Sewuese's blog

​ “Mockery often reveals limitation, not superiority. When people laugh at what they do not understand, it says more about their world than about the person they are laughing at.” In 2022, I travelled back to my hometown for a wedding. While I was at the salon getting my hair done, the ladies attending to me suddenly began laughing loudly and making fun of someone outside. They kept pointing and laughing as if it was the most amusing thing they had seen all day. I usually do not involve myself in public mockery, but this time, curiosity got the better of me. I looked out the door to see what was happening. I saw a very beautiful woman of average build stepping down from a bike. She was wearing a lovely outfit, paired with a beautiful pair of mid-calf boots that matched perfectly. To my surprise, the ladies were laughing at her shoes. I tried to look again, wondering if there was something else they could possibly be laughing at. Then I heard one of them say in our native language, “Loo...

Service, friendship, growth They say life is in stages- I agree. But if I hadn’t passed through the challenges that came with NYSC and made it to this point, I’d probably still be in comatose, asking God “Why me?” Before graduation, my friends; Lucy, Kyen, Melody, and I, discussed where we’d love to be posted for service. We’d done the entire four (technically six) years of university together, so it only made sense to plan to do life after school together, or at least close enough. We compared dreams, and they basically aligned. Little did we know. You know, when you’re in a particular stage of life and preparing for its end, the only logical thing to do is to dream of better, to stay optimistic, because faith, among other things, teaches us to believe that there’s always better ahead. Camp was the experience. I’d attended boarding school and even gone to camp as a junior cadet back in secondary school. I remember an endurance trek we went on one morning that nearly rendered my legs i...

Lesson learnt; rinse and never repeat. Who else went through this in boarding school? You'll get punished because you're waiting for your bestie to finish dressing up so you both can leave the hostel together. Your bestie is always late but the last time you ran out of the hostel and left her when the final bell for the next activity rang, she didn't talk to you for a week and that was the most miserable week of your life because she effortlessly recruited your other mutual friends to the beef when she told them the story. After junior class though, I left that senseless behaviour for people who had the strength.     While on camp, it was easy to lose track of time especially during that break between lunch and siesta. People used the time to eat, gist, sleep, watch movies, wash their clothes and do a lot of other things because the break usually lasted for up to 2 hours. One minute you'll be gisting and laughing then somehow after you've just finished spreading you...

If na your sister you go allow her do this thing?”    Y ou know how you'll be required to be a certain way because of your profession? Or how people already have ideas about you because of your occupation? For example, we all associate lousiness with ‘market women’ but aren't there market women who go to their stands or shops at the market everyday and just do the necessary cajoling, sell their stuff and go home when it's time? We associate receptionists and waitresses as you know what, we expect all teachers to be strict. We see soldiers and become shaken because a soldier doesn't smile with civilians or with anybody at all.     I can't lie, I was really terrified seeing so many soldiers in one place when I first got to camp. I've always had this deep love and respect for the complete soldiers kit and their carriage, but now I know from experience that it is a different thing to admire them from afar and a different thing to be in the same space for a whol...

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 thu...

In one episode of Young Sheldon, Sheldon asked the librarian what her religion was because he was learning about different religions in order to find the one he liked better. She said her religion teaches that when people die they go their own planets but women have to go to their husband's planet, except her because she's single.    In all 23 years of my life, I have battled with people's different beliefs in relation to love, respect and ambitions. It's been a tough and conflicting battle on what to belief as right or not. I have made my own assumptions and research based on what I've been taught intentionally and I believe at this point, I have the right standing.     The argument about God's intention when he took a rib out of man to create woman is one that can put one's brain in a turmoil. Did God mean for a woman to only be a helpmate and not have her own identity? Did he instruct Adam to be fruitful, multiply and subdue the earth by himself?   ...

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. - Thomas A. Edison “We're full, you can't join”    I entered camp with so much zeal and my blood pumping to do all that was required and at the same time have fun just like everyone advised. In the first 4 days of the first week, I joined my platoon in all her parade preparations.  I've always loved parades because of the sounds of the band and all the blood pumping activities that follows. I literally have chills when the drums begin and the parade commander marches forward to get permission from whomever, for the parade to continue. Everything just goes in perfect rhythm; legs, hands, e.t.c,. I think I fell partially in love with the parade band leader and the parade commander. Follow @sewuese_writes on IG to see videos of the band boy in action so you'll judge if my heart was right or not.     Things were going smoothly, in fact I was marching wi...

