The 'corpers VS students' strike

Uche

"LA corpers don serve finish o! They are just waiting for us so we can do P.O.P." - Jane. Lol.

Not officially, but with the way things went down last week, the above quote isn't too far from the truth.

LA Senior Grammar School is a school here in Iwo with a very bad reputation. The students are apparently spoilt and unruly. Infact, my corper friends who teach at the school say there have been quite a few corper VS student fights in the past. And apparently, the heads of the school do little or nothing to curb the students' behaviour.

Last week was another one of such corper VS student situations. I was able to get first-hand 'gist' as my friend, Uche was the corper involved.

What really happened
This notorious student, we'll name him 'Noto' for the sake of this post, as his real name is unknown, walked into Uche's classroom while a lesson was in progress. The teacher, Uche, asked him to leave, Noto starts 'bragado-ing', being troublesome and basically, putting on an 'agbero display'. Uche suspects the student must have been tipsy.

Teacher pushes him out. Noto starts looking for a stone. Uche dares him to move closer to him, Noto signals Uche to meet him outside instead for a proper fight. And so on. I couldn't help but laugh as I tried to imagine the scenario. It took me back to secondary school.

Uche left the scene when everyone started gathering around them and making a scene. 
He runs into the boy later. This time, Noto is now armed with a metal bar with which he wants to attack Uche. 

Soon after, the other corpers got involved. Those who had been in class were now outside, fuming and yelling. The Vice-Principal had apparently been watching, yet decided to remain silent. In this moment, the corpers decided that this was the perfect opportunity for rebellion: strike! They decided that they were tired of the violence, and more frustrating is the fact that the authorities don't seem to be doing anything to curb it. Apparently, one of the teachers even said to the corpers, 'Go if you want to!'. In Uche's words, "A corper almost slapped the teacher sef so thank God for almost!"

The corpers got the Local Government Assistant Inspector involved. He came down to the school to attempt sorting things out but after being treated rudely by the VP, he endorsed the strike, and decided that the school was going to be starved of corpers for a year.

Students have since come to beg the corpers at their houses claiming that Naughty Noto is not even considered a student at their school. 

As it stands, the corpers seem to be chilling and loving their break, with no plans of resuming on their minds. Lol. I asked CT when she thinks she might resume work, "Ermmm, let's see… maybe second week in January sha", she joked. The joke here lies in the fact that the second week of January is when our batch of corpers is expected to end the work aspect of our service year. 

PS: It's a town, not a village! :P

How beautiful are our feet - Follow-up

L-R: Eniang, Kenny, Me, G-Prayo, Christy, Rugged.

Kenny

Saturday was a really good day. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the ZRR evangelism programme we held at Iwo-Oke. Well, it hasn't ended. The main programme has ended but the follow-up which is equally important, continues. Asides winning souls, part of the ZRRE plan is also to start a project in the chosen evangelism site, whether it's building or constructing something. For ours, we decided to do a borehole project.

In the past two weeks following the programme, we've kept in touch with the villagers of Iwo-Oke. We call it 'Rural Rugged follow-up', the aim is to ensure that now that they are newly borns in Christ, we put them on the right track, encouraging them and guiding them on how to grow their faith.

I missed the one that happened two Saturdays ago but I was fortunate to be at Saturday's. Our evangelism secretary emphasized the need for Yoruba speakers in counselling the villagers. In my head I'm like, "erm, it's one thing to be able to speak Yoruba, it's another to be able to preach in the language o!" but I went for it. 

We arrived at the village at about 4.30PM. Armed with our 'korope' (a mini-bus), drugs (the villagers had requested for), Yoruba Bibles, and a megaphone, we kicked off with a town cry which was led by an ex-corper and important member of the fellowship, Ondo-bred 'G-Prayo' (Don't ask. I will do a post on our nicknames one day, I promise!). He urged the villagers who had decided to give their lives to Christ two weeks ago, when we first held the programme, to meet us at the same venue as we had 'something' for them. Some of our corpers had gone ahead of us to the venue to welcome those who would show up.

