Yomi Kazeem

Nna mehn! This Abia NYSC camp thing is not a bed of roses. Being far away from civilisation, decent food and luxury- no matter how minute it would have been, is not easy.

A typical day begins with the blast of a soldier’s whistle and it ends with that same whistle. The military administration here is taking no prisoner, and the officers all seem to be very committed to the course of making sure we hate the daily parade. No doubt their paramilitary training and all should be saluted – but young people will always be themselves.

The sick beds can attest to that fact after a number of corps members actually fainted on parade ground and a few flippant blackouts from some others looking for any way out of the drill- it was kinda funny, even the soldiers had to laugh at some point!

 
In the hostels, there was a general consensus, we had had enough! Limbs were sore, bodies were bruised, wallets were flattened and minds were tired. Along with the novel tenets of the NYSC scheme- national integration and service to the fatherland- we had picked up some other skills as well such as dressing up half asleep and having baths with half-filled buckets of water.

But hey, it not all doom and gloom though, Mammy market is there as our solace. There is every imaginable service on offer in the shanty little shops, Mammy market is Eldorado as far as we are concerned!

In Mammy, humour is never far away. A laundryman is notorious for having a price for washing gently and another for washing thoroughly! In Mammy market, it’s life on the sunny lane down here.

We’re halfway through camp here in Abia State, the eNu-Y-S-See (as they call it) has been bitter-sweet for most of us. Lessons have been learned just as BlackBerrys have grown appendages and gone on pilgrimages…

Follow Yomi’s camp adventures on Twitter @TheYomiKazeem

Oluwapelumi