Victory at last! You remember how I said I was prepared to march my platoon to victory even if it meant independently, right? Well, we attained victory, and alas, without my help. Walk with me as I tell you how this unofficial 8th wonder of the world happened.    Remember my first week before I ran to join the OBS crew? I told you in one episode that I was eager to march alongside my platoon members because I've always loved parades; the seriousness, the sound of the drums and all the other activities involved? You remember? Somewhere again I told you how scared I was of the soldiers in camp and how I couldn't comprehend the fact that some corpers even had the nerve to stand and gist with them, correct?     Even though I moved to OBS, I didn't really abandon my platoon, I was still nursing the hope that I could avoid the punishments and trainings ‘under the sun or in the rain’, and somehow still participate in the parade. I kept going back to check on things, I ...

Man, know thyself “This girl don carry another biscuit put inside bag this early morning”. This came from my friend as she checked my waist bag to use my lipgloss at 4:40 something, as the final beagle for morning meditation was being blown. Another girl on the line one day during morning meditation said, “ah ahn sister, you're eating this early morning? It's not even 6 yet”.     Amongst my top lists for camp, I wrote ‘2 and half dozens of 50 naira biscuits (mix them )’  and that was the first thing I bought as I got to the market, then I bought my personals, e.t.c,.     I've been a serious fan of biscuits since forever. If you like me and want to please me with snacks , buy cartons of small biscuits, I've asked for biscuits before and gotten some weird tasting big biscuits instead of dozens of parle-G, pure bliss wafer, fab, festo and the likes . I have some expensive biscuits I like too but I'll pick parle-G anyday. I packed my 20 something pieces o...

NENRITMWA    I'd known Nenrit in school and for awhile we were just cordial. Our relationship went from small pleasantries to gisting and laughing after we got each others numbers, but nothing deep.  Even Adam had the animals for company before Eve. This is saying, “you definitely need people at all points in your life”.   In as much as we all make plans with our friends to be together forever, some situations cannot be helped.  I met a twin who was separated from her other twin for the first time ever because of NYSC. They were posted to places very far from each other and after crying and wishing it'd have been the other way, they both survived camp.  I have a couple of close friends I talk to all the time, I have my sisters too, basically enough people that I even thought I didn't necessarily need to connect with anybody or meet new people who would keep me company. The fact that I was leaving for camp at one of the craziest points in my life last year c...

“Wake that girl sleeping and tell her to stand up”.  When people tell you that you haven't known yourself completely, even though you're 57 years old, please believe them and always be ready to shed old skin and wear the new one for as long as is required. And we've been busy saying snakes are sneaky for always shedding skin? I think we humans are actually just too proud.  On this episode of my camp series, you're going to find out how I went from 5/10- 0 on my battle with improper sleep schedules.    Before camp, I used to always want to nap and my nap usually had to last more than 30 minutes, 1 minute less than 30 minutes will automatically give me a headache. You're like this too, yeah? Shockingly, since I and my fellow Nigerian youths unknowingly registered for military short service (in disguise), my life changed. I don't know if it has actually changed completely because I've not had the time to take naps since I got out but I really hope I am alright,...

There's food at home. When Nnnenna said, “carry plenty money when you're going to camp”, she was talking from the experience that I only actually understood when I couldn't allow hunger finish me.    I honestly didn't remember that people have different taste buds. I mean there are people who enjoy dipping bread in tea and people who actually do not like plantain.    When we first came into camp, a good number of people were boasty, telling all and sundry that they couldn't eat the meals served at the camp kitchen. Now fast forward to the second week in 😂     There were three different sets of people in my camp; the constant patronisers of the maami market, the regulars at the camp kitchen and the ones who only eat at the kitchen when it's rice, boiled yam, bread and butter or bread and boiled eggs and eat at restaurants in maami when it's eba, beans and the likes. I was in the third category.    Unsurprisingly, after the first five days in ...

I knew I'd meet a lot of people with different personalities because of course, but I didn't know it was a competition of who can be friendlier in three weeks.  I honestly still cannot wrap my head around the idea of touching people unauthorized, people you don't even know. Why did I encounter a lot of handsy men in camp? I'm sure it wasn't just me because there were a lot of funny ladies and gentlemen on camp who wanted to try their luck to see if they'll go home with a lover or more.  Akwa Ibom ayaya!!!    Maybe it's because I have plenty hairs on my body that I react sensitively to touch, or maybe it's because you have no business touching me at all if we're not close like that. Of course you can touch my hand in greeting if we're close enough, I'll react jerkily if I'm not looking, but not as much as I'll do when it's coming from the hands of a stranger. And maybe it's because I have plenty hairs on my hands that I got not...

