My NYSC Struggles

Like they say, "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride" 

I remember when we were in secondary school, one would think we had all our lives figured out. The university we were going to attend, courses we were going to study, those that were going to get married after secondary school, what we'd wear in school etc. 

 

We already knew these things! You need to see our slum books, everything written there were mere thoughts of children thinking the world works as they imagined it.

Some people were lucky to start school almost immediately, others like me wrote jamb about 4 times or more, some are still in school or serving now, it's crazy, 5% of us studied what we dreamed of studying,  at least I did something (Linguistics) within my thoughts then, even the Universities we attended, I doubt if any of us went to the schools we thought we'd attend.

This was almost the situation with my service.. Let me update you..

After we graduated in March 2019 (was suppose to be 2018, but you know Naija already), I was anticipating going to camp, I was ready to explore and enjoy the whole journey. We were supposed to expect mobilization list sometime in August or September, but when it came out, I checked online but didn't find my name. 

 

A friend who was in school helped in checking the lists that were pasted in school but didn't find my name either, I was so upset, I wonder what the problem was. I contacted my exam officer and he told me I'd go with the next stream. I was sad but I didn't have another option, so I waited for October. October came, my name wasn't there still, ha! Wetin d happen na???

 

I started asking my course mates to know what was going on and if anyone else was in the same dilemma, someone said she was, so we started working together to find out how to solve the problem, our HOD asked us to come to school on a particular day by 10am. I was in Abuja by that time, so I had to find a way to leave for Jos early enough so as to meet up. 

 

I got to Jos, met with him and he assured us we'd definitely go with the next batch, that the problem was that our names were "mistakenly omitted" from the list my department sent, you can imagine the rubbish😔.. Naija!!!

 

I was furious, angry and sad, why me? I am a good person, of all people, why me??? I know those were selfish questions, if not me, who, right??? Yea, I just never imagined myself in a situation like that. 

Few days later, l contacted the second person and guess what? She got hers figured out, apparently, her dad made some calls to the school and they included her name, two days before I called and she told me nothing, nawaooo... Why not tell your dad it's just the two of us so they can just add my name (to your tent o Israel) she sent me someones number and told me to call the person. Hmmm.. I did, but that one came with plenty talk and promises, nothing happened🥺.. Las las, na only me no go enter camp from my class😭..

I was frustrated, I was almost depressed, I wanted to leave Abuja so bad, I wanted to start life by myself. I wanted to be in my own space and in my own world. As if that was not enough, few days later, a kid stepped on my almost 5 year old phone that I have been patching life with, my only companion at that moment. Omo! My phone's screen went blank, we went to price the screen and they said 15k as Infinix zero 2 was no longer in the market, I wasn't willing to spend or let anyone spend that much on a phone that was almost dying. 

 

When my very good friend and course mate heard of my situation, he felt so bad, he was concerned as I was already dealing with not going to camp with others, now the phone that would help keep me company was gone too. Dude sent me a phone from Jos and asked that I start paying monthly from my allawee when I eventually go for service. A gesture I'd never forget. 

Eventually, by March the next year, after multiple visits to Jos and meetings with my exam officer, my name was among the Batch A Stream 1 in 2020. Sadly, I was in camp for just a week before we were dismissed because of the Covid outbreak😒😏.. 

 

More than half of my service year was spent indoors. 

What's the moral of this story??

 

Amidst all that happened, I came out strong, I encouraged myself and I didn't let the situation overwhelm me. 

 

Everything worked out fine and I am still here pushing to get to the top 🤭🤗

 

I believe there's a reason for every single mishap we face in life. Joy always comes in the morning. 

 

Ciao!