My NYSC Camp Experience (Episode 8)

The Exceptional Blues

Hello guys, its another episode and guess what? it is coming to an end, not to worry as we will have many more gist to talk about… I really cant wait because I’m planning on publishing short fictional stories🤔… well well lets just get to the business of the day before vital details begin to skip my mind

I was faced with quite a number of challenges while I was in camp, but amidst those challenges there were high moments. Moments that put a smiles on my face every time they come to my mind.

The Blues

well I will start with the blues because we all want to live happily ever after😁…

The Volley Ball

This was a mixed feeling because it was a happy moment for me yet sad to an extent. I accompanied sugar to one of her volley ball trainings, out of curiosity, I wanted to know what was going on there. ( Curiosity kills the cat 🐱)

A lot of people had suggested volley ball to me because of my height , so I wanted to give it a try.

I got there and I was welcomed by the team, I just found a new thing and I wanted to fit right in. Alas ! it was not my calling which I found hard to believe till this moment .

I started with the basic training and I was doing so very well, I paid keen attention to the coach and I was learning very fast. until the training got so interesting and we started playing as a team.

While I was playing with the team I fell in, I was trying to play very well and I was so ready when I saw the ball coming towards me, my gaze was on the ball as it was coming down to me, everyone was waiting for my reaction, I stretched my hands towards the ball as it landed on one of my fingers instead of the whole fingers. You know how dreadful it is for an elephant to sleep on a mouse, ouch! That was how it felt 😢.

I screamed so loud with the thought that my finger had crushed. It was so painful that I really wanted to cry. At that very instant I left the pitch, they all attended to my hand by massaging my ring finger. Rhoda helped me to massage my hand while I was still crying like a baby

A clip of Rhoda attending to my hand 😢

Video credit: Osinachi (OC)

It didn’t end there as I could not even lift the finger. let me let you know that I’m still feeling some sort of pain in that very finger up until now. Sad! well that was a memory and I can never forget it.

Moving on to another one, yass💃! In the previous episode , I promised to tell you about my blue moment with Captain Wakawa.

So let’s go 🚗, it was one boring afternoon, we were receiving a boring lecture under the pavilion. I tried to sleep but I was caught so many times😫, I had my phone with me, so I used my phone as the relive for the extremely boring lecture, I was flipping through my phone, so engrossed and carried away. meanwhile, its an offense to play with phones during lecture.

I was not paying attention to any thing, I was out of that world to the amazing world of my phone, until someone sitting beside me tapped me, then I realized that I was still within the lecture area, the person tapped me to call my attention to the Army Lady who had been calling me since, I looked up to her angry face like that of hungry Lion 🦁, she roared “Give me that phone ” the texture of her voice won’t even allow me to hesitate, I gave her the phone expecting she’d return it to me after the lecture, but to my surprise, she told me and other culprits to meet her at the camp commandant’s lodge 😢.
We met the commandant on his estranged chair outside the lodge, he was putting on mufti, he looked at us with disappointment. We were all standing infront of him like trapped criminals, he told us to switch off our phones, then he commanded us to write a well-structured letter of apology through the camp RSM directed to the camp commandant.

We were asked to come back by 2pm, lateness would be addressed, I went to my hostel looking so sad, I penned down my letter of apology, neatly written in an A4 paper, I was asking for time because I dont want to be late. He had already told us we would all pay if any of us that came late! How tricky! Its not about me alone, I couldnt eat nor sleep, I was praying silently that the other nine culprits should also work with time . by 1:45 I already left my hostel and I got to the commandant lodge by 1:50 on the DOT.

Luckily for me, we all arrived on time so, we were told that the commandant was sleeping and we must not sit , we were all standing at ease under the scotching sun, we had no choice but to abide by this.

We stood there for like an hour, then he came out telling us we disrupted his sleep, He said we disrespected him and we are going to pay for it, we begged for forgiveness. I wore my distress look when he noticed me, then he said Quarter Guard! You are among them, I am not going to release your phone with my little tiny voice like a singing bird, I said I am sorry sir .
After a while he released our phones, our legs were already aching, then he told us repeat this again, mark my words, that would be the end of your phone trust me, I belived his word and I abided by the rule, Since that horrible experience, I stopped pressing my phone during lectures.

Quater Guard Punishment

One of our duties

This is still super funny to me, the punishment was not funny ooo but What led to it. So let me gist you 😉. We were in our training arena, our Quater Guard instructor decided to teach us about somethings we have been missing at the parade ground. We were done for the day so he told us to stay longer.
He gave us the words of command, which we repeated after him.

It looked like a joke to us because we couldn’t get those words correctly. At this point, he got so angry and warned us against unnecessary laughter, we all cooperated until Emmanuel was instructed to lead us…

So the correct version of the command is “Parade will remove head dress…. ” but Emanuel said “Parade will remove hair dress ” he said it for the first time, we all laughed, our instructor got so angry at us so he started picking randomly, he picked 3 out of us, he told them to run down to the State Coordinator’s appartment to and fro 😥…

This punishment set us straight, the rest of us concentrated with rapt attention, but Emmanuel continued with “Parade will remove hair dress ” and I’m so sorry I laughed 😥😫😫… I could see the rage in his eyes, I was told to run to and fro, damn! My legs hurt but the way Emmanuel said Hair dress instead of head dress was just too funny, he kept on repeating it and I couldn’t control myself 🤦.

