Goodbye Iwo: I learnt, I grew, I conquered

Hello everyone! :)

Sorry about the looong weeks of silence, the last few weeks have been crazy.

I was feeling a bit lazy to do this post but then I felt that my service year would be incomplete without a 'Goodbye Iwo' post.

So, here we go!

I am actually a bit more emotional about the end of the service year than I had thought I would be, lol. I think it's almost impossible to live in a place for almost a year and not leave with one or two memories to last one a lifetime. For me, I am parting with an uncountable amount.

Peace out, Iwo!

With Toheeb @ his after-school hustle

Kenny and Tayo @ Passing Out Parade (P.O.P.)

The queue to get your certificate at the P.O.P. It wasn't easy, yo!...

...But we got it!

Life is really interesting; I've always found it funny how we imagine events playing out a certain way but then reality just shows up and you end up with something you never expected or imagined. Case in point: serving in Iwo. Everything definitely didn't go according to plan. Ok, there actually wasn't a plan or much expectation. Except that I expected to have a ridiculously fun service year, and to serve as a French teacher. When neither of these worked out (i.e the kind of fun I had wasn't what one would typically define as fun; In several situations, I had to do a lot of lemonade making. Also, I didn't end up teaching French like I'd have liked, I taught English instead which I think was by far more fulfilling than teaching the former would have been), I decided that the best thing to do would be to just throw myself into the experience and take it all in. This sums up my attitude throughout the service year. 

Firstly, I am super thankful for the idea to start this blog. It gave me something to be excited about and look forward to, and as weird as it sounds reads, blogging has taught me one or two things about myself. 

On friends: I've also formed some wonderful friendships; ones that circumstances forced upon me, yet choice has sustained. NYSC brings different kinds of people your way. Some cool, some okay, and some you usually wouldn't approach or even like at first sight, but after a few months of living together, attending CDS together, and teaching together, magic happens and you find yourself forming the most unlikely friendships. 

With Jane @ P.O.P.

Eniang, Ola, Ephraim, Moses, Okhai. Last night in Iwo

On teaching: If you think you're patient, try teaching the students at Anwar-Ul Islam. They'll prove you wrong. Imagine spending an hour teaching a topic, explaining in English AND Yoruba. Then you ask if everyone understands what they've been taught, even begging them to ask questions. They say they have none because they believe they understand. Then you ask them a question and they can't answer correctly. Spending 2-3 lessons on a one-lesson topic; dragging one's feet on lesson notes because you don't want to teach the next topic without first making sure the last topic was well-understood. The same process repeats itself EVERY class. 

They literally almost pushed me down!

"Aunty!!!"

"Aunty, camera us!"

On NCCF: Life with a group of young people who are passionate about the Gospel. A lot of sacrifices were involved but I had peace knowing that God was pleased with the little we accomplished. We literally lived on faith and seeing it yield fruits.  There were times where we needed things and after all our efforts, all we could do was just believe, and God never let us down. There was a lot of spiritual and mental growth, we learnt patience, we learnt endurance. I had no idea that my service year would be so God-centered. It was indeed a chance for me to learn about service to God, about giving, about sharing God's love with people, the power of prayers, of worship, the realness of God. These were a few of the many life lessons I'm taking with me.

Gerald (G-FinSec), Funmi (G-Mama), Patrick (G-RuggedPrayo), Imah (G-MD)

The cheesy but true bit

There are several other experiences to share and stories to tell but I want to keep it short so I'll end it here. I'd say that the main theme of the Iwo experience for me, was SACRIFICE. Jesus explained that there's nothing special about giving when you expect to be repaid. I have learnt/I am learning to inconvenience myself more often just to see someone smile; the importance of doing things for people without even waiting to hear a "Thank you"; and showing love to people who aren't easy to love. It's the little things that matter. Do something little for someone everyday. It will make a difference, I promise. Also, live. Just live. Do something unusual, something different, every now and then. Throw yourself into experiences and just enjoy it. Start something and don't quit until you see it through. Do it. Just do it. Live. Just. Live.

Everyone's been asking, "What's next?", "What happens to thetownofIwo?". I say, stay tuned, people :). You will hear from me reeeeal soon.

Peace and Love. 
Btw, stay strong in Christ, Heaven in real ;)

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

'Ejo': Hitchhiking mode activated by Eniang O.

Eniang (left) with some other 'Ejo corpers' in a truck

I finally got my good friend from camp, Eniang to send in a piece. He claims he isn't much of a writer, I'd say he did a fine job, wouldn't you? Doctor/Corper Enny is serving in a nearby town village called Bode-Osi in the OlaOluwa Local Government, at [probably] the [only] hospital [in the entire village].

Check out the post below:

"My mama told me not to talk to strangers" is a phrase we have all heard or even used at one point or another. However what you're about to read goes against almost everything your mother told you.

