Service Year Bouelvard 9

WOW..I didnt know this!

I am a regular visitor of your blog( the comment section always crack me up- doppelganger and the rest una well done). Before i proceed please hide my id. I graduated from the University of Ilorin at the age of 20 and as the last born of the family, my mum wasnt too keen about me serving in a State too far from home( though personally i didnt mind). 

An uncle of mine promised to help with my posting and when i got my call up letter for batch C 2009, lo and behold i was posted to Imo State. I travelled in company of my school mates that were also posted to Imo as camp opened days after our convocation. We couldnt get a reliable transport company (Kwara Express) to take us down as the camp opened on the day the company doesnt ply Owerri. We had no option than to arrange for another bus. To cut the long story short, the driver that was arranged for us wasnt used to that area. He wasnt meant to get to Owerri before heading to camp which was situated at Umudi in Nkwerre LGA(at the time- 2009) but that was what he did. 

Also it was when we got to Okene in Kogi State that a guy confronted the driver about his horn. Yes the bus didnt have horn so the driver wasnt overtaking other cars which made our journey super slow. We got to Onitsha bridge around 9pm. The kind of traffic that we encountered while on the bridge was something else. I was famished, hungry, tired and on the verge of losing it. 

My mum kept calling and i could depict serious worry in her voice. To make matters worse my uncle called to confirm if i was in camp already as he thought i was posted to a neighbouring State. As we progressed, when ever we stopped to ask for direction as we couldnt see the sign posts clearly, people were running away from us. The bus had only three ladies in it(myself, my friend and the driver's girlfriend who by the way wasnt a corper) the others were guys and mother dearest accompanied me to the park, so i guess that was what made her fear to be on another level. 

This so called girlfriend didnt join us at the park but was waiting for us on the way. Initially the guys didnt want her to join us as it was obvious that she wasnt going to camp( she wasnt carrying any bag aside her purse). After much plea by her boyfriend we allowed her to join us. After almost every one we met on the way started running away from us whenever the driver slowed down to ask for direction, some of the guys decided to alight so as to use their torch lights to check the sign post for direction, she kept shouting and in her words her people could be dangerous and that we might be kidnapped(that it was better to stay in the bus). It was at that point that i became afraid)

 Eventually we decided to ask the driver to take permission from the management of a hotel we saw on our way as we werent sure of the direction to go again. The security at the hotel told us to keep going as we were close to the camp. My people we(myself and my school mates) entered the camp at about 1am in the morning. 

The officer on duty didnt want to allow us enter the call but after we explained our ordeal he eventually allowed us. The driver, conductor and the girlfriend were advised to remain in camp till day break while the guys were directed to the boys hostel and one Nysc staff accompanied my friend and i to the hostel. Due to the fact that it was late and there was no light, i settled for the closest bunk as i didnt want to disturb anybody. 

The only problem was that this bunk was close to the door. I was hungry and tired. I had some provision but there was no water to make tea. At around 3/3.30 am, i started hearing sounds as some corpers were awake. Myself and my friend got up, said a brief prayer and followed others to get water. We quickly had our bath in the open area as our hostel was close to the mosque/ mammy area and we soon people (guys) would be heading towards that side. We were told later that the morning parade wasnt compulsory for us yet as we didnt have the white kit. When it was day break, i went for checking at the gate. 

Afterwards i headed to the clinic for test. I have this hatred for needles and the doctor wasnt helping as he kept looking for my veins in different places. The official at the clinic advised that everyone waiting for the test result should go for breakfast as the result would take awhile. I couldnt eat what was served but got bread and water for myself and my friend, then we went to the hostel which was a stone throw to the dinning to eat it with sardine.

 After what felt like a real meal in 24 hours(dont like eating when i want to embark on a journey- biggest mistake). We(by now bvs i hope you are aware that We refers to my friend and i) went back to join the queue of those waiting for the result. The names were called and after awhile my friend's name was called and at first i thought it was because different doctors took our blood samples but. When i couldnt take the delay again(there were still other lines to join, forms to fill etc. plus kits to collect and those that were through kept telling us that if we didnt hurry up we wouldnt get khaki, boot etc of our choice) i asked the official what the problem was and her response surprised me. 

According to her i'm pregnant and that's why my name wasnt mentioned when other peoples name were called. I didnt find it funny because as at the time i wasnt in any relationship and it couldnt have been a case of immaculate conception. I told her she had the wrong name/sample because i was over sure that i wasnt preggy. Before i knew it she had sent my name and that of some ladies to the officials in the hall that we were not registerable.

 No matter what i said she didnt believe me. At this point i advised my friend to go to the hall for her own registration. I told the official at the clinic that i was ready to do anything to prove her wrong. So she told myself and the other girls that the only thing we can do to avoid been sent home was to go for further test at the hospital but that the bill would be paid by us. We agreed and i called my mum to inform her. She had pity on me. We took the test and i was cleared. 

For some of the girls it was obvious that they were preggy but some how they were cleared too. As a result my registration was slow(got my kit in the evening). My mum and siblings started making jest of me later by calling me pregnant girl(like the trust they had for me didnt make them to doubt me).

*ewoooo this your experience would just put anyone not yet in camp off sha....na wah.I didnt even know that you are not allowed to register if you are pregnant...we didnt do such test during my time.