As I sit here in a room at the NCCF (Nigerian Christian Corpers' Fellowship) family house, a Yoruba lesson is taking place in the room next door. Yoruba-speaking Person A is teaching Person B (from Akwa-Ibom) some Yoruba words. You can tell the latter is confused, though; her face always gives her away, but her passion for learning the language is admirable.
NYSC is apparently supposed to integrate cultures, and since this is a Yoruba town, you can imagine that most of the corpers here are either from the East or the South but give them another 2-3 months and I bet no one would be able to tell where anyone's from because of how passionately these non-Yoruba speaking corpers daily immerse themselves in the culture. From our Yoruba song-based worship sessions sometimes even led by non-Yoruba speakers; kneeling to greet elders, to knowing when to use 'o' and when to use 'e' in Yoruba as a sign of respect, it is clear that because of their keen interest to learn, these people are blending in so well with the Iwo lifestyle and culture.
Whenever we go to the market, my friend would turn to me and ask, "If muri marun is N100, then what is N200?" and questions of the sort. People who are are more familiar with 'ila alasepo' have had to embrace eating their okro with stew, Yoruba style. And eating egusi and efo more often than they are used to. I find their progress laudable. It has made me realize that learning is a conscious effort because being in a new place does not guarantee that one'd be a part of the culture there, until that person makes the conscious decision to do so. I say this because I'm sure you'd find those few people who can't be bothered or aren't interested in integrating; those who if after their NYSC experience here, are asked to translate a word as easy as 'sorry' to Yoruba, might not be able to.
If there's one thing I have and am still learning, it's that open-mindedness is vital for an enjoyable NYSC experience.
Image source: Google
PS: It's a town, not a village :P
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