CAMP HORROR: THE ESCAPE OF THE FUGITIVE CORPERS

Mary And Angela's NYSC Story


(Was going through my old blog last night and saw this post. I got it from my friends last year. They should be rounding up their service. This is the tale they told, I was falling on the floor and dying of laughter when I first read it, so please make sure there are no sharp objects near by. Note, Angela just returned from yankee, hence the hilarity. Thank God He found me a job in Cali, this is what I would have been preparing to go through, although I have also heard some good happy stories. Guess you have to pray you get a good placement.)



My Dear,
How far? MEN!!! i cannot even begin to tell you my story... i don suffer small for this my life weh i come.. i went into NYSC camp on thursday morning, and by night time i had already started crying.. !!! i'm NOT joking oh.. because we were over two thousand students at the lagos camp, i didnt get registered that day, and therefore didnt get allocated a bed space so hundreds of us had to sleep OUTSIDE on the ROAD... im not even playing.. luckily, 'Angela' and i bought a mat to sleep on, which was equally as bad because the 'mat' was made of wood!! so can u please imagine how uncomfortable that was for starters.. THEN, they were playing king sunny ade really loud which made it quite difficult to sleep... THEN, i finally fall asleep, and the KILLER mosquitoes set in .. they bit nonsense out of us.. we were wrapped up from head to foot in our sheets, but they still found their way through.. at that point i just kept thinking about how life can be soo unfair to you sometimes.. i guess at that point, 'Angela' couldnt take it and started weeping seriously.. this was about one or two in the morning..
at about three thirty, ppl had started getting up to take a bath outside, and by the time we managed to borrow buckets, fetch water from the well-like hole tank where there was water, they had brightened the lights, and so we still had to bathe like that with both guys and girls strolling about.. TALK ABOUT SERIOUS REDUCTION OF OUR BRIDE PRICE!!!!
luckily as we hadnt registered the day before, we did not have to take part in that days 'marching' and frog-jumping cos we didnt have our uniforms., but it didnt stop the terrible terrible sun from almost killing us.. we FINALLY managed to register at about 8pm friday night, and swore that we would not spend another night in that place.. u need to see the bathrooms!!!
in between the course of the day, we had already started pleading with a friend of ours who has another friend in the army, who had to find out our commandants name, and luckily, who knew him personally..
it was at that point that there was some hope of leaving.. i got the commandants number, spoke to him, and was told to consider the time we were asking to be let out. this was already past ten at night.. of course i didnt care about that, all i wanted was to be outside the walls of that prison.. come and check out ppl who were trying to escape. the soldiers had to mann the gates and drive them back. even those who slept in the dorms (24people to a room if i might add), were bringing out their matrasses to sleep outside. they said they'd rather be bitten senseless by mosquitoes, than to die of heat and suffocation in the rooms....(no fans, and u cannot bring your own) ITS THAT BAD!!!!!!!! and so friday night had over almost a thousand corpers scattered all over the road. there was hardly any space to even pass.. one chick who came from london to serve, was reading her Bible and shedding hot tears... she said she had never suffered this much in her entire life..
how about the camp food? dinner on thursday was akara, one small fried fish,and Ogi.., the next morning was beans and bread..., afternoon, beans and yam. and u should have seen ppl lining up to collect food..God Forbid!!! we ate in the mammy market cos theres lots of canteens there..
so back to my escape night, i finally meet the commandant and he tells me that he didnt know we were two, and that i would have to leave on my own.. horrified as i was at the prospect of getting out, i would never have left 'Angela' there, so i told him no thanks, and that i'd stay back. 'Angela' said, if i had gone, she would have told them the next day to let her go that she wasnt doing nysc again.. if they had refused, she would have started rolling on the floor and shouting till her father comes to take her away.. dont know what we would have done if we didnt have each other there..
i guess he had some heart cos he agreed to SET US FREE.. forget ! the coded way we even left. had to go one at a time.. one equally desperate girl followed me behind and begged me to say we were together.. . she then lied that she was on her period and didnt have any tampons and with more begging, and after the soldiers abused her for coming to camp without any they let her go. as soon as she got out, she ran accross the road to a waiting mercedes benz, wove to me and drove off..
u also need to have seen cars and drivers outside waiting for people who were planning on escaping that night as well..
so, na so we flee.. . at past eleven at night, from that far away place in iyana ipaja, knowing fully, that we were still heading to V.G.C, and not giving a damn about the time.. so we left, hopefully, NEVER to go back till the passing out parade on the last day, in about two and a half weeks.. i just dont understand how ANYONE can adapt to that kind of rubbish and make the most out of it.. and apart from that, i also think that the nysc thing needs to be SCRAPPED because it makes absolutely no sense to me. if it must remain, then a there must be a TOTAL review and improvement to make it bearable for some people. i say some because there were ppl there who looked like it was just another three weeks of their everyday lives..
so, my peeps, if u are ever convinced to come home and do NYSC, tell them that they should tell whoever sent them to you; that they didnt find you.. in other words... RUN!!
this is my experience and i can BOLDLY represent all the other 'ajebotas' there... i wish them plenty of luck
p.s i think i need to add that Angela and i are now FUGITIVES, at least till that death camp is over cos we cannot return home while its still on...
stay cool guys!!!!!
Love always,
'Mary'
pictures from www.nasarawa.org