The World As I See It
In addition to the weekly tests, I decided to tackle the problem of fear by organizing tutorials for maths and physics. The initial plan was to bring all the senior students in Fadan Karshi’s two secondary schools to one location for the tutorial. For this, I requested approval from NYSC to run this community tutorial as a personal CDS (Community Development Service) project Continue reading “Memories from Kaduna [2]”
“You have to redeploy. Find your way back home”. This aptly sums up the reactions of several friends and family members when they heard I was posted to the north. With Boko Haram making the news regularly, only a “fewish” few spoke nicely of Kaduna, and encouraged me to make the best of the service year. Today, certificate in hand, I can look back at one year of my life, and say it was a worthwhile experience. Here are my memoirs from the “Centre of Learning”. Continue reading “Memories from Kaduna”
“Uncle, I use (sic) to sleep from 7 o’clock to 5 o’clock”. As the young student uttered this statement, I looked aghast at her. Good sleep is important for proper development and good health, but sleeping for ten hours tells a lot about one’s priorities. Continue reading “10 Hours to Failure”
As part of a national integration scheme, the government sends corps members (CMs) to different locations to “obey the clarion call and lift our nation high”. Most CMs prefer to be posted to developed areas (“towns”). For Kaduna State, Kaduna, the state capital, is a preferred location. The various military formations in the state, especially, the elite Nigerian Defence Academy, are also highly sought posting locations. CMs posted to rural areas are seen as the less-fortunate ones. Towns and rural areas have their pros and cons, but for many CMs, personal preferences are the superior criteria. The posting letters, when they come, show whose fantasies or nightmares come true. Continue reading “Musings of a Rural Corper”
The life of a teacher is quite rosy. Maybe it’s not, but that’s the idea I had about teachers. What do teachers even do? Come into a class, act like the know-it-all, dish out notes, classwork and assignments. Now that I’m wearing a teacher’s shoes, I see that there’s more than meets the eyes. Continue reading “Sins of a Teacher”
In the course of a full month, I wrote just one article. That’s an extremely low output compared with my writing frequency since this blog started. The hustle and bustle of the NYSC orientation camp provided a convenient excuse for not writing. Now that the camp is over, that excuse has expired. It’s time to write again.
Here’s my journey to Kaduna. Continue reading “Journey to Kaduna”
At some important events, the National anthem is sung, with the pledge usually following soon after. The third line of the national pledge is a promise to serve Nigeria diligently. Over the course of a Nigerian’s lifetime, many opportunities would arise where national service is required. None is as organised nor as glamorous as the National Youth Service Corps.
One, two, three, …, nineteen, tweenty, …, hondred.
In case you’re wondering, there’s no typographical error (by me) above. This is not an example of my fallibility. A serving national youth corps member actually used those spellings while entering results in the results’ sheet of a recent election. Continue reading “Hondred and Tweenty”
This week, in a peaceful community in Cross River State, an anomaly occurred. A vivacious young man committed suicide. It’s an anomaly because Nigerians are not known for suicides. Our propensity to hope is matchless. A recent poll ranked Nigeria as the “most positive country”. How then do we now have a suicide on our hands? Continue reading “A Silent Killer”
Jilomes 