If 'Mayday, Mayday' is a military call sign for an emergency then 'Ejo' is our paramilitary call sign for hitching a free ride.'Our' here refers to youth corpers posted to OlaOluwa Local Government, Osun state, where I serve. To some of you,'Ejo' in the Yoruba language means 'please', but to us, it's more than that; it's a plea to mechanized road users to give us a free ride. 

Considering the location, not exactly backwaters but definitely rural, getting food stuffs, provisions and other urban necessities in that area is almost null. As a result, we have to go to our 'parent' town Iwo where markets, supermarkets, banks and ATMs are readily available and in numbers too. There are no buses in OlaOluwa and very very few private cars and really expensive motorcycles. An average trip to Iwo for a corper would cost about N150 during the day and N250 at night, and this most definitely puts a strain on our financial base of N19,800. 

So we've resorted to pleas for free rides on motorycles owned by farmers riding to Iwo to sell off their produce or owned for private purposes by indigenes in Ola-Oluwa. If we are lucky and I mean really lucky, we could hitch a ride in an air-conditioned Toyota saloon car to keep us cool from the afternoon sun. Sometimes 'business' may be slow and we could stand for hours trying to get a vehicle to convey us to Iwo but when the desirable is not available, the available becomes MOST desirable. In such a case you could find us taking 'Ejo' in pickup trucks (as in pictured above), lorries or like one very special day on our way to a CDS meeting day, a tanker. For some of us, it's really nothing to be ashamed of, we just think of it as our Ola-Oluwa Hummer Stretch or Limousine (I mean it's free for Heaven's sake!). 

The only qualification required to use this means of transportation is being a corper, a 'uniformed' man or woman (yes ladies do it, too. It's even easier for them). If you are not in your corper uniform then all you need is a form of identification, definitely not your NYSC ID card, though (I mean, you can't be flashing your ID card to every motorist on the road), rather your NYSC cap which can be worn on any form of dressing -corporate or traditional- for all to see. 

It may sound like this act is only peculiar to corpers but saying that would be a fallacy as it also occurs amongst indigenes. Some even go as far as taking 'ejo' to Osogbo, the Osun State Capital (guilty as charged, lol) or even Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital (30-minute ride from Iwo by 'Ejo', 40minutes by paid transport)

As much fun as using this diverse means of transport is (I mean, you don't get to enter a tanker everyday), there are attendant risks involved. One of which and most common is getting your beautiful attire or 'Ajuwaya' uniform stained with dust or oil (palm, engine or crude, lol). 

A risk you're willing to take you would say, right? But on a serious note, there is a far more grievous risk involved in this er, 'James Bond' transportation style and it's kidnapping.

Being corpers serving our nation in another state we are most certainly unfamiliar with, by logic and momma's words, we shouldn't embark on such dangerous activity as it serves as an opportunity for men of the underworld to carry out their unspeakable deeds. 

However, we are blessed to be serving in Osun State, "Ipinle Omoluabi", The State of the Virtuous and they are indeed virtuous and very accommodating especially to corpers, so hitching a free ride with this wonderful indigenes is virtually hitch-free. 

Moreover, it's Almighty God that protects us but be reminded 'Ejo' is not for the faint-hearted, it is only for people who are not afraid of the unknown, scared of the unseen, or fearful of the uncharted, so please DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. 

But if you do, do not forget to carry your 'Ejo cap', lol.

PS: OLA-OLUWA IS A VILLAGE, NOT A TOWN

The dusty foot journalist: Vous parlez Francais?

(You like my unoriginal blog title? I looked down at my feet on my way home from this trip, and they were extremely dusty. The first thing I thought about was rapper K'naan's 'The Dusty Foot Philosopher'. I tweaked it a bit, and...voila! A blog title is born!)

      

Since being here in Iwo, I haven't really had many opportunities to put my journalism degree to good use. So on Friday, I created one. 

During the town cry (where we went into the streets of the town to inform the villagers of our arrival and invite them to the programme) at the ZRRE programme we held at Iwo-Oke in November, something cool happened. I met a villager to whom I spoke in Yoruba but responded in English. Then I said, "Oh ok, you speak English then?" and he said "No, my English no too good. You speak French?". In my head, I'm thinking, 'Where does this man think he is?' lol, but I was also very excited at the opportunity to put my French to work so I ran with it.

Anyway, after the ZRRE programme, I was narrating the French-speaker-guy encounter to the 'Chiefo' (refer to last post for meaning :P) of NCCF Ejigbo sub-zone, when she paid a visit to the Iwo family house, but it didn't surprise or excite her like it did me because there's apparently a 'French-speaking people invasion' in Ejigbo. She explained that in Ejigbo, you'd find at least one French speaker in almost every house. This intrigued me so much that I decided that I'd take a trip down to the town some day to check it out.

