My journey from Sokoto State to camp was an interesting one. I’m ready to share my story with you and the lessons that I learnt from them. If you missed out on the previous chapter, read it here.
CHAPTER TWO – CAMP LIFE 2 (Adaptation)
“Attention!”
“At ease!”
“Attention! Eyes forward! Keep your chest and shoulder high. No side distractions, no shaking, be focused!”
The parade commander shouted as he inspected the new corp members on the field. Keeping up with his instructions was easy for me. I’ve always participated in march-past parade during inter-house sports when I was in secondary school. My favourite part was the ‘eyes right’ command. It amazed me every time we turned our heads to the right during a slow match. If smiling was allowed while marching, I would prefer to smile during those moments.
After being caught by one of the soldiers in Mami Market, Fortunate, Gino and I were forced to participate in the evening parade. When we arrived at the field, we had to go our separate ways since we belonged to different platoons. I was in platoon five, Fortunate was in platoon four while Gino was in platoon ten. We stood according to our platoons and watched as the parade commanders gave their instructions.
It was Wednesday and our swearing-in parade would be held on Thursday. The soldiers were preparing us for it. Everything seemed new to me but it seemed normal for some other people. I was still wearing a mufti so I was not considered a ‘white fowl’. One of the corp members had been chosen as a general parade commander, to lead the parade. I heard her shouting some words that I couldn’t understand and then the band started playing the National anthem.
‘Wow!’ I said as I admired the band. They played excellently well.
Suddenly, she shouted some words and I saw some corp members with their hands on their face caps and I imitated them.
“Three hearty cheers to the Governor of Sokoto State, His Excellency…”
I was sure that I stressed my ears, trying to hear the name of the governor but I couldn’t get the name.
“Hip! Hip! Hip!” The parade commander shouted.
“Hurray!” The other corp members replied as they removed their caps to salute. The sight was beautiful to watch.
“Hip! Hip! Hip!”
“Hurray!” This time, I joined in the salutation.
“Hip! Hip! Hip!”
“Hurray!”
After the third shout, the parade commander shouted again, “Parade, we replace headdress. Replace headdress.”
All corp members responded by wearing their face caps. The whole thing was new and confusing to me. But I got to learn it in the end. We were then taught to sing the NYSC anthem. The part that caught my attention was the line that says, “…under the sun or in the rain.” I got the ‘under the sun‘ part but I didn’t understand the ‘in the rain‘ part. I wondered if we ought to fight in the rain or something because from what I know when it’s raining we ought to take cover away from the rain.
After the evening parade, we went to the kitchen for our evening meal. It wasn’t so good but it was manageable. I went to a boarding school so I was kind of used to the whole system.
The next day was our swearing-in parade and that was when we became real Corpers (corp members). Before then, we were prospective corp members. That morning, we were all dressed in our NYSC uniforms and we looked like low-level soldiers. We lined up on the field and we waited under the sun until the Governor walked in. In the real sense, it was his representative who walked in. The man had wasted our time and kept us standing under the sun for minutes. It was then I understood what the NYSC anthem entailed.
We did everything that was rehearsed the day before and before I knew what was happening, I was sworn in as a Corp member of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to serve in the North. It was a glorious event. I met with a few alumni from the great University of Benin, Benin City; my alma mater. We bonded and had fun. That evening, a social night party was organised for us, to celebrate.
The next day, I started feeling sick. It was normal for me since I had changed my environment and the weather condition in Sokoto was too harsh for me. I was prepared for it so I took the drug I normally take during times like that.
A few days after, I had fully adapted to camp life. And I was leaving what I considered my best life at that moment. We finally got the news that relocation form was out and as expected almost everybody wanted to return to the south, west or east; anywhere but the north. I also wanted a relocation but I came late and the queue was endless. I asked some people their reasons for relocation and the reply I got made me laugh. One said he had a stomach ulcer, another said he had arthritis and another said he had a cough. The basic thing was that the number of really sick people was fewer than the number of fake sick people.
After analysing everything, I turned back and accepted my fate as a Corper of the North. I was not ready to lie about having a disease just to be relocated. Apart from the harsh weather condition, I knew I could manage for a year. My body had already started to adapt to the change of environment and I had the best company I could ever think of; Fortunate and Gino.
