IMPACT OF NYSC CORP MEMBERS ON HOST COMMUNITY
The NYSC scheme brings together people from different communities, backgrounds, cultures, religions and languages. Such an intercultural mix can bring a surprising array of new amazing developments in relationships and societal growth.
Today we are going to consider how the presence of corp members can positively impact the lives of their host communities. There are simply a lot of things that corp members can contribute to their host communities if they look around them and search for new things in their culture or background that can be integrated into their new community.
Whether serving in rural or urban areas, members have the opportunity to add a touch of themselves to their host community. They need to make their host community feel their impact and leave them better than they have met.
What are specific ways that corp members can add impact to their host community?
Improved Interaction
When corp members get to their host communities that are usually meant to be far away from their home, they find that people are different and have different cultures and lifestyles. Some of the cultures and attitudes of your host community can be strange and new to most corp members.
It serves as an eye opener to the differences between different Nigerian communities. At first, these cultures and ways of life can seem impossible for corp members to adopt. They might prefer to look down on them and avoid imbibing those cultures. On the contrary, corp members should find ways to mix up with their new culture.
Starting from the language, corp members can learn one or two greetings and simple things from these cultures. They, too, can teach one or two things from their culture to the people around them.
Their taste in food could be another area with which corp members can integrate. Some of their food can be shocking at first but trying to learn to enjoy them is not a bad thing to do. You can also share your cultural food with your host community.
This interaction of corp members with their host communities can go a long way to bring an appreciation of cultural differences and easily accept and understand people from different backgrounds. Thus this helps in achieving the goal of love, unity and integration among communities which is a priority in the aim of the NYSC scheme.
 Read: NYSC Request Letter Format (Updated 2022)
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SERVICE
Corp members have brought countless awards and non-awarded services, projects and benefits to their host community. The community development service serves as a good front for corp members to express kindness and bring impact to their host community.
Especially in the town and village areas, corp members can contribute a lot to their host community, but that does not discredit the fact that there are opportunities for corp members to serve city communities. Examples of community development projects in the past by corp members include procurement and installation of electricity transformer, digging of boreholes, skill acquisition seminars, provision of rehabilitation centers, donation of sewing machines, renovation of classrooms, provