The bad news I had been waiting for broke. All NYSC camps were to be closed because of the Ebola virus. Hmmm...*deep sigh*. Another timetable had been published for our registration in camp. It would take place for only five days of which we would just register and leave. Nobody was to sleep in camp.I just scoffed when I saw it. "Yeah right, so I'll leave Lagos to Osun in the morning and then start returning to Lagos that same day? Jokers".

It was time. I had already arranged my things(arrangee like me)Lol! I packed a pair of white shorts and T-shirt with my sneakers. My thoughts were just revolving around the fact that I won't get to experience those 3 weeks in camp. Oh!it is well. I woke up very early that morning, got dressed and I was good to go. Before I left, my mum prayed for me. Trust our mothers and prayers. At least I was happy. I was traveling to a "new" place. Adventure!(Did I mention I enjoy traveling? Ok,just did) I got to the park and the transport company wasn't looking good at all. No AC, nothing! Unlike the buses we used to take when I was going back to school in Benin (University of Benin) if that wasn't enough, they wasted three hours of our time before we finally boarded and embarked on our journey.

On getting to Ibadan, just before Guru Mahraji's shrine or temple, we had an accident. The front tire got burst and luckily for us, or rather, by God's grace, the driver was able to manage the situation well and he stopped the bus from moving. Funny enough, I was at the front seat with him and I thought to myself for a split second,"So, God, this is how I will go?"lol! Thank God I don't know how to panic,so that added to the driver's calmness. All the people at the back were already screaming, "Jesus! Blood of Jesus!". One Yoruba woman was just shouting"Olorun egbami, olorun egbami!!",meaning, God save me. Hehehehe!! Who wants to die? After the whole drama, we came down from the bus and the driver started making calls to his mechanic friends around the area. 30 mins had passed, 45mins, an hour, an hour 30 mins. Then 2 guys bounced out from a vehicle that stopped beside ours. They were with tools and everything necessary to get the car moving again. After thirty minutes, they were through and we were on the move again.

Eventually, we got to Osun state. And I was like, "Oho! This is the Osun State??" We passed through a street with mud houses and some with rusted zinc roofs. Wow! I knew this must be a village and not the town part of Osun. I was desperately looking for a signboard so I could know the exact place we were and I sighted one that read "...Gbongan" Ok! I'm in Gbongan. We then stopped at a motor/bus park where I was directed by the driver to take a taxi to Ede Camp. I got into the taxi,preparing my mind for another long journey and it wasn't up to 10 minutes when I found myself in front of the camp gate. Yay! See camp. Then the excitement faded, "I'm not going to have the total experience anyway", I shrugged. I walked in and I was stopped by a man and lady at the gate. Their tags read 'Officials', obviously they were NYSC officials. They asked for the necessary identification and I showed it to them, they searched my bag for contraband and they saw none(good girl like me) lol! So I walked in, I saw the big field where we were supposed to use for our parade and I smiled.I was then directed by the different officials on how to go about the registration process and finally, I was through. I was now a bonafide Corper.

Time had long passed and we were directed to the hostel to take bed spaces with mattresses.(I thought they said we won't sleep na.hehehehe!!) "Oh yeah! I'm going to spend one night in camp", I thought. I settled down, freshened up and put on my whites. This is my own camp. I set out to mami market(camp market) to get some food. Boy! I was famished. I met a guy at the table where I sat to eat and I engaged him in a little chit chat (Evita is not so"quiet" after all) We talked about the whole Ebola issue and how it disrupted the normal camping activities, just random stuff basically. After eating, I started heading to my room but I begged my new friend to take me a picture with my phone. "I must snap with this white and white whether Ebola likes it or not" He took a few shots and I was glad.

Early the next morning, the hostel officials started making announcements that we should get up and prepare to leave the hostel before 8am. "Hmmm,see these people o! So we shouldn't drink water and drop cup abi? Ha!" I got up, did the necessary and was ready to leave at 7am. But wait, we can't leave without our transport allowance 2,500 NGN. I waited behind in the hostel with some other girls, although we had submitted our mattresses, we lay down on the bare bunk. 2,500 NGN isn't big money I agree but it had been assigned to me by the Federal government so I must collect it. We waited till 11 am when the officials arrived and then assembled at the bursary to collect our money.

Here ends my camp experience but was this really the end? Find out more in my next post; LIFE IN IPETUMODU.