Foxes Have Holes

This piece was written by Anthony Akpobasa - a serving corps member

Nuligwe had three needs; food, this helped keep his internal organs up and running; clothes, so that the condensing morning dew dripping from his thatched roof wouldn’t freeze him to death; and a house, a place where he could call home. When he first arrived at kantar land from Zimba, he had the first two. His clan had sent him to his third cousin to help control the overflowing Ngwo river which was threatening to wipe their whole clan away. Every day, he woke up to help his kindred pile up klinker at the bank of the river. One evening, he looked intently at the tree under which they all slept and froze in shock –  then – leapt for joy. 

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Nuligwe represents me; although under slightly different locations and times. I had been posted to Kwara state and after a horrendous 3 weeks at the camp, I was posted to a Natural Resources Management Corporation somewhere in the state. The song on the lips of those who got to know I was posted there had been – “you are very lucky O, they give corpers accommodation and they also pay five thousand naira” – some even said it was ten thousand naira.

My hope was summarily dashed when the secretary to the Managing Director of the corporation politely told us, “there is neither pay nor accommodation, if you don’t like that, you had better collect your posting letter and go somewhere else.” At first, I thought she was deceiving us – I felt it was a ploy to reduce the number of corps members in the corporation – the patient dog, they say, eats the fattest bone so I decided to stay put. Soon, however, I noticed the sincerity in her voice and eyes – like a mother advising her children who were going to the university for the first time of the challenges they would face. So, just like Nuligwe, I froze in shock.

She further explained, “this corporation can only fund ten corps members per batch. Ideally, we should accept just ten of you and reject the rest, but corps members, out of desperation, keep begging and even agree to work without pay. Once we accept them without pay; however, they begin to complain saying the establishment is partial.”

The whole scenario reminded me of what Christ told his disciples after he had spoken some hard truths to them, “will you also go away?” One of them answered, “Unto whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life.” I’m sure that fellow hadn’t come to the full knowledge of that statement – the full understanding came when their master left.

Anyway, like Nuligwe, I resumed work with no pay and no hope of getting an accommodation. Luckily for me, my cousin lives in the same town, so I stayed with her and joined her husband to work everyday. All hopes of getting a private accommodation simmered down and I continued my daily routines. Soon, however, news leaked out to me – I’ll tell you soon.

My cousin’s house was a grand one. Three generations lived there; grandma, my cousin and her sisters. I found myself sharing a room with my female cousins. I needed privacy, a place I could call my own; because, I had specific goals I could only achieve while alone – now don’t think otherwise – these were good goals.

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 “Young man,” the local inspector (LI) said, “you haven’t been registered in this CDS group. How did you get here?”

Silence.

I had signed up for the HIV/AIDS CDS group but the group’s coordinator told me new members weren’t needed, so I decided to join the Education/Tutorial CDS group instead. That was when the LI confronted me. This was frustrating; first, I wasn’t offered accommodation and now I was being rejected from joining a CDS group. Things couldn’t get worse, or so I thought.

Tobi was a corps member I met on my first Community Development Service (CDS) day. Community development service occurs every Thursday and it is a means whereby corps members give back to society. We got talking and soon became friends. His brother had an apartment not too far from the venue of our CDS meeting, so after meetings I followed him there. I always looked forward to when I’d get a place to call mine – though I wasn’t so bothered anymore. My friendship with Tobi was a good solace from the initial hurdles of service life.

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“Bro,” I asked, “you live within this complex?”

“Yes,” there is actually a form of accommodation for corps members but it’s very limited.

“Really?”

“Sure,” the male corps member replied, “but you need to know someone among the staff of the corporation that would help you get a slot.”

At last hope was rising. I immediately began to pester Mr Tunde, the man in charge of accomodation to ensure I was provided with one – and someone stepped in to help.

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“We want people to be nominated for the post of Head of the Skills Acquisition Unit,” the Education/Tutorials CDS group – of which I was a part said.

I sat silently neither willing to nominate nor expecting anyone to nominate me. I got a rude shock.

“I nominate tony.”

“Seconded by me.”

“Me too.”

And so – one by one people began to nominate by for the position. I had to accept the call. Now life is funny, some time back I was an outcast in this CDS group but now I was being asked to lead.

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“We’ve not gotten all the keys from the last occupants.” Mr. Tunde (not real name – the officer in-charge of corps members) had told us (Tope and I) that afternoon we went to him to get the keys to our lodge. Tope is a fellow corps member I met the first day I came to submit my posting letter from then onward I became acquainted with her.

“But, you take this,” he handed us each a key, “go to the block B and any door the key opened is yours.”

We duly appreciated him and left at once to see the lodge.

In no time, we had gotten to the lodge. A few steps away from us stood a long building with five rooms.

I tried my key on a room; scanning through the room, I saw a table and two chairs, a big mattress and a small stool. I checked the switch and socket then left the room. I immediately briefed Tope about the room I entered, it was in good shape.

Finally, I had gotten an accommodation – all my heart desires had been met. Like Nuligwe, I leapt for joy!