I'm still a corper

 Chronicles of a PH Corper

The biggest question here would be if I'm still a corps member. Well, Covid-19 will surely give a clear-cut answer to that.

It’s been months since I made the blog post about my experience at NYSC camp and the number of views I got is still a mystery. This is me with a heartfelt gratitude to everyone of you who's played a part in the push to that extent, silver nor gold I possess, but know it means a lot more than you imagined. I decided to do reviews about what it’s been like serving in Port Harcourt, the ups and downs and the in-between. 

I was first posted to an IT firm which should have been perfect for my course of study but that place was nothing good to write about so I rejected the offer and got reposted to a school in Obio/Akpor LGA, PH of Rivers State. I’ll leave the name of the school out so as not to deface or down their reputation regardless of whatever dispute we shared. These things are inevitable, after all we are humans and we lose it at some point in our life and as such we can’t just help it. Worthy of mentioning is this urge of self-indulgence we all display and super feeling of importance is quite amusing, as gutsy and egocentric as it might seem, it surely has its advantages and also it’s a way to curb being vulnerable which is not a good place to lay. Notwithstanding, admit when you’re wrong and don’t give your ego the chance to cloud your judgement.

Let’s get down where we are heading, serving in PH. It’s been dicey but amusing, all the way from October 2019 till this very minute. It’s been a journey having been this far away from home and having to celebrate Christmas and New year eve down here.

My PPA -  Primary Place of Assignment - promised my colleague and I heaven on earth. They did their bit though but they should have been plain from the on set and not put our hopes on a silver platter which made it quite difficult to overthrow. It justifies the fact that nothing is ever promised in life. Death would have been an exemption to this but death itself is an after life experience so this somewhat nullifies that claim. I settled for less than I envisaged.

In October, I was staying at Choba somewhere around University  of Port Harcourt - UNIPORT - with a childhood friend who is a student. It was awesome hanging around students again for a whole month, it sure brought back the beautiful memories of being a student this time with no lectures, tests and exams to worry about which makes it more delightful. During my stay here, leaving became a challenge as I felt overly comfortable and much at home, most importantly at peace. I felt love, care, friendship and loads of the goodies it beholds for this period. I had to leave for many reasons, one is the distance to work place, I guess that’s the disadvantage to staying down there. It’s literally farther to every other places I’ve been to in PH and I’m not even exaggerating. Also my employers promised to get an apartment close to school for me which took a longer time than expected.

The annoying thing about being around UNIPORT is the fear of cult guys and thieves to the point that me and some of the friends I made around there have to drop our smart phones at home while walking a distance exceeding 5 mins walk. It was crazy and strange with bulging questions that needed urgent answers but none was forthcoming because it’s been normalised that little or nothing can be done about it.

In the early days of November before moving away from Choba - UNIPORT -  I had a crazy gun point experience while going to work on a fateful Wednesday morning. I shared what happened on my WhatsApp status sometimes in December because as at the time of the awful occurrence, my phone was in another world different from this.

My phone came back to life on the 4th of December which was the slated day for THE LAGOS EXPERIENCE 2020 as it customarily holds every first Friday in the month of December. I surely couldn’t make it down to Lagos so I resolved to airing from here and big thanks to House on the Rock PH for the live broadcast. It was a glorious night despite the tragic experience I had in the early hours of that night while I was heading for the live broadcast. I hope to share these experiences with you all soon, so be on the look out. Leaving it out of this is a good way not to make this lengthy to read.

Well, the month of December wasn’t done with me yet. I went out to get foodstuff for the Christmas eve celebration, I misplaced my phone that immediately I was already contemplating on travelling down to Lagos because there is no way I’m surviving staying back here without an android phone. Thank God for a good Samaritan that found the phone, I got it back on the same day after hours of long waiting. I was here for Christmas and New year eve but mostly in door, I did went for cross over service at HOTRPHc though. New year eve here in PH was remarkable, the celebration and rowdiness surely brought memories of home. To the point that there was at least a fire camp at almost every junction  and shades of fireworks too, the ones I had never seen before. It was a blissful scene to behold.

Also in December, I did some investment that really made January quite challenging for me and every bit of expectation I had been completely shattered when the scheme crashed. It was quite difficult but thanks to the beautiful people around me that eased survival for me. 

The month of January had a lot in stock, I had a fall out with my Chronicles of a PH Corper

The biggest question here would be if I'm still a corps member. Well, Covid-19 will surely give a clear-cut answer to that.

The month of January had a lot in stock, I had a fall out with my employer that took a while to get through, I had to apply for relocation because I was completely tired of everything put together. I felt the urge to get at least closer to home so I could travel down home with ease which was why I chose Oyo as my state of relocation but the application is still pending till this very minute. If January 2020 was a place, it surely would  be Wuhan for me. So 2020 as a whole for me has been close to hell.

Wait, did I mention this year being close to hell earlier? Well, there’s always an exemption you know, then came February, always my best month ever and the most enjoyable here for me in PH so far. I had fun and visited friends I’ve had in mind to visit. I doubt I spent any weekend at my place in February. I travelled out of PH at some point, it was a truck load of fun for me.

The month of March was going smoothly till Covid-19 came and blew it all to dust. I’ve been home since the last week in the month of March and for real it’s been hard on me spending time home all alone but it’s been quite productive as well. It’s not much of a loss on my end.

The month of April is a total lockdown for me and I believe so for many others too. The month of May at first was threatening and looked more intense but somehow there was a lift on the lockdown in PH and hopefully we can say the same thing for inter state movement soon. I was a bit curious about the well being of Batch B stream 1 corps members who had their POP recently, but I finally got a news about a special arrangement made to convey them back to their states, which is commendable if true.

I'm not so eager to get back to work not even back to teaching, because with the little experience I’ve had it’s made me appreciate teachers more, they are doing a lot than it meets the eye. I did my best and I’m glad for the selfless impact I rendered. I take this medium to recognise and commend all good and trustworthy teachers in the world for a job well done. 

I got a number of names already from my neighbours, some of them I could bet on don't know my real name. They call me names like "Corper, Corper Shan", "Government Property", "Federal Govent pikin", etc. I got so use to it in no time that I answer to them like it was part of my pledge to Clarion's call.

My piece of advice for intending and new corps members, don't let anyone cajole you with empty promises regardless of how soothing they seem. Be clear on what you want and stand for it, not being rude though. Well, the lessons learnt in the service year will need a whole article, so I should look into that too.

Thank you guys for reading through once again. I guess the next time I will be posting/writing about NYSC I’d probably not be a corps member any more, regardless, keep staying safe, I love you and I always want to do this for you alone.