DIARY OF A VILLAGE CORPER (PART 2)

The journey to Oke-Bode village seemed like forever. From the smouldered eyes of the corps members on board, I figured perhaps exchanging pleasantries was a bad idea with capital VERY and so I sat quietly and busied myself with my phone. Everyone was in their own cone of silence. Our PPA was a bitter pill we'll had to swallow. The only cheerful person was our Corper Liaison Officer (CLO) who tired in no little measure to pacify us with some words of encouragement and constantly introducing humour as she spoke. 'You guys will enjoy Oke-Bode oh. At least you won't have to buy stuffs like plantain, cocoyam or bananas. I hear the villagers are hospitable and do give them to corpers free of charge'. I knitted my brows subtly 'Plantain ko, cassava ni' who cares?!
Finally, we arrived at a narrow bush path with a rusty and tacky sign post with the inscription 'Oke-Bode junction' and our driver swerved left towards the bush path. The deteriorating condition of the road was awful. It seemed as though no automobile had plied it in ages. Our shuttle kept wiggling as it bumped into pot holes. Our driver despite his dexterity, couldn't circumvent it. I was so irritated that I instantly began to feel the urge to vomit.

The thought of spending one whole year of my life gave me the creeps. I wasn't in the least prepared for any modalities of village life. The roads were semi arid with muddy dust particles settling on the trees and bushes. There was no semblance of a house or building of any sort. The only evidence of human existence were the farmlands we passed and some pigs we sighted delving into dirt. 'Someone must have cultivated these lands and reared these pigs'. I thought to myself. But afterwards, we soon began to notice some huts and bungalows and we all heaved a sigh of relief. Most of the houses were made of mud. Even the corrugated roofing sheets were outdated and looked as though they were gonna fall apart at the slightest wind. The cars packed in few of these houses were a reminiscent of that car Odenigbo drove in Chimamanda's 'Half Of A Yellow Sun'...#Laughs

We finally arrived at the corper's lodge and throughout our journey there was no sign of a bank, eatry, cafe, ATM etc. Even a part of our lodge was built with mud. I blew out a breath. It was unexpected to say the least. 'Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining' they often say, but what silver lining could come from a place like this?. Behind me, I could hear a corp member inquiring from our CDS president if calls and browsing were possible. 'Calls..yes, only on MTN network but for browsing, you guys will have to climb the hill' he replied.
'Haaa'?!! I exclaimed. So after all my rosy plans for my service year, I finally got confined to this spartan life? Oh! I felt like a fish out of water. As we took a grand tour round our lodge, I could notice the lady with the swollen eyes and some other corp members lamenting over the phone to their loved ones. I thought of calling my mum to lament too but I restrained. A spasm of optimism had suddenly enveloped me. It damned on me that calling my mum or anybody for that matter, was gonna be a wild goose chase and tantamount to flogging a dead horse. There was nothing she or anyone could do for me now. I had to accept my fate. Really, if I could meritoriously graduate from the department of microbiology in University Of Port Harcourt despite the challenges and tough times I faced, I could and can survive just about anything. Yeah! I've been to hell and back. Oke-Bode village was a piece of cake.

The villagers were indeed hospitable. We kept greeting and genuflecting all the way. The inhabitants were predominantly the aged and children. The youths probably have migrated to cities for greener pastures. I mean, who wouldn't?!
That night was a gloomy one for us, particularly me. I couldn't sleep. Tomorrow was Valentine's day and here I was in the middle of a jungle obeying the clarion call.. How unfair!
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Its been exactly two months I arrived Oke-Bode village and I can unarguably say that my posting here, wasn't a mere quirk of fate but divinely orchestrated. God had a purpose for me here. I've also learnt that, the best part of being a corper is being a spiritually rugged rural corper and in my next world (if there's any) I would love to be a 'Village Corper'. #Laughs.