My Thursdays are now filled with country service activities as I am currently on my NYSC one-year journey. If you don't know, NYSC is a mandatory program where university graduates/youths serve Nigeria by acquiring the spirit of self reliance through development of skills for self employment. And to contribute to the accelerated growth of the national economy.
The official NYSC aboutscheme page tells us more about the NYSC scheme
I know, I know. I missed you too. <3 It's been a while since I've written here. Don't worry, I'm back again. But, I'd rather show you than tell you this time so I don't make empty promises because of how my jobs can be. Today, we won't be speaking on anything tech-related, but this article will be something different—a quick look into my life.
I'll speak a bit about my outing with my CDS (Community Development Service) group - NOAGSC (National Orientation Agency Generation for Societal Change) in this article.
CDS simply means Community Development Service and it is one of the four (4) Cardinal Programmes of NYSC in which corps members (like me) contribute positively to the development of their host communities throughout the period of national service. (extracted from “ABC” OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SERVICE)
In the beginning...
At the beginning of this CDS journey, I was so clueless! All I was interested in was being part of a global change in some way to actively represent Nigeria in a positive light and be a change maker. This stems from my love for Christ and my duty and responsibility to show the world how He is through ALL that I do.
Representing Nigeria through patriotism, being disciplined, and having integrity was what I wanted and NOAGSC is a perfect place for me to do that and even more. I have to let you know all this so you can understand how this all began.
NOAGSC is a perfect place for me not just to help with a positive change in Nigeria, but to also expose the world to a different side of life because, to be honest, people are suffering here. A lot. Even if I do this while I find resources to help them, I want to just know I'm doing something in the meantime and again, NOA is a perfect place for it.
Some of our core values (extracted from our National Core Value document) include:
Patriotism: means love of your country and willingness to defend it. It is a strong belief in one’s country, making it possible for citizens to be willing to die for the nation.
Integrity: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles
Discipline: the ability to control your behaviour on the way you live, work etc.
Self-Reliance: The reliance on one’s own powers and resources rather than those of others and dependence on oneself and relying less on others.
Social Justice: The capacity to organize with others to accomplish ends that benefit the whole community and the fair and just relation between the individual and society.
There's a lot more in our National Core Value document, so do check it out! It's definitely worth emulating in your businesses and private lives (just remember, you saw it here first, on my blog 😏).
What Happened the First Time and Last Week
To give a brief recap on where I went the first time this happened was Alpha Soteria Primary School.
These little guys were so brilliant and they asked smart questions for their age. One question shook me when my Self-Reliance sub-group leader (Israel) was speaking on correcting people when they're wrong so as not to spread misinformation and bad character, a child raised her hand and asked since he said we should correct the wrong things we see, should we also correct someone doing something bad on the road? (peeing on the sidewalks or defecating on the roadside).
Do we ignore and walk away or do we correct on the spot? (I mean since he has been speaking about correcting their mates and enacting justice when we see, can't we also correct people as we walk and see something bad?)
Lol, what? I was flabbergasted because I wasn't even thinking in that light, but the Principal and my sub-group leader answered well. They just told them to go to their parents and tell them about it rather than confronting a total stranger on their own. Their parents would know the right step to take.
Now, to last week's engagement.
Last week, we went to Ikeja Local Government to spread the good news of patriotism - our chosen topic for the day.
Some received us well, while others received us harshly.
Let me explain.
It's bad enough that our country is not in the best condition society-wise, it's also not easy to make someone who Nigeria has happened to them (in other words, a super bad experience has come their way) that Nigeria can be a greater nation than it is now, and they should ably represent their culture because the change starts from us when we take actionable steps towards it.
It's almost like asking a fish to believe that there's clear water somewhere else when they have lived their whole lives in polluted water, and that polluted water has in some way injured the fish.
All I'm saying is that it's difficult to tell someone that their negative beliefs about a place are wrong when they're still in pain or are currently hungry, and the place you are trying to convince them about makes it all the more harder to survive.
So yeah, it was not easy. But, we did the best we could to listen to their experiences and know how we can first solve their problems so they can listen to us later on or during the time we solve them.
Exciting Report
NOA's report session for me is always going to be the most interesting part of my CDS. After all the work is done, I get back to a gathering where people are of like minds and they give you different experiences and view points which is both fascinating and enjoyable to see and hear. I just love the feeling that I'm not alone in this journey so if you're in NOA and you're reading this. I appreciate your efforts in trying to make this country a better place.
Do comment below on your experience so far as well or just say hi, I'd love to connect with you on Hashnode. :) I don't mind.
One thing we all got to understand was that to be understood, we first have to understand, and when we are going out, we listen to understand, not to respond.
Well, that was some parts of my speech and I'm glad little speech well.
I'm happy about that. :)
Where to Next?
Well, that's what I've been doing every Thursday in summary, well, two times a month, one for the CDS outing and one where we gather to do reports, the other two are reserved for other NYSC activities.
Hope you enjoyed reading this and learning a thing or two from the values we represent. Comment down below your thoughts or ideas toward this cause of ours and if you'd like to support our good cause in any way. Contact us via our email: noagsccds@gmail.com
See you in the next one! ✌🏾
Bonus Shots!
I almost didn't post this! Lol. Here are some shots from our social media people. If you made it to the end here, you definitely deserve some more shots. As per, I'm a celeb. 👍🏾 (Please I'm joking, I'm really not).
I wish to upload more and show it like a gallery, but hashnode doesn't have that feature yet. So for now, here are two images I loved from them!
Depending on how consistent I am time-wise, I'd love to turn this into a series where I share my experience on my CDS time spent and what I've been doing on most Thursdays with them.
Thank you for reading thus far! I appreciate you, my guys! <3
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Twitter: @the_jonin