After several weeks, I finally found time to take the trip yesterday. I wanted to do some research on this French-speaking population and find out why it was so. So, I set out. I had called Chiefo to inform her about my plan so once I arrived, she met me in town and volunteered to be my tour guide. We went to her house first, where I met her landlord. He would be the first of the many French speakers I would encounter that day.

After confirming that he did speak French, we went right into it. I introduced myself and asked some questions. He explained that he was into construction and that it is what brings him to Ejigbo from time to time. He also explained that he is originally Nigerian but having spent his life in Abidjan, he and his family have settled there. I looked around the town to take in the scenery and I noticed how much land there was and coming all the way to Ejigbo for construction work started to make sense to me. I thanked him for his time and we said our goodbyes. 

Chiefo was on her way to the Ejigbo NCCF family house, which I had wanted to see anyway so we headed there. However, on our way, we made several stops at the houses of the French speakers in the neighbourhood that she was familiar with. 'Mama' was the next person I met. She sells charcoal to Chiefo. Like all of the other French speakers I met during this trip, she is also originally Yoruba. She lived in Abidjan for about 30 years but moved back home 2 years ago with her grandson following the death of her husband. She was very nice to us. She told us not to 'forget her' and to bring her whatever we could as she is old and poor. 

                           

We continued our journey to family house. We made two more stops on our way. Mutiu's house was one of them. He's been back from Abidjan for over 10 years. Like Mama, he's also just trying to survive, it seemed. He is a cobbler. I think he thought I was weird, or maybe it was just surprise 'cause he's not used to the kind of attention he received from me. I told him I was a writer and needed his photograph. To my surprise, he allowed me take one. 

Mutiu 

Our final stop before family house was 'Mama 2's house. This was the funniest encounter for me. Chiefo had actually never met this woman but as we walked, we saw her sitting on a bench outside her house and I said to Chiefo as a joke, 'I bet this woman, too, speaks French'. To which Chiefo replied, 'It's possible o!'. So, I asked the woman, and she said 'Yes, yes, mo gbo French ati Yoruba'. I laughed so hard at the randomness. I bet the goats in this town speak French, too! She was also very nice and was probably the most excited interviewee of all. On my 'But why Ejigbo?' question, she explained that if you went to Abidjan, you'd find that it works the same way. I.e. you'd find an 'Ejigbo people invasion' there, too.

Mama 2

After this, we finally reached our destination. I said my hellos to the Ejigbo NCCF family and left for Iwo.

 

Ejigbo family house common room. It trumps Iwo's, yo!

This trip would definitely be on the list of 'My top 5 experiences in Osun' if I made one. I loved every bit of the trip and it made me wonder why I wasn't posted to Ejigbo. In deciding to serve in Iwo, I had considered the fact that I'd be teaching French as a reason to come because I believed that teaching the language would help me stay in touch with the language. Only to arrive in Iwo and be told I'd be teaching English instead because if we did start French as a subject, there'd be no French teacher to carry on after my service year ends. But God knows best. No regrets, just wishes. :)

PS: I think we'll call this one a town-village.

You asked for it...

I promised a few posts ago to do a post on the NCCF nicknames. So, here we go:

In most NCCF houses, every member of the executive committee (ExCo) of the fellowship has a nickname for his/her post. In fact, at the Iwo family house, it is prohibited to address ExCos by their real names; you are required to use their nicknames. The reason for this is to reinforce that 'family' vibe. However it is important to note also that using these nicknames during official ExCo meetings is prohibited. In scenarios of that sort, we have to keep it official.

Co-ordinator - Papa

Secretary- Uncle

Asst. Secretary - Aunty

Sisters' Coordinator/Welfare Secretary- Mama

Asst. Sisters' Coordinator/Asst. Welfare Secretary - A.Mama

Bible Study Secretary- Rabbi

Evangelism Secretary- Rugged (before you ask, we use 'Rugged' because our evangelism 

programme is called 'Rural Rugged')

Prayer Secretary- Prayo

Publicity Secretary- Publo

Financial Secretary- Finsec

Treasurer- C.B.N.

Musical Director- M.D.

Drama Director- D.D.

Transport and Organising Secretary- Landlord

Chief Medical Director- C.M.D.

Asst. Medical Director- A.M.D. 

Chief Usher- Chiefo

Whenever there's a post of an assistant, 'A-' would be added to the original title. As you'll see is the case in 'A.Mama' and 'A.M.D.'. There are some posts that never have 'A's, though, like 'Papa' and 'Uncle'. Every other post is 'A-able'. Also, while you might find some of these posts occupied in some other NCCF zones/sub-zones, they may not exist in others. For example, here at NCCF Iwo, we don't have a 'Chiefo', and our 'Aunty' is also the 'D.D.', while our 'A.Mama' is also the C.B.N.

