Hello All!
If this is your first time here, I'm glad to have you. Enjoy your
time here and do come back!
If it's not your first time, welcome back! Thanks for the support!
I hope you all have been enjoying the Camp Chronicles series? So
many things happened, it is hard to summarize it all but I have given you the
highlights. This is the last installment of the series, enjoy!!!
*******
During camp, I got a lot of attention. Once some people saw me,
heard me speak and/or discovered that I was “foreign
trained”; they wanted to be my friend. To top it off, once they discovered
that I was an American citizen; born and raised...I became a superstar. Of
course, I did not allow all of it to get to my head. I was there to learn and
experience new things, I never considered myself to be better than anyone. I
was open and friendly, I wanted to make the best of the situation. Naturally, I
shy away from attention.
My blue passport status attracted a lot of admirers. Members of
the opposite sex were going bonkers; some thought that I'd be their gateway to
greener pastures. From camp officials to fellow corpers, it was annoying to say
the least. I remember telling one of the camp officials that I was not
interested in dating him. I told him that I was in a relationship. But that
didn't dissuade him one bit. He replied, "That
guy is not serious about you; if he was he would have married you by now." I smiled, he pulled the "marriage" card on me, but I
gladly declined! He continued, "I'll take good care of you, I am a
prince." I laughed,
thinking to myself...Everybody in Nigeria is royalty.
He was very persistent, he asked my friends to plead on his behalf.
One of them started feeling sorry for him and told me to give him a chance. I
looked at her like she was speaking a foreign language. For some reason, people
didn't seem to value relationships. In my head, my then boyfriend was my
husband to be; I couldn't be bothered. Mr. Camp Official persisted until the
very end, I was not amused. Although his persistence came with goodies...free
food and drinks...my friends enjoyed them but I wasn't moved, my foot remained
down. Even after camp, his phone calls continued until he got the point.
Next up was a fellow corper; he was an up and coming musician. He
was a nice guy but he was a bit "out there". He did not hesitate to tell me how
much he liked me. He claimed that his family had a bit of money and that he was
different from the others. His parents were from Ghana but he was raised in
Nigeria. We would hang out from time to time; meet up at the mami market to
gist or plan to meet up during the extremely long and boring lectures. Even
though he liked me and was not afraid to say it often, he respected the boundaries
that I put in place.
After a while, people started talking. They thought that we had
"something" going on. It was annoying, but expected when dealing with
random people. At camp, we were all placed in groups called platoons. When we
did certain activities or had competitions, we all stayed within that platoon.
So for most of the day, you were with your platoon members. Only my friend that
introduced me to the egusi spot was in my platoon. Mr. Ghana (from above) was
also in my platoon, so he'd usually find his way to me during the course of the
day. I liked him as a person, but I was firm. I had a man and I valued our relationship, I refused to believe in love at 1-3 weeks!
Next up was pretty much a stalker, he did not understand the word
NO. He was also in my platoon but I refused to give him the time of day. He was
creepy. I can't remember how or why I gave him my number; he must have appeared
normal that day. He'd watch me throughout the day and not say a word to me. And
then he’d send multiple text messages to me later, professing his love for me
and requesting for alone time with me. One thing that I discovered during my
time in Nigeria is the words "I
Love You" were abused. I
couldn't understand how anyone could use those words so easily, I was taught to
use those words with caution and after some time.
I really wasn't feeling his secret agent behavior, he came on too
strong. I avoided Mr. Stalker at ALL cost. We never had much of a conversation,
but he claimed to love me so much that he'd think about me all day and dream
about me all night. On the very last day of camp, he begged me for hours on end
to have lunch with him. For some weird reason, I agreed. He was ecstatic, he
kept saying "I am so
happy, I can't believe that you agreed to have lunch with me after all this
while." In my head, I
was thinking, "I can't believe it either". Of course having lunch with Mr.
Stalker was a BAD idea!!! It added fuel to the fire. I was shocked when he said
that he had been in a relationship for about three years and that he loved her.
After that day, my phone became his hotline.
He'd send repeated text messages and call repeatedly. One time he
called about 13 times back to back. One day, I was afraid for my life when
after he called a few times and I ignored him as usual, he sent a text saying
that he just saw me leaving out of the bank. What baffled me was that we were
not posted to the same city, how did he find me??? I played cool and tried to delay
going home for the fear of being followed. Thankfully, I managed to make it
home safely. The calling and texting went on for months, it was annoyingly
scary but he gave up eventually.
Next up was my platoon leader, also an NYSC official. I'll call
him Mr. Sneaky. There were many people in the platoon, some people
automatically drifted towards him. We also had to elect officials (platoon
reps) so they were also close to him. I kept my distance and minded my business;
I wasn't interested in any leadership role. Towards the middle of camp, we had
a variety show night. It was a time where each platoon would compete in various
categories, such as dancing; it was also a time for people to showcase their
talents.
One day one of the platoon officials approached me. He asked if I
could represent the platoon during the variety night as the contestant for the Big,
Bold, & Beautiful competition. First of all, I was a bit offended; the
ladies that usually competed were overweight. Now I have absolutely nothing against
anyone being overweight but I didn't think I was. One thing that I learned
early during my stay in Nigeria was that you were either skinny or overweight
AKA "orobo",
there was no in between. People never hesitated to remind me that I was not
skinny, it was annoying but I got used to it eventually. In my eyes, I was "thick". I went on to
lose a lot of weight during my service year...it got so bad that my friends and
family started to worry. It was a result of the hot sun and the limited amount of
unhealthy processed food options.
Anyways, I digress. I kindly declined the offer to contest for the
Big, Bold, and Beautiful title. I was never in to that kind of thing...the
spotlight, all attention on me....no thanks! Later on Mr. Sneaky approached me,
we exchanged greetings. He went on to tell me that he knew me very well, he
told me my entire name without flinching. I stood before him dumbfounded; I'd
never spoken to him prior to that. Of course he had access to my file since he
was the leader of my platoon, but I never thought that he'd notice me out of so
many others. He asked me why I didn't want to compete and I explained why, he
tried to encourage me by saying he believed that I'd win. I politely turned
down the offer.
After that day, he would go out his way to have conversations with
me. For some reason, I never felt comfortable around him. I couldn't explain it
but every time he came around me, I wanted to run away. Besides that, he stared
intensely...he'd look directly into your eyeballs, you'd think that he could
see into your soul. Also there were specific girls that he always had around him;
I wasn't feeling that because he was a married man.
One faithful day, he managed to find himself around me as I
watched a soccer match between my platoon and another. "Here we go again, I thought
to myself", we exchanged small talk and before I knew it, he invited
me to have dinner with him. He didn't give me an option of saying no; I
reluctantly met up with him at the mami market later that day. He ordered a
bowl of pepper soup for me and a few bottles of beer for himself. I was
extremely uncomfortable; the place where we sat was dimly lit, and as time went
by it became dark.
With each minute that passed by I noticed that he became more
relaxed and opened as he sipped his drink. He kept talking and talking and
talking, as I sat there wishing that I could magically disappear. He talked
about his wife, he talked about her being pregnant and wanting to have their
baby in Canada. He talked about camp being a time of fun for everyone; he explained
that on a normal day he probably wouldn't have the opportunity to hang out with
me. He stated that everyone (NYSC officials and soldiers) enjoyed the camp
experience because it gave them the opportunity to use their "power"
to their advantage. I could barely eat, he kept encouraging me to eat and
specifically asked that I ate the meat with my hands...I guess he found that
attractive.
After a while, I couldn't take it anymore. I felt like as fellow
corpers passed the tent, they saw me and were judging me (even though no one
could see me). There was a solider and another female corper at our table he
was pretty much drunk and he was smoking a cigarette at the same time. I felt
terribly wrong; I had no business being with this man at this time of the
night. As the rain poured heavily, I planned my escape in my head. After a
while, I mustered up some courage and politely told him that I had to go. He
seemed shocked; I guess he thought that I'd be spending the night with him as
other girls did. Before he could think twice, I gather my belongings and ran
all the way to my room as I got drenched in the rain.
After that he got the point, he never asked me to join him for
dinner again. We'd just say our "hi(s)
and bye(s)". He promised that he would ensure that I got posted
to the state's capital; he said that I'd love it. It was where he lived also;
he said that I'd have a great time there because it was more developed than
other parts of the state. Well God had other plans, because that didn't happen!
I saw him a few months later at the NYSC head office; I was surprised when he could
barely look at me. What happened to Mr. Stare Down???
The End!
I hope you enjoyed the Camp Chronicles' series, thank you so much
for reading.
Be sure to come back, the next part of my testimony is divine. You
don't want to miss it!
You're blessed!
- Bunmi
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