The Camp Experience- Survival skills

"The Survival of the fittest" theory has been a redundant aspect of life, it is present in every life form present on our planet, from the unicellular organisms to the complex ones, and it’s usually the fittest that survives.

Please permit me to share a brief story on how I scaled through gallantly during my NYSC camping days. To those that have not read my three publications stressing on my NYSC experience, please do to understand this piece better. One thing I did before leaving for the NYSC permanent Camp site at Ise-Emure, Ekiti state, was to take a full dose of Malaria drug to aid my immune system in the combat of Malaria disease, caused by the Plasmodium parasite present in mosquitoes and transmitted while sucking a Host's blood; hence, I was fit health-wise. I also trained myself personally by doing at least 40 push-ups every day just to help in my fitness and of course taking enough water.

 Sometimes you don't need to follow the crowd. You must not participate in all the programs but choose with wisdom which programs you wish to participate in, it could be in Media and Publicity, Parade, Sports, drama, or dance. Usually, it is believed that those who are very active in camp or those ones that are engaged in "eye service" tend to be favoured during posting, but this is not always true. I still recall a friend who was not active at all in camp, yet he ended up in the state capital, Ado-Ekiti, while some of us that were so active were posted to villages attached to a Local government within the state.

The question presently ruminating in your heart is "What are these survival skills?", the fact is that there are several ways to survive based on individual experience, but none of them is as important as you "being yourself". Being yourself in the sense that you don't pretend and others are not pushing you around. There are several youths out there who can't make a decision on what to do. Well, during my camping days, I went where I wanted to go, ate when I wanted to eat, slept when I wanted to sleep and woke up when I wanted to wake, but all this I did within the allocated time scheduled by the NYSC officials. Take for instance, we were to assemble by 5am prompt every day, so I decided to sleep on time and wake up about thirty minutes to 5am, then I utilized the thirty minutes in proper brushing of my mouth, cleaning my face and wearing my white on white uniform, this was easy since I took my bath before going to bed, and when we were done with the whole exercise, I then took my morning bath as scheduled in the NYSC daily program, unlike some corps members who would wake up by 3am. This made me never to feel ill or stressed throughout my NYSC camp days.

Also, it is important to visit the cafeteria immediately the beagle for food I'd blown, don't wait till the whole place get crowded, this could lead to stress or depression, as some people are "crowd-phobia", there is nothing shy about eating, it’s for your own good health. Now the food may not be enough, just try and supplement it with your own provisions or take a walk to the "maami" market to top it up.

Water is life, hence there is nothing shy about keeping some water in your buckets, it could be helpful at times when the camp will experience "water scarcity", especially during noon time, when the sunlight is at its peak, the scarcity sometimes is experience in some camp sites where the pipe borne water is rationed to morning and evenings alone.

Another point is for you to keep your things super safe. It is usually expressed that " where there are 12 disciples, a Judas Iscariot is present", so where there are more than 2000 disciples, do the math on the number of Iscariots to expect, hence, the need to lock your bag at all times and always keep your valuables (cash, phone,etc.) in your waist bag. If you must wash your clothes by yourself, make sure you keep an eagle eye on them, else I will advise you to give them to the laundry men and women in camp, and this will reduce the stress involved in watching your clothes as if they are gold. Stealing is usually rampant, but you may not be a victim if you pro-actively act like a Victor. It’s simple, be security conscious, even when you are asleep.

Survival in camp is quiet easy if you are determined to be successful, always lock the main entrance of your room during general activities, because these are the periods our "dear Judas" may likely strike. Another key to security is being prayerful; commit yourself into God's hands at least twice a day, for divine guidance.

Using the rest room is going to be a "thug of war", as several persons always complain about the discomfort experienced, some even get infected, others complain of the large number of persons utilizing the few toilet and bathrooms available. Well, the solution is simple, do a "shot-put". Hehehehe, okay, we all know this is the term used to describe the act of passing faeces into nylon and dropping the nylon or polythene bag into the pit toilet provided in the camp or javelined into a far bush. Please note that the NYSC camp is not your home or a beautiful heaven, it is a training ground, to bake you up for the challenges ahead, so brave up and face these challenges, don't wait for what the scheme will do for you, sometimes if not most times you must do a lot for the scheme.

Less I forget, you will fill several forms, Oh, lots and lots of forms, please don't be in a hurry to fill them, take your time and fill only the right information needed. Please ask questions to those NYSC officials present in the hall only or areas where the forms are given to you to fill, don't border asking the soldiers or the man-o-war officials, that would be a waste of time. A very dear friend of mine was tossed around for a while after his NYSC certificate was rendered useless as the name printed on the certificate was not his, investigations carried out by the officials handling his case discovered that he made the mistake while filling the form, though a solution was accorded him after a long while of stressful shuttling between the NYSC headquarters in Abuja and his posted state, he was not happy at all as he was spending a lot of money, while others that passed-out from the scheme with him were busy getting Jobs or kicking off a biz with the little they had saved, hence this keen advice to you that you must look carefully, keeping a level eyes before you leap.

Okay, I need to drop my pen here now, but before then, surviving the NYSC camp is not as easy as it sounds, yet a few of us can proudly say that we came, we saw and we survived......Enjoy your camp experience.

Nwachukwu Prince C.O
Ffg on twitter @nellydozzy