The diary of a young Corper

by CHIKE UZOWULU (Nigeria)

I didn't expect to find Nigeria

There is something about adventures and being adventurous - it is like taking a leap into the unknown. You don't just know how you are going to land. Look before you leap? Then you might as well never get to leap. Sometimes, you just have to take the leap and hope for a safe landing, nay, fall at the other side! Leaving home for the first time with a quest to find your own path in life is probably the most challenging experience anyone could face, especially when all you have is a travel sack slung across your shoulders, just about enough money for a one way trip to wherever your destination is, a couple pair of eyes starring blankly at you, may be same pair of hands as the eyes bidding you "God's speed" and then a will to take a leap into the unknown. Over two-third of children born in many parts of Africa are born into chronic poverty. Life is a struggle. Provisions are never made for anything. You will have to just live by the day. I belonged to these two-third. I was born in a remote village in the Southeastern state of Anambra in the Western part of Africa called Nigeria. My parents were strong and determined to carve for us the future they never heard. Mum and Dad were among the family that gathered in the balcony of our six bedroom modest house, which he had built, I mean we have built on the basis of "one year", "one block" to bid me farewell as I was set to embark on the voluntary one year national youths service corp programme for university graduates in my country. Usually, the programme otherwise known as NYSC is a national orientation exercise meant to promote national integration through cultural exchange and social interaction among young people from across the country. Young graduates are posted to regions other than theirs to have a different experience. I was posted to Nasarawa in the North Central region of my country. My country has had a bitter civil war long before I was born. The war was caused mainly by religious intolerance, nepotism and tribalism. After the war, the leaders of the country at the time thought the best way to forestall a future war was to have a programme where young people could better understand themselves and promote the oneness of the country above regional or tribal sentiments. I wasn't bothered when my posting letter came but my folks were. The North is bad news as long as they were concerned. Well, I explained that my place of posting was not really the North - it was the middle belt. I was talking to myself. There were genuine fears of my folks about so many things about the North of Nigeria. There was the insecurity occasioned by the anti-western education movement in the North - Boko Haram among others. I wasn't thinking about all that! I needed to take the steps required to be successful and nothing was going to hold me back. I was ready to serve anywhere. My younger brother had just been posted to Zamfara! I will tell his story another day. Thank Goodness, I was posted to the state capital, Lafia after the three weeks orientation exercise. It took a few minutes to locate our means of transportation and we were off in a jiffy but then, my optimism was going to suffer a major setback. So soon? Mid-way into our journey, our vehicle suddenly came to an abrupt stop. A few meters ahead, there was a sea of heads clustered on the major road! The driver pulled off the road, located a gas refilling station and parked. He informed us the journey has been temporary suspended. It was a Friday and the Jummai service was ongoing. Then the driver who had noticed our displeasure quietly explained that we have to get used to these routine especially as we settle down in the town. It dawned on me then that my leap must be higher than personal ambition for success. We have problems in my nation bigger than my personal ambition for success. More discoveries awaited me in Lafia.