On one of the days, during the second week of camp, I returned to my hostel and saw one of my roommates packing her bags. I was surprised. Her bed was placed on the top bulk, which was beside mine and Fortunate’s bed was directly under hers. We used to chat together sometimes. I asked her why she was leaving and she said she had been decamped.
“Why? What happened?” I asked.
“I’m pregnant and they found out.” She replied.
“Oh my! Did you just find out?”
“No. I had already known before I came to camp. I’m married and stay in Kebbi State. I needed a break and so, I decided to come to camp.”
“But you know it’s dangerous because of the rigorous activities.”
“Yes, I know.” She said as she raised her long hijab to reveal a protruding belly.
I had lived with that lady in the same room for a week and some days and I had not seen or noticed her pregnancy. It was very obvious. I wonder how I didn’t notice it from the start. I wasn’t the only person in shock. Fortunate and some other roommates were also in shock.
I don’t know what that lady was running from but whatever it was, she had put her baby’s life on the line for it. It was a common rule that pregnant women are not allowed in camp. I wonder how the soldiers didn’t notice for almost 14 days.
After she left, a series of events started happening. The first was when another roommate of mine missed her step on the stairs and broke her leg. She was immediately taken to the Sokoto State general hospital. Later that day, we got the news that there were some complications and the fall had affected her spinal cord. She was then given an automatic relocation back to her home state, Akwa Ibom State. I heard that NYSC sponsored her plane ticket back home and they took care of her hospital bills.
With two roommates gone, everyone was on high alert and then one night, we heard a scream. We ran out and found out that there had been a theft case in one of the rooms. Some phones were stolen and a lady claimed to have seen the thief. She said it was a man. Girls would always be girls. Some were screaming unnecessarily saying, “Man in the hostel oh…”
Others started forming mini gossip groups where they talked about theft stories. Back in my room, the ladies became automatic security agents. We started planning how we would lock our room door with a padlock and assign the keys to different roommates when we were all out of the room. My security consciousness skyrocketed to 109%. Then, I couldn’t trust anybody, including my roommates. I guarded my belongings with my life. I barely slept with both eyes closed. If a fly whiz pass me in my sleep, I would know and open my eyes. The theft increased as people started complaining about their missing white polo shirts. I knew then that the thief was amongst us.
Just before the end of the second week, my friend, Fortunate got entangled in what seemed like a soldier-corper forced relationship. One of the soldiers had a liking for her and she was scared. She told Gino and me about it and we decided to work something out. The truth was that we had no plan but wanted her to know that she was not alone. The soldier was a high-ranking soldier at the campsite who had threatened her. I can’t remember what the threat was about but she was very scared. He requested for her to come to see him on time and as she went, I followed. While on our way there, we met Gino and he also followed. We couldn’t leave our friend to face the soldier alone.
The meeting joint was at Mami Market. When we got there, we met the soldier and his colleagues drinking and enjoying themselves. Some other female corp members were enjoying their company. The soldier called Fortunate and the three of us answered. It was a funny scene but we had made up our minds to stick together. The soldier asked us to leave and Gino said we can not leave without our sister.
“What is your name?” The soldier asked me.
I replied with my middle name. I was trying to play safe because I didn’t want to be decamped or posted to a bad village. I only answer my middle name at home. It’s not part of my official name so there was no way the soldier would be able to trace me with just my name.
He asked Fortunate for hers and she also replied with her middle name, Osas. If you are a native of Edo State, Nigeria you would know that the name, Osas, can mean several other names as it is a short form of those other names.
When it got to Gino’s turn, he said his full name with boldness. Sincerely, I have never seen such courage before. The soldier asked about our states of origin and Gino replied in our stead. He went on to say Fortunate and I are his sisters and he couldn’t leave us alone. After observing us for a while, the soldier asked the three of us to leave. And that was how Fortunate was able to break free from that soldier.
I know there are some good soldiers but there are also a few of them who lack values. If Gino and I had not stood for Fortunate at that moment, I wonder what would have happened.
___________
After the whole event that evening, I learnt a valuable lesson: Unity is indeed strength!
…to be continued.
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Kendy Speaks 