We finished serving the punishment and he addressed us, he was so angry, he felt we were taking him for granted but deep down, we weren’t! We apologized for being so unserious.

Khair sitting with some members of the Quarter Guard

Laundry
Chai, permit me to expose my lazy ass, I used all my shorts, t shirts, socks and everything, it was on a sunday, we were allowed to wear mufti until 2pm, I gave the laundry woman my whites in the morning, I was expecting her to bring them back before 2pm… I went back to the hostel to unwind and before I knew it, it was time for lunch, I was told I can’t go out unless I put on my whites, dang! Her line wasn’t going through, so I checked my box and I found a white short and a very big shirt we were given on the very first day, the reason why I kept those two was because the shirt was extremely big and transparent while the shorts looked more like a bum short, extremely short and 🤦😥… I had no choice because I needed to go to the laundry place
So I had no freaking choice, I put on the short, shirt, canvas without socks, I peeped at my beloved laps, they have never felt any ray of sunlight 😣😫, oh poor them, I was angry at myself and the laundry woman for disappointing me…

I took off the whites again because I couldn’t stand myself wearing those, I kept it and I made up my mind that I will tell anyone that wants to send me out that I have no white to wear. As I was cooking up this voila! The laundry Woman came looking for me, I didn’t know when I gave her a big hug 🤗, she apologized for coming late that she was sent back the other time. I quickly changed to my white, I felt comfortable and I was looking dapper 😉. I learnt my lesson on how not to put all my eggs in one basket…

Kitchen

We are all aware of what I went through in the kitchen so this is another story 😑😑. I was extremely hungry on that blue day, I was waiting for the beagle, I got up immediately after the amazing sound of the beagle 🤣🤣! I went straight to the kitchen, they were serving yam and fish sauce, it was actually a huge slice of yam. All smiling, I got my food served, I covered my lunch box, I was going towards the hostel when I heard this shocking sound gbim!!! my hand felt light which made me look down and found my yam with my lunch box rolling on the floor, everyone was saying sorry oo which triggered my pain to the peak, I picked up my lunch box which was already wrapped with sand, I washed it and went straight to my room, it was more than tears so I just used cornflakes to pacify myself after which I forced myself to bed waiting for the evening’s parade.

Ermmmm 🤔 which other one 🤔 ohoh I got broke!
This is terrible! I had money in my account but I was cashless, I was cocksure that the POS will save me but to my surprise, it didn’t work! I walked up to Sunmonu who helped me out! I glady returned her money after our first alawee in camp.

Menstrual cramp!

Dang! This is terrible, I had my cramps and I couldn’t get away from parade. I went to the clinic but I left because It was just too crowdy, I needed to sleep but it was during lecture period. I had to force myself to adapt. With my cramps, I represented my SAED group for presentation. Oh no! I will surely gist you about my SAED (Skill Acquisition & Entrepreneurship Department)🤦🤦. So back to my menstrual blues, our kits color! White! Even though I had dressed myself against any stain, I still had to check my back every second 😂😂😂… Girls can relate.

Man O War Drill

One of the Man O War Drills

Damn damn damn! Man O War drill was one hell of an experience , this is different from the early morning drill o. Different days are dedicated for two platoons to have a taste of the drill in the man o war village.
My platoon and one other platoon were paired up, and for that evening, we didn’t go for the evening parade. We were asked to wear our kit 7/7. Talking about 7/7 , it’s putting on everything Jacket. White inner, trouser, socks, cap, belt and jungle boot.

Palis and I in 7/7

It felt awkward when these man o war told us to tuck in our jacket… eww, but then, I don’t have a choice , had to follow what they said .
We got there and the first thing we were told to do was to sit on bare floor!
I was so pissed, because my khaki was too neat for this , (Gosh, Man O War are dirty jor) I had ironed it, my white was crystal clean.

My worst night mare was at the village, there was this Man O war guy that has been disturbing me to see him privately, I had tried all that I could to escape his lustful plan. Alas !he is a man o war and one of the instructors for that day. Our eyes met and he gave me a mischievous smile as he called my name with a tone A.D.E.R.O.N.K.E. I gave him a blank expression. I escaped everything that has to do with this man (I’m good at escaping, and once again, He lost).

We were taken round the village, we were introduced to different training area. The purpose of the Man O War was to train us on how to escape danger, self-defense and all.
There are different scary sections that I was scared to try. But I wanted to know how it felt like. With series of prayer I did almost everything and I did not fall down.
I didn’t get dirty nor injured, For I tried as much as possible to avoid anything that will harm or put me into any trouble, well, I did made a perfect decision! Why? Lots of girls had their trousers torn.

