Experiences differ from human to human. Listen, but be hungry for yours.
I can guarantee that more than 50% of what they'll tell you before you get to camp would be true, but there'll definitely be more.
Some of my favourite people are going to camp this week and I'm so glad because I'll be on the receiving end of the gist but this time, I'll be listening with experience. This episode is especially for them.
We all see things differently and tell stories based on how things affect us.
I remember one theme song that time on Africa magic that sang, “experience is like bag everybody carry him own ”. That's exactly it.
Regardless of my unstable emotions around the time I was to go to camp and on the way too, I felt this thrill when I finally got to Kebbi state. I finally parted ways with this woman and her two kids who had been sleeping on my body for most of the journey from Minna.
My head magically felt light, my heart was thumping in scattered rhythms, my legs were weak but ready to run in case I'd be asked to do so as I'd heard from some people's stories.
Why do people tell hilarious stories? It's almost like you who's listening to the stories will never have your own experience.
At Koko, Kebbi State, I met this other girl coming from Lagos and we became fast friends. Her face looked solemn like she'd been crying and my heart went out to her. As I went close and asked if she'd been crying and why, she poured her heart out like she'd been longing to share with someone who understands. We shared all our sad stories about how the distance and the rush messed with us, how we'd been traveling for days.
PS: If you don't live around Niger State, a journey from the south, west or east side will take you two days or more, by road.
I found out that this new crybaby friend of mine was her mother's last born and that was her first time traveling that distance away from her family. I laughed in my mind, me that has been in a quiet competition with Gulliver?
The journey to Dakingari camp took her more than 15 hours from Lagos to Kaduna, then 4-5 hours from Kaduna to Abuja the day after, then more than 12 hours from Abuja to Koko where we met.
It took us another frustrating 6 hours to get to camp even though we were already in Kebbi.
I remember narrating in one episode how I longed to participate in the inter-platoon parade competition but couldn't because the conditions were unfavorable, right? And I had to choose pleasure over pain, yeah? Someone who ended up participating would tell how they wished they didn't.
I know someone who was specially chosen because the soldiers in his platoon saw a shining light in him. According to him, he still cannot understand how the ‘rubbish’ he was doing attracted them so much that they even began to beg him to march.
Another example of ‘different experiences’ or preferably ‘taste buds’, is how people chose another restaurant over Calabar restaurant. Princess and Favour could swear that the food was better, but when I tried it, I almost went to apologise to the chef at the Calabar restaurant for cheating on her.
Also, I've been narrating stories and most people have already made conclusions that I enjoyed camp. These series were meant to tell how hungry, sad, frustrated, I was in camp amongst other things, so why are you poeple enjoying the stories and asking for more?
Lastly, I don't know how I did it, but after painstakingly packing my bag more than 3 times, I forgot my most important inner wears at the stop I made in Minna on my way and how I only found out when I was less than one hour into my final journey to camp. Seember's words were, “ I wish I could give you a slap on the head. Now I understand how mummy feels when we leave things back home those years in boarding school”.
If I'm feeling generous, I'll tell you to pack more inner wears than you're intending to pack and that you pack neutral colours instead of red and pink as you'll be wearing mild/ completely transparent white shorts and shirts.
Please don't join the club of the clueless ladies people would be staring at angrily because they can see your coloured inner wear.
Written and edited by: Naze Sewuese
Photo: a screenshot from Instagram
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