I've always wished for an adventurous lifestyle the kind I wouldn't find in any book, having to experience the unimaginable first hard has been a deep desire of mine. In one way or the other I knew it I was going to have the opportunity to explore a little bit in my lifetime if I could just find the courage of getting out of my comfort zone. Believe me I have tried so many times to visit places but then I always find a way to come up with weirdest excuse that would prevent me from going. Silently prayed for something logical that would chase me out of my comfort zone, it came but it didn't just chase me out of my comfort zone, it made me find peace in being uncomfortable, isn't that weird?
March 17 it was when I was deployed to Oyo State In Nigeria for my NYSC service, An event I have been anticipating for more than a year. It is one of the most significant event in a student life when you get to serve your father's land or should I say mother's land since our national anthem has been edited. In as much as I wanted it to unfold I knew it would eventually affect me in ways I never thought was possible. One of the Few effects I can foresee was the fact that I will have to leave everything I was doing behind which includes my online activities, my hive career sitting at the top of the list.
For those who have known me over the years could testify to the fact that I take I hive career very seriously. Not like a job per say but a place I could gladly call my home based on the friends and connection I have made. Looking at the possibilities of leaving my hive account idle I ventured into research to figure out the possible ways I could reduce the effect, which means figuring out how rigorous the activities in NYSC camp are.
To an extent my research was fruitful, I discovered a lot of things from those who have served before me which assisted me in creating countermeasures to ensure I remain active during 3 weeks I will be in camp. They say, while making plans always give room for the unexpected which I did but I grew too confident while planning which led me into believing everything has been provided for. Getting to camp just like every other students filled with energy despite the fact that I spent over 5 hours traveling to NYSC camp in Oyo state. I was confident that I was going to be just fine, I was but it only lasted for awhile.
I finished my in camp registration swiftly just to make sure no time was wasted, at the moment it felt like everything was going according to plan till it wasn't. My first encounter was "drills" A compulsory military exercise every Corp member is expected to participate in. Since I was done with my registration and I was given my NYSC kits, I wasted no time in putting on my white on white camp dressing code which was the first mistake I made. Immediately the soldiers saw me on white on white which indicates I was done with in-camp registration and ready for camp activities, I was matched down to the parade ground.
Picture taken from parade practice on the parade ground
And that was how it all started, being introduced to the match practice was fun at first till we began to repeat the same steps over and over again till my legs felt numb. It is strange how something could be fun and hurt badly simultaneously 😅. That was when I realised I have not given my body time to rest from the traveling but there was no going back. Even if there was, it was not known to me at the moment and that was how I discovered how much my laps could hurt. Nursing the pain and also going through the camp activities made me forget every other thing existed. I guess during my research phase about camp activities I wasn't told that the difficulty depends on which camp you are deployed to 😅.
Amidst all the whole regimented camp activities, there were somethings that were extremely fun, well I didn't really participate in all the camp activities but i just kind of partake in the ones I feel like I fit in. The first one on the line is the drama group, I have mentioned it most times about how incredible I'm in coming up with good drama script, well my skills were put to good use in this aspect. The moment I found out that I'm in no position to participate in parade I decided to devote myself to drama coordination which is one of the top camp activities especially in the aspect of competition. The one I enjoyed the most was the one for the carnival, we were asked to portray the effik culture, it wasn't easy at all.
We did and lucky for us my platoon came first in drama and even in parade, though I ended up sustaining an injury on my lap which prevented me from being part of the cast but then I made sure my ideas proved my importance. I was cherished a lot especially when I was nicknamed director, though it wasn't easy I remember getting into quarrels with different kind of people just to ensure everything was acted the way it should be.
The second activity I participated in which was really fun for me was enlisting for learning for animal husbandry in a SAED program in NYSC camp. SAED {Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development} is a mandatory exercise for every corp member to join while in camp. The objectives of the SAED program is quite simple which is To eradicate poverty by ensuring corp members learn a skill among the ones that will be provided to learn during the duration of 3 weeks we will be in camp.
Among all the skills that was highlighted few that I felt like trying out were, ***Shoemaking, Pottery, Cyber security, Cosmetology, Agriculture {Which was splitted into two categories, Farming and animal husbandry}. For starter I never knew animal husbandry would be among the skill that will be available, so before going to camp I already made up my mind about leaning shoe making but after listening to other opportunities available in other skills I became lost in thought but then my passion for Animal husbandry won. We were taught a lot of things which includes:
- Catfish farming
- Poultry farming
- Snail farming
- Goat farming
- Rabbit farming.
- Disease control and treatment.
- Feed formation.
That was me participating in the process of carving catfish in preparation for the oven.
| Carving | Catfish |
|---|---|
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You can read more about the smoked catfish making process I shared some days ago.
Truth be told I enjoyed every aspect of the skill acquisition program, it is the one thing that made my camp experience more enticing, you should see how majestic we look on our exhibition day, we came with our finished products which mainly involved our smoked catfish and some chickens.
| Exhibition | Day |
|---|---|
 |  |
Getting back about a month ago, for the first couple of days I was just healing because everywhere just hurts but when I thought the fun was over, I was posted to remote village in Oyo state as my place of primary assignment {PPA} A community named Owotoro in ATISBO Local government. The things I have witnessed in this community I have not encountered it since I have been on earth. For starters I was privileged to visit a Garri factory which is native business of the populace of Owotoro.
Trying not to divulge too much details about my discoveries, I will be writing more about it in upcoming post, kindly stay tuned 😅
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "Major highlights" in hive learners community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
All pictures are mine or else indicated otherwise