposed to be in your original NYSC kit given to you, on carnival day which you're allowed to wear what ever please and on passing out day which you will also wear the kits. The waist bag is just an accessory to keep your belongings as some shorts have no pocket. 4pm we were already out in the sun not knowing whats to come. It was a regimented camp. We were told when to wake up, which is from 4:30 am. Then other scheduled activities for the day, including breakfast, lunch and dinner at set time. Then lights out at 10:30pm for you to go to sleep. A disorietating, loathsome, yet interesting experience.
We had different activities which we were involved in, most of which were a competition.
There was the football competition in Which I scored the only goal in the competition for my team. It was a euphoric moment. I wrote this after the game;
Dear Diary,
Today I played football for my platoon team and I scored the winning goal right at the death.
It felt euphoric I felt like whipping out my schlong, but alas over 1700 people were watching.
We moved into penalty shootout. The opponent lost and the final penalty was supposed to be me. I was supposed to play the final spot kick and win it for my team, but my confidence failed me.
I told my teammate to go instead. He lost it.
I played next, I scored.
Dear diary, today I am super excited.
It feels good. Dear Diary,
God be praised.
God is king.
God is alive.
God is good.
We also had Man O' War military drills which was a bittersweet experience for me.
Everyday during the morning prayers, I would stare at the beautiful horizon and the sun rising in full majesty. I always looked forward to that part of the day. In the evening, I would sit still and relish the full beauty of the sun setting. An overall beautiful experience completely refreshing as well as difficult. There must have being a lot of typos there, you have to forgive me, my eyes are all woozy from sleep. I can't wait to get active back. I can't wait to get back to reading my books, I can't wait to interact with my hive community members, hivebookclub, photographylovers, blackandwhite photography, hivetwitter, etc. Ah men, now I'm tired. In the next post, I will be telling you about my Place of Primary Assignment. Stay Tuned.