MY CAMP EXPERIENCE THUS FAR

I've made two major personal discoveries in the few days I've spent in camp thus far. It's been like nothing I expected.

The first is that I am NOT physically strong. I didn't know the extent of my physical weakness until I arrived to attend the NYSC Batch B 2015 Oyo state Camp. In my lame attempt to carry my box on my head at the camp gate, I fell down 3 times. In between the soldiers raising their deep voices at me to my fellow prospective corp members glaring at me with pity written all over their faces, I looked ahead only to discover a friend of mine had been videoing my struggle with the box the entire time. I cannot adequately explain how much shame I felt in that moment. What a way to begin my 3 week Journey!

Haven narrowly escaped the "box carrying" tradition with no injuries sustained; I breathed a sigh of relief thinking the worst was finally over. This was however short lived as the registration process proved to be a much more difficult task.

I stood and sat on ONE queue for over 5 hours. Within these 5 gruesome hours I saw first-hand the diversity of our Nation Nigeria. Nearly all the tribes in Nigeria were represented among the thousands of youth present at the camp; the differences between us were glaring. Underneath these differences however, we shared a number of things in common:

 One Fatherland

 Successful completion of a first degree

And of course we all desperately wanted to get to the front of the line. The led to shunting which in turn led to quarrels and mini-fights but then at the end of the day we all finished the registration process even though some did faster than others. This process for me was a reminder that Life is a Race and it's almost impossible for every runner to finish at the same time and pace.

On the seemingly harmless open field just in front of the camp gate called "THE PARADE GROUND", I made my second major discovery; I can sleep standing up!

It was our first full day on camp at about 5 AM all prospective Corp members were summoned to the parade ground. There I was dressed almost identically with over 2000 people. I had massive eye bags, sore limbs and a banging headache from my "box carrying" the previous day. I nodded back to life only to discover one of my platoon members giggling as he caught me shamelessly sleeping on my feet. In intense embarrassment I asked myself "Who sent me to do NYSC?”

No doubt it has been a drilling process but thankfully with each passing activity it's becoming easier to survive. I've beat my alarm clock two days in a row to get ready in the mornings, surprisingly the morning exercises have become my favorite camp activity and I no longer tremble at the sight and sound of the soldiers.

My favorite lines in the NYSC Anthem read; "Let us lift our nation high" and "with dedication and selflessness". In order to lift a heavy object off the ground, the easiest way is to lift it from the bottom with help from others.  Nigeria is that heavy object and lifting it up from the bottom will require humility and team work. At camp each time we sit on the grass, run at the sound of "double-up, double-up" and carry out all the other "frustrating" instructions given to us by our Instructors for the fear of being punished, we learn humility. Each time we come together in our platoons to carry out the tasks given to us, we learn team work. Both things we need in order to effectively serve our nation in this NYSC year and beyond.

I made the decision to focus on the positives in this 3 week journey. Ever since I made this decision, I've been able to smile and sometimes even laugh through the painful and frustrating moments.

So far so good! I look forward to brighter days ahead.

Sinmisola Nojimu-Yusuf,

Gentleman Corps Member, Batch B Oyo state.