I escaped this! but I took the picture 😉

There was this particular one that I escaped through an officer who had been eying me since, well I’m sorry! I had to use that opportunity to escape that horrible scene of my trouser getting torn.

The scariest one for me is the bridge across trees. That day I found out that I have acrophobia . When it got to my turn, the Man O war saw the fear in my eyes, I nearly turned back but at least let me do this and get the hell out of this freaking place. I climbed and I followed her instructions because I didn’t want to drop dead in pieces. Whoo hoo I got down feeling like a super star.

The bridge

I can’t leave this moment without talking about their passion for songs in the Man O war village. Let me give you one to round up the gist of the Man O War.

Them go born monkey
Them go born monkey
If soldier marry corper
Them go born monkey
Them go born mumu
Them go born mumu
If corper marry corper
Them go born mum u
Morale High! ✌

My mood when I left the Man o war village

Happily Ever After 😊😆😀

weird, weird weird

My high moments were wow.
Let me keep it short and start with the climax

OBS (Orientation Broadcasting Service) 🎤

This will always be a precious moment for me, My shout out show made me a camp super star, the show became a hit that everyone listened to, everyone wants to hear their name and get a shout out on the show.
For every time I read morning news, I am always happy because it’s a good feeling that 2000+ people are standing there with no choice but to listen to your news.
Well the name OBS was given to me and I answered with joy. Holding OBS tag opened many doors for me because I could go to the kitchen at odd hours to get food when other dared not, I could enter places that other corps member couldn’t
People were jealous of the OBS.

Skill Acquisition & Entrepreneurship Department

This is a skill acquisition scheme by the NYSC, it was designed for us to learn one skill before leaving camp. I had hard time in choosing out of the numerous skills available, I later chose customizing.
I signed up for the private class which was paid for by a precious soul. I learnt a lot during the course of this training. I used all my free time for this private class. See why I was always busy? SAED_OBS_LECTURE_QUATER GUARD_ACTIVITIES… At this point I had no time to myself again except bed time.
I met Samy concept who once served in Oyo State, but trust me, this SAED has helped him a lot, He has his own business now, and he is very good at this customizing.
One of these days I will do one customizing to show that I didn’t forget the work, I just don’t have time to practice it very well.
Hanifah and Adeoba were my private class training mate, they became my new friends, we got to know more about each other and it got beyond that SAED.

ONE OF MY SAED ACTIVITIES

I presented for my SAED group during our exhibition day. I am a good public speaker, so I made sure to seize every opportunity to talk, you know what scared me of that day. I was having menstrual cramp, looking so pale and sick.
I got on stage and it was hard for them to believe I was having cramps, they all said it’s a lie that I presented very well.

I got out there, facing the camp commandant, state coordinator among others, I was not scared but privileged to show the world that I can face the crowd and talk without peeing in my pants.
Out trainer was so happy at how I presented the works we had done and showing them ways by which those beautiful work can be done. I also attended the training for bead making, I made some for myself.

FIRST ALAWEE
I got my first 19,800 in camp and it was a nice experience, I saved the money inside my heavily guarded box lol, I tried to save a huge part of the money for the day when I will be leaving camp. I surely enjoyed myself as well.
Moving on from alawee to the day we got paid for performing so well in the quarter guard, we were so excited even though the money was not that enough for all of us to share, we were so happy for the reward which was given to us by the woman who represented the DG.

GETTING GOOD PPA
OBS and Quarter Guard tried to secure good PPA (Place of Primary Assignment) for us that is also our reward for being part of the team, good place of primary assignment was assured.
I will gist you about my PPA on the episode geared towards my last day.
Also talking about nice moments, my Platoon came first in the camp football match!

I met a crush

We were asked to come for alawee, this guy came to me on the queue, he begged to allow him jump the line and stand in front of me, I refused him firmly, telling him it is not the right thing to do, other people standing there were not zombies.
I held on to my integrity, I didn’t allow him in my front nor my back.
The guy looked at me and said you are stubborn, I smilled and said to him, I am only being fair.
He checked my IDcard and screamed , Are you the OBS Aderonke, I said yes, He said Oh my God I have been looking for you, I have been crushing on your voice,, wow I am sorry we met like this. you have been doing a wonderful Job inside the studio, I like your voice, keep it up I am a fan”

I sank those words into my head as I was blushing. I told him “ Thank you so much, I really appreciate your comment, but you will still have to go and queue at the back” he laughed and said he would do that gladly. We didn’t exchange contact, I didn’t even know his name but that was the lst time we saw.

There are lots of moments, one that I have shared in the previous episodes, so I don’t want repetitions … (we all remembered my first episode, how my box got spoilt blah blah
Thanks for reading ☺ Muaaahh 😘

Appendix

OBS (Orientation Broadcasting service)

SAED (Skill Acquisition & Entrepreneurship Department)

PPA (Place of Primary Assignment)

S/O to my editors

Sherriff Ibrahim (SPC) 😍😘

Hammed Islamiyah 😍and Osakwe shedrack.😍