Does it really pay to be patient? Or do we just have to be smart enough to know when to abide by the saying?     As the popular saying goes, “the patient dog eats the fattest bone“. Although nowadays when someone quotes it, another person replies, “patient dog don get ulcer” and everyone begins to laugh. Fetching water this afternoon during our free time before lunch, we had a long line of buckets with people waiting to get water to take their baths, wash their clothes, e.t.c,. Sitting with my first camp friend, we discussed a lot of things in a bid to pass time before our turn. Everybody's been so kind to everybody here, as if we're all eager to make new friends. Anyways, this other pretty girl comes with her buckets and expresses shock as she sees the number of people already waiting. Following the chatty trend, people begin to laugh and give her unnecessary/witty advice. One gist leads to the another and she joins the conversation with I and my friend. Somehow during t...

Destiny helpers in camouflage On swearing in day, the 27th of November, 2023, a guy in my platoon received special recognition from the representative of the Executive Governor of Kebbi State. It was the best thing I had the privilege to experience during my time in camp.     After practicing since Monday and being part of the frontliners for each platoon, Gospel assumed he could no longer be in front of platoon 10 as he didn't have the NYSC combat boots because of course, his size wasn't there like some of us, but even worse.  That morning, we'd practiced with the soldiers and were ready to salute and take all the commands from our general parade commander. There were a lot of cameras everywhere as everyone posed for their first photos in complete khaki attire. Don't forget to take pictures on this day, it's one of the days in camp that you can join anybody's selfie and not get the bad eye.    Anticipating the special guest of the occasion, pla...

For it is in giving that we receive. - St. Francis of Assisi  Today at church, as everyone wished everyone a merry Christmas, gifts went round too. Mimi went on her usual Christmas ‘trick or treat’ and came back with goodies. My mum had packaged presents for people and she sent me with a packaged gift for this particular daddy in our church. Meanwhile, did you know that the tradition of giving gifts at Christmas originated from St. Nicholas' generosity at Christmas in those days? According to what I've learned, St. Nicholas used to give gifts unfailingly to the poor in the season of Christmas and he always wore coats and boots because it's winter season at Christmas, and walked about carrying a big bag filled with presents and he had a big belly, so somehow, as the years went by, people began to associate Christmas with presents. Please take your time to search for the story on Google, this is what I remember from the story Seember narrated to Mimi.    So I went with this...

   For a while now, I'd been complaining to everyone who cared to listen, of my writer's block- how I've had no motivation to write at all. Yesterday, after a series of similar sad stories in the past months, the story of my friend losing his friend to a sad death broke the ice. I wrote this to help with some of my heart's tension. Life is fickle Its uncertainties sweep me off my feet in recent times, more than I have anticipated. Lately, I've been contemplating ‘the end’ more than I'd like Before now, I used to think that I was unafraid of the inevitability of death. If dying means going back home Home where I won't have to drag my feet to wake up mandatorily at 6am to pray and go on to make breakfast/lunch for my working class parents and little sister  Home, where I can sleep for hours in the daytime uninterrupted by people or headaches from the heat Before now, I'd accepted death as what it is, ‘inevitable’ Lately, I find that I'm getting more th...

THE END OF THE BEGINNING “Struggle teaches you a lot of things, and I am happy that I witnessed a rollercoaster ride. The journey has improved me as a person, and made me more mature”.    Hey, this is more of an exposé and it's especially dedicated to students who may have made some mistakes already, and to also help prevent you from making some which may seem unavoidable but are in fact, silly mistakes when you advance and look back.     It's been 6 years of bearing the title ‘student’ and now, after so many nights of reading and praying, crying through confusions, fears and deadlines, I can finally take a bow and add a feather of success to my cap. To say it was a journey would not be an understatement, because a journey can be smooth, bumpy, slow, fast, jolly, boring, unexpected or planned.  This journey of 4 years with an EP definitely contained a bit of all of the above-mentioned, and since I've overcome, I'll gladly pen down my struggles and achievements ...