After the town cry, the four of us: Myself, Kenny, G-Prayo and Patrick, went to join the other corpers. 

To my surprise, quite a few people did show up. I thought, 'OK, they are just showing up for free drugs', but after speaking to them, I realised that they were serious about their decision to follow Christ.

Counselling began. I started by asking my 'clients' what 'following Christ' meant to them, why they made the decision, what some ways of worshiping God were. I explained the importance of a relationship with the Trinity, which far supersedes religion.

Then I spotted a group of four girls. I'd say they were about 9-ish years old. I sat them down and asked if they were part of those who had given their lives to Christ, seeing as they had shown up at the venue, and that was the criterion for attendance we had provided. Nafisat was a believer, the other 3 weren't. So, I sat them down. I asked if they knew who Jesus was, only Nafisat did. Then I asked if they knew Adam, they said no. I'm thinking 'Whaaat? who doesn't know Adam' ? lol, so I had to go over the creation story, through to Adam's sin and then God's sacrifice, Jesus. We discussed how to become 'Jesus' child' through faith and what being one means; and being a new creature and letting go of old things. The girls were very attentive and intrigued. Idayat especially. It showed on her face.

After talking, I asked if they had any prayer requests we could pray about as a group, and they mentioned a couple, but before this I had asked if they were willing to become believers, explaining the importance of believing in the God one prays to. They said that they wanted to but their fear was in the danger of serving more than one God as they would still have to be at the mosque later that evening. I told them I understood. So we prayed about school; protection from danger; and for a better understanding of who God truly is. Then I asked them if they needed drugs medication for anything and referred them to where the doctor corpers were seated. I think what made me smile the most about my conversation with this particular group was their willingness to listen.

There was another group that got me excited. The one that showed keen interest in taking their journey to the next level by owning a Bible. They begged us not to forget to bring them Bibles next week. I assured them that we won't.

I went into these counselling sessions reluctant from feeling unqualified, to be honest, but I came out feeling good. 

Yo, preaching in pure Yoruba- not Lagos Yoruba that permits the addition of English terms here and there- is not beans, but it went really well. Far better than I had expected. God was present. God is real. God is faithful.

PS: This one is a village.

Footy. Iwo style.

Nothing like watching a football match Iwo-style. Once you get past the heat and the mosquitoes, you'll really enjoy the experience.

Incessant commentary from the indigenes, yelling at the TV screens as they scream their renditions of the footballers' names, like "Feepee" (VP) and Chamm-bah-layne (Chamberlain), is usually the highlight for me.

Sunday was my second time of watching a football match at one of the footy huts. The first was the Nigeria-Malawi one which happened over a month ago. And Sunday's was the ManU-Arsenal game. I haven't really kept up with footie since I've been here but I do my best to not miss Nigeria/Arsenal games. 

So, you walk into the little hut-esque building with walls made from joint pieces of wood. A man collects your N40-N50 at the entrance, then allows you to proceed into the building. Sit wherever you like. Well, wherever you can find space. You'll find one standing fan, 2 television screens on which the game is being projected, and over 50 loud and sweaty men, all giving you the surprised look for being the only woman in Iwo interested in football.

I went with a friend. When we got to the entrance, my friend asked the man in charge, "How much?" MIC: How many people? Friend: Two. MIC: *seeing me* Woman too? ehn? OK, you pay N40, the woman is free.  Me: *smiling* Ahhh, nice one! 

It was too dark to take a picture of the building. I will definitely take one at the next game. 

There was this particular man at Sunday's game, though. He had a comment for literally almost every move made by each player. I didn't think this was possible until Sunday, lol. I know Nigerian men get passionate but Iwo men are particularly on a different level.