You're allowed to laugh. We all found the names hilarious too when we first got here. Now, everyone's gotten used to it. It's crazy, I bet you some of our Batch B (June intake) corpers don't even know most of the ExCos' real names. Lol.

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

'Abia - Umuahia, Abamola - Yola...'

A JSS1 class. Behind it is another. No, your eyes are not deceiving you. That is all for demarcation. BTW, because we have insufficient chairs, you'll almost always find two people sharing one of these chairs.

BEFORE
The other day, I went to get my hair plaited at Mary's mom's salon just a few blocks from mine. Luckily for me, Mary and Barakat were present to keep me entertained throughout the couple of hours I spent there. 

Something happened in that time: 7-year old Mary started reciting her 'states and capitals', something the JS3 students at my school can't successfully do. It was so coincidental because earlier that day I had called a few of these JS3 students to the staff room and asked them questions about countries and continents and states and capitals. They all agree on 'Abia-Umuahia'. The problem starts however from what comes after. One said, "Abamola-Yola" (Abamola quickly translated in my head to 'We met Mallam', lol) and I responded half-jokingly, half-angrily saying, "Nibo?" (to say, 'Where did you meet the mola?')

Okay, Okay, Mary is a primary 3 student at a private school and my JS3 students are from a public school. I considered this huge gap of knowledge between Mary and the JS3 students and in that moment, I made the decision to visit a private school and attend one of their classes just to see where public schools are getting it wrong. Maybe there's some sort of 'agbo' the private school students drink that makes them more book-smart. You find that the brighter students at my school are the ones who have at one time or another been enrolled in a private school. 

There are obviously huge differences between both school structures that have contributed and will continue to contribute to this gap (for example, the public school structure's disorganisation, the strikes, the lack of strictness and things like that alone can place public schools behind private schools by a number of years so much so that primary 3 students would be ahead of JS3 students). And let's not forget the obvious fact that private schools are more expensive than public schools. So, maybe I can't bridge this gap but I would still to like to go see what lessons we can learn from them. You know, see the things they are doing differently, with regards the method of teaching, that I can possibly incorporate into my own teaching style. 

AFTER
I wrote the above weeks before I paid a visit two weeks ago to a nearby private school, Alma Rohm Group of Schools. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the difference in 'board system'. Here, they use white boards and markers while we at Anwar-ul Islam School still use chalks and blackboards. Myself and the students spoke in English. Turns out the only time they are allowed to speak Yoruba is in Yoruba class. Go figure! Looks like it's paying off because in this class of 19, only one student had some problems properly expressing himself in English.

By the way, the students' uniforms were clean and there was enough space in the classroom for walking as each student had a table and a chair to him/herself. My JSS1 students are 70 in a stuffy class. Good luck trying to walk in between them.

Remember I wrote sometime ago that we would be starting after-school lessons at our school? Yeah, that didn't happen. Here at Alma Rohm, school closes at 2PM, after which lessons hold from 2-3.30PM.

The students at this school dream. I asked them what their dream jobs were and about 4 people said 'I want to be an aeronautic engineer'. I asked them which universities they had been looking at for the course. One said Ghana, another said England. We had three people who expressed interest in journalism. One of which wanted to go to Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). The students at my school dream but I don't think many of them attach any serious plans of pursuit to the dream. 

What I found most interesting was that none of the Alma Rohm students I spoke with expressed interest in Bowen University, a pretty reputable university that just happens to be situated in the town of Iwo lol. I asked why, and they explained that having spent their entire lives in Iwo, they would like to live outside the town for a change. I don't even think university is in the cards for most of the students at my school. Which sadly isn't their fault.

From the Alma Rohm students' choice of course of study to university, I wondered whether the reason these students could have dreams this big and mine can't is because they can afford to; as in they have options. Knowing that you have parents who can afford to send you to Ghana for university can allow your imagination go that far. So, I guess money counts as a factor. I also considered the private school environment as a factor. Being surrounded by intelligent people who look smart and neat makes one strive to be like that also. A positive environment rubs off on you positively, but a negative one will most likely leae you the same or worsen things. Maybe also the exposure of the people they live with? Having parents and siblings one can look up to? The OAU girl says her dad talks about OAU being the best university in Nigeria (I smiled at this and then rolled my eyes. OAU and University of Ibadan (UI) alumni will never quit). A dad who went through university might more than likely make his child see the importance of education. I don't know. Thoughts are needed. Why do private school students turn out better than public school students in most cases? And is there anything that can be done by teachers to correct it?

PS: I'm constantly learning something new from and about my students.
They can be such a delight when they are not being naughty and as the end of my service draws near, I'm starting to realise how much of an impact they've had on me. I'm starting to focus more on making these last days count.

And yeah, it's a town, not a village! :P

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.