'The Camp Experience' As Told by Seun A.

So my sister had just concluded NYSC and I wanted to know for myself what it was all about and to know just how accurate some of her ridiculous camp stories were. I was quick to realize she’d nailed it. Right from the gate of the orientation camp, the soldiers were eager to make our experience one we’ll never forget. Not in a hurry, I went with my suitcase and some provisions and on getting there, we were made to carry our luggage on our heads, and judging by the appearance of mine, it would seem that I’d packed for a family of 5. It was intense. I still had a carton of CapriSonne and bottled water that my friend and I thought wise at the time to bring along. Needless to say, we didn’t go back for it.

There were different things that stood out that I can’t forget about camp: There’s the mattresses, some of which could easily be mistaken as blankets at first glance; sharing a room with 37 other corpers with an old ceiling fan that really didn’t do us much good; the fire drill, which we had by like 2 AM (Come on! We could have at least woken up to something more of an emergency than a tame camp fire!); also Commander Captain Ijapa!!! (I could do a whole page on that guy).

The daily routine basically started off with the soldiers' whistles. God knows I could still hear that destabilising sound for about a month after leaving the Orientation Camp. It constantly reminded us to get up and go to bed every day. We’d wake up as early as 4AM (or earlier) to go get water to bathe and were chased out of the hostel by 5AM for morning devotion at the Parade Ground with those same evil whistles. There were also boring lectures in the morning and the hall could barely contain half of us. Later on, Skills Acquisition was also introduced, which was a plus. In the evenings, we had parades where we’d basically just practice how to march for our final day in camp.

Camp wasn’t all bad though. I did meet some cool people along the way and the Man ‘O War drill was fun and challenging, even though I had to take my Khaki trousers for ‘amendments’ more than once. Mammy Market was also one of the good things about Camp. It was always a busy and packed place (until the whistles were blown, that is) whether for eating, dancing, or just for having a good time, you know, hanging with friends or the guy/babe you’re ‘tracking’.

Camp usually lasts for three weeks. During the first week, there was a welcome party. That’s where I suddenly had a paradigm shift. The concept of youths being chased to a party tends to bring about that. We were also assigned to platoons and had duty rosters. I got Platoon 3. The second week was basically just long, then in the final week, most of the fun happened; from drama and dance competitions, to running track, football and volleyball. Then there were also the award shows for Miss Bold and Beautiful, Mr. Macho and Miss NYSC, and to wrap it all up, the Bonfire Night.  All great stuff! I can’t forget to mention the Talent Hunt Show. I was a proud contestant, attempting to serenade the crowd with my rendition of Wande Coal’s ‘Ololufe’. I did alright. I know this because although I didn’t make it to the semis, there were no chants of ‘Away! Away!!’ during my performance, which is more than I can say for most of the other contestants. Cruel World.

                   

Camp was a really new experience, one I’m grateful for. I think it made me tougher. But if I had to do it all over again, that would be as cruel as it gets. On getting out of camp, the real service started. I was posted to AUMTCO, an urban transport company for my PPA and assigned to the Legal Aid CDS, where I work for N10,000 a month, which is below minimum wage. But it comes to N29,800 a month  (NYSC allowee included). Some aren’t paid at their PPAs so I’m grateful. Corper credit alerts have become music to my ears, might I add.

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Seun Alabi is a Mechanical Engineering graduate of Covenant University. He enjoys singing and writing, especially songwriting. He lives in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State but is currently serving in FCT, Abuja.