-"Abi won sepe fun Falensee-ah (Valencia) ni?" - Is Valencia cursed?
-"Ehehn, oya je ki won mo pe oni l'ojo ibi wa" - Let them know today is our birthday! Not literally anyone's birthday, by the way. He only said this as if to say "Let them know who the boss is!" - This he'd yell whenever a ManU player was about to score a goal.
-"Kunle, ti mo ba ti gba dukia re tan, o o lo join Kwara United"- Kunle, when I'm done taking all your property, you'll go join Kwara United. My guess was that he and Kunle had made a bet prior to the game.
-"Bentnah were! Fine boy ni yoo ma se kiri! Mo hate e ehn!" - Bendtner, Mad man! I hate him. All he's concerned with is being a fine boy. - This he yelled when Bendtner was brought on as a substitute.

...And continuous hilarious comments of the sort.

Given the above, I'd like to review my '10 joys of Iwo' list and add:
11. Watching footy with Iwo indigenes.


PS: I still dare say, it's a town, not a village! :P

JOStified part 1 by Ephraim O.

Ephraim was among the many who made the trip to the NCCF headquarters at Jos, for the national conference which marked the organization's 30th anniversary. Unfortunately, I was unable to be there. Below is the first part of his account of the experience:

Exhilarating best describes the feeling. You could sense it in the songs chanted in unison, the smiles, jokes and comedy bouts, history told by comrades, knowledge shared in the midst with accompanying affirming knuckles and hi fives given to him/her whose statement you best concurred with. 

It was my first 18-hour trip (I wasn't alone in this novelty of a trip) heading from Osun to Jos in a Toyota Hummer bus packed filled with corps members and their luggage. Consequently, considering the spate of insecurity in this part of the nation, our decision to make this death-defying, terror-shaming trip was birthed from a passion for upgrading our spiritual O.S.

We stopped at almost every state we got to (for annoying reasons best known to the drivers) and soon we had exhausted the limits of our vocal chords, with tiredness setting in, we began to take differing anatomical positions for what we could make out of sleep. With the exception of the lady that had fallen travel sick, and a few of us that burdened ourselves with knowing our location on BlackBerry map and occasional sign-posts, most of the other fellas had fallen prey to sleep by evening.

                                       

War against hunger wasn't as fierce as imagined. Light feeds, small chops and soft drinks came in handy, keeping the mouth busy and hunger at bay. The tactic was to avoid any attempt to greet the bush for "piss offerings" or any other form of offering. 

Briefly we waited at Kaduna for two buses from our convoy of seven that had lost their way somewhere around Keffi in Nasarawa state. We were lucky to get a Mallam who sold a miserable meal of sun baked bread and over-salted omelette at about 11:39pm for dinner.

                                      

I learnt two critical lessons from my sight-seeing trip to Jos. First was what I choose to brand not as foolishness, but trust and a unique way of life in that traders left their oranges and Irish potatoes shaded on the high way with no fear of theft. Wow! That wasn't fairytopia, I saw it live in Kaduna and in Nigeria.
Beware; do not try this in Lagos, Benin or Onitsha.

The second was that we had always found slight condemnation for our Foladele friend who always held small chops in her bag. But on this very trip I discovered its relevance and so rescind my decision. Choosing to rebrand the action, 'Hunger back up'. 

To be continued...

PS: It's a town, not a village! :P

How beautiful are our feet

Well, not literally. I'm only referring to Romans 10:15.

You could say we were fulfilling the Word when last weekend we camped out at a rural area for our Zonal Rural Rugged Evangelism (ZRRE) programme.

Off we go!

A bit of background info

The Nigerian Christian Corpers' Fellowship (NCCF) was birthed 30 years ago with the aim of taking the Gospel to several parts of the country. The idea came in the form of the prophecy: 'A time will come when Nigerian youths will be paid by the government to take the Gospel to several parts of the country'. It's why at NCCF, we believe that in the hierarchy of importance, it's NCCF first before PPA. So, at the very core, evangelism is what NCCF is actually about, and the ZRRE programme is a result of that. Over the years, NCCF has grown into a huge organisation with branches in every state in Nigeria (as in, NCCF Akwa Ibom, NCCF Lagos, NCCF Osun, and so on); and even little branches in almost every local government in each of these states. For example, in Osun, there is NCCF Iwo, NCCF Osogbo, NCCF Ola-Oluwa, NCCF Ife Central, NCCF Ede South, and so on. NCCF Osogbo is our oga at the top, so we report to them about any and everything and they are usually in charge of organising the State Rural Rugged once a year where every zone and sub-zone in the state is expected to be present. Then there's Zonal Rural Rugged which is smaller and as the name suggests is usually organised by zones in conjunction with their sub-zones.

Last weekend was the Iwo zone ZRRE. Being sub-zones under the Iwo local government, Aiyedire and Ola-Oluwa teamed up with us. We gathered together our mats, megaphones, generator, plates and spoons, our doctor corpers, hair-savvy corpers, our welfare secretaries AKA 'Mamas', and every possible hand we could get, and we set out for Iwo-Oke; a very small, pre-dominantly Muslim village in the Ola-Oluwa local government. Our camp site was a secondary school building. The only secondary school in the village. We arrived there Friday afternoon and would be there 'til Saturday afternoon.

"The main, the main"

We kicked off the programme with a session of worship and prayers, then a film show followed. Some more prayers took place after. Then dinner (we had cooked in Iwo and brought it along, alongside utensils and foodstuff we would require to make the next day's brunch) and lights out followed. 

From 12.30am-2.30am, we held a prayer chain where each zone/sub-zone were awoken to come out and pray as a group for an hour each. So, the Aiyedire corpers prayed from 12.30-1.30, then Iwo followed from 1.30-2.30 and Ola-Oluwa from 2.30-3.30. Hence, prayer chain. HATED getting woken up at 1.30am, or maybe it was the how I hated (megaphones should be banned :) ) but it was well worth it. The peace God's presence gives is beautiful, I tell you!

The next day was "the main thing". We had gone out for a 'Jesus march' the evening before and early that morning too; which just means a walk into the village to inform the villagers of our arrival and invite them to the programme. We told them that there would be a film show that Friday evening and the next day, there would be gifts, counselling and free medical check-up. Most of them had promised to come and they did. Jesus marches are super cool and are usually made lively with our chanting and singing.

Saturday's programme was divided into departments. I was in charge of the children section, which Jane helped me with. It was lots of fun; we spoke about God's love, played games, danced, and gave them biscuits, clothes, books and pens/pencils. We asked if they wanted to give their lives to Christ and a lot of them showed interest. We had a set of Muslim twins present in our circle, one of which initially raised her hand to indicate interest but after catching her sister's eye of disapproval, put down her hand down. Jane and I smiled as we reminded them that salvation is a personal decision.

The programme setup went thus: As the children walked in, they were immediately sent to the children section. While the children section fun was in session, the children who wanted to get a haircut were selected and sent to the male haircare section, and after, were brought back to join us.

Female hair care section

Male hair care section

For the adults, they were registered upon arrival at the venue. After this, they were sent to the one-on-one counselling section where they were told about salvation, and offered general advice. After this, they were sent to the Faith Clinic for one-on-one prayers, then sent to the classroom the doctors had occupied for free medical check-up and free drugs. Then, they were led to the welfare department to receive free clothes. The female hair care section was beside the gift section so after receiving their gifts, if they wanted to 'ko' their hair or plait it, they could just go straight through. For the children, after talking and playing with them, we sent them to the welfare department too, to receive clothes, books, pens, biscuits and sweets.

Medical section

Faith clinic

After all the villagers had left, it was time for brunch. Some of us had been exempted from the Jesus match earlier so we could prepare the brunch. After eating, the NCCF family formed a closing circle where we thanked God for the success of the programme, sang the family song, and parted ways. The buses were on ground to transport us back to our locations.

ZRRE was short and sweet, yet powerful. Not that I'm surprised at the success seeing that we spent several weeks praying for the success of the programme. God is faithful indeed.

Iwo-Oke for Christ, yo!

PS: It's a town, not a village! :P. Ok, this one is a village sha. Lol.