NYSC ORIENTATION CAMP BROUHAHA

Eventually, I got posted to Yobe State. Tell me about the power of the tongue, or rather, the hand. So, I got posted to the NYSC Orientation Camp in Postiskum, Yobe State.

In other news, everything you must have heard about camp is true. INTENSELY TRUE. But, some things are overexaggerated though.

DEALING WITH THE SHOCK OF POSTING.

That very day I logged in to my portal, looked around then logged out. 5 minutes later, people were sending in screenshots of their state of deployment. NYSC, why? Wrong timing. I couldn’t log in again due to traffic network issues. Eventually, I was able to check and discovered I had been deployed to Yobe State. I was shocked. I had already been so sure I was going to Oyo State. To think I had already been making fun of people deployed to Taraba, Gombe… after all the mouth I had made to my friends that I’d be posted to Oyo state, I ended up making a 2-day journey to Yobe.

ARRIVAL AND REGISTRATION AT NYSC ORIENTATION CAMP

Registration begins immediately after you arrive from the hostels down to the kit collection. Luckily for me, it wasn’t so stressful as we moved in groups from place to place and the bulk of PCMs hadn’t arrived. The craziest part was the kit collection. Your uniform would be greatly oversized except if you are on the big size. Even then, it can end up being small.

You could be lucky to get your perfect size. Either way, NYSC is nice enough to help people who have problems with their uniforms from the cap to the belt or khaki even down to the shoes. You will eventually end up with the right size either by exchanging it or going to the store.

NYSC ORIENTATION CAMP LOVE.

Camp love is real, and it’s usually fantastic when you have just been paid. Many people find their soulmates and future partners on camp, no doubt about it. It’s just funny how some people had it in mind to be their top source of survival. Talk more or less for those who got decamped over frivolities, my platoon drills leader said many of us don’t know the value of the education we have, however bad the country is, some people are looking for it and they can’t get it. To him,

“If you can survive 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 years in your various higher institutions, what then is 3 weeks? Something that if you look at it well is not up to 21 days for some people”.

Read: NYSC POST CAMP STRUGGLES

NYSC ORIENTATION CAMP FOOD, HOSTELS, MAMMY MARKET

Camp food is terrible…. Well, that’s an exaggeration. The food in camp is actually dope, lol, I know right.

But on a very serious note, food on camp is great; save for beans (the end result is stooling, a guy ran out of morning drills holding his buttocks whilst running into the bush after a night of beans) I ate the craziest and whitest jollof rice ever in Yobe State. Food actually gets better as platoons take turns cooking. It becomes a contest. Someone actually said that if the camp food was satisfactory Mammy market would not exist. Sometimes I wonder what the difference between the mammy market and the camp kitchen was. Just eat to survive. You’d be satisfied some other days.

That the mammy market is expensive is intensely true. Depends on your bargaining ability though to me. Though the way corps members portray it, you’d think you can never shop in the market. It’s fair to them considering their business is fixed at a point. They pay rent and get permits and most live away from their homes. Whatever you do, just make sure you have enough and economize.
For the hostels, well in Yobe camp, hostels were dope. Just a bit congested, but the toilet facilities were always neat, clean and tidy. I would say I had the best hostel experience at camp for someone who was never a boarding student in secondary or tertiary schools.

PARADES.

Early morning drills should not be spoken about, anything you hear about it is quite true. Be prepared for the sound of that Beagle, it had come in the way of wonderful. sweet, precious and short rests. Parades are stressful but it is also fun. It is beautiful whether you parade or not. Nobody is forced to parade. You must however, train or be on the parade ground daily.

Corp members always envy medical students and the OBS crew in camp because they feel they don’t parade. I don’t buy that idea though because these 2 categories of people do parades. Whatever you do, do not be idle in camp.
Make the best of it. Learn new things. Be open and free. As shy and introverted as I am being any of those two things would not have helped me in any way. Participate in activities to relieve stress. Enjoy your SAED classes and have fun.

Camp is always fun at the end, and you’d not want to leave again. Believe that. Till you experience it.

DO WELL TO LEAVE A COMMENT BEHIND AND SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE AND EXPECTATIONS.

One blog post cannot just do it.

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