It was the Monday of the week in
which I was to pass out. When I woke up early on that morning, and stood on the
balcony of the top floor of the corper’s lodge, I never knew how my day would
go. The goats bleated as usual, the hens ran about in their frenzy, and the
hills on the horizon were still where I saw them last night. Chidioke, a
dignified she-goat, who had begotten two generations of stubborn goats, sat on
her sofa – a wooden table.
(We, the
corps members, had given her that name, for though she was a quiet goat, which
is rare, her kids were incorrigible. I remember a Saturday morning when one of
her kids climbed the stairs to the first floor of the building. We heard the
kid bleating in the kitchen and scattering the dustbins. This particular kid
had been doing this for long and we had borne it patiently. Alas, it was
payback time. Hillary, Nnadi and I, closed all the escape routes and beat
the goat black and blue until it started crying. We thought we had trained that
kid and that its tears were an audible vow never to return upstairs. We were
wrong, for we saw the same kid upstairs the next day prancing as if nothing
happened the day before. It was then I realized that calling a human being
‘goat’ was the worst insult imaginable.)
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| The Stubborn Kid |
Statutorily, I wasn’t expected to
go to the my place of primary assignment - the secondary school - but I went. I
figured there would be no Chemistry and Computer teacher after I passed out of
the NYSC for some time to come, so I thought it wise to teach as much as I
could before leaving Kanturu. Moreover I thought, what will I be doing at home.
Ergo, I had my bath, did my
morning rituals, and was ready for
school. I arrived the school about
thirty minutes late and as I made for the staff room, I heard a voice.
#########
Over the weekend I had been going
on strategic visits because I knew I would miss Kwara state. I visited a friend
and colleague who was serving in a remote village called Ekan Meje in Oke Aro L.G.A. In addition, Hillary and I visited the
mother of our student – Lucky – who
was delivered of a baby girl. It was a fun way to round up our NYSC experience.
My feelings were ‘dilemmatic’. One the one hand I wanted to be free, to pass
out, to be my boss and not have any NYSC official to fear. On the other hand, I
was feeling nostalgic, but I always suppressed the thought.
That Sunday, in the Redeemed
Christian Church of God Hillary and I attended, a section of the service was
dedicated for our sendforth. We had front seats in the service, people were
invited to speak about us, and we were given the privilege to talk about our
experience. Something funny happened.
“We want to call on Corper Seun
to speak about the soon-to-pass-out corps members.” The Pastor’s wife said.
Seun came up and took the
microphone with a smile, looked at both of us and smiled again.
My heart skipped a beat. I thought: ‘Make this girl no fall my hand for
church o.”
Said she,“….I appreciate corper Hillary he’s a good guy and a good leader, but I
must say that he beats me too much.”
I burst out laughing
spontaneously and looked at Hillary who, at that moment, bore a shocked look on
his face where he sat beside me.
Hillary and Seun were one hell of
a pair who always played and fought and played, but I never thought that she’d
bring their playfulness to the front of the church. Thankfully, everyone took
it with good humour and laughed it away. Friendship.
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| RCCG Abundant Life Send off |
#########
“Uk! Uk! Please come.” The voice
called strongly.
I stopped in my tracks. In a
split second my brain was searching its voice data base to identify who was
calling, and before I turned, I knew it was the Junior-Secondary Principal.
“Good morning sir.” I replied as
I walked briskly towards his office with my shoulder bag still hugging my back.
“How was your weekend?”
“Very fine sir.”
“We want to do a send forth for
you and Hillary.”
“Really? That’d be great sir.
Thank you.”
“Yes. We must do a send forth for
you people. You deserve it. What day is your passing out?”
“Thursday sir.”
And that was how the idea for a
send forth came up. Hitherto, and to the best of my knowledge, sendforths were
not done for outgoing corps members, so the news was a surprise.
The sendforth was slated for
wednessday and here was how it went.
#########
By 10 am the timekeeper’s metal
rod struck the trailer-wheel that hung from the tree in the centre of the
school. It was a make shift bell, which was jingled to convene all students. Soon, seats were arranged in the centre of the
cashew plantation in quadrangular fashion, and a table tennis board was placed
in the middle. A day before, we had been told that a novelty table tennis match
would hold as part of the send forth activities.
The event started with the table
tennis match. The games-master chose two students each to represent Hillary and
I - they wore yellow and blue vests respectively. It was a fiercely competitive
match, and I thought it ironic, for Hillary and I were best of friends and
never competed. The white ball flew here and there and everywhere – whithersoever
the players willed it.
(I was reminded, by the match, of the movie “The Great Debaters”
starring Denzel Washington – who played the character Melvin. Melvin was a
teacher who tutored his highly intelligent students for debates all over America.
Before any debate practice, he always asked His students some questions, and
required that they shout the answers at the top of their voice in a call and
response manner - thus:
Melvin: Who is the judge?
Students: The judge is God.
Melvin: Why is he God?
Students: Because he decides whether I win or lose, not my opponent
Melvin: Who is your opponent?
Students: He doesn’t exist.
Melvin: Why does he not exist?
Students: Because he is just a mere dissenting voice to the truth I
speak.
Anyway, at the end of the match a
team won, and if you really want to know which, watch the video below.
Even the cashew trees shed tears
for us and many a cashew fell down during the event. We were lucky that none of
them fell on either the staff or students. Thereafter, the principals spoke,
Hillary and I spoke, we were given gifts, and we were sent forth.
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| Receiving My Send Forth Gifts |
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| Hillary Receiving His Send Forth Gifts |
#########
That same day, by 5 pm our
colleagues, corps members, sent us forth. We had a modest get together at one
of the lodges with music, and speeches, and dancing, and food. It was fun, but
it was hard, for I was hard hit by the reality of my departure.
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| Corpers Send Forth: Receiving a Gift from Leye |
Watch out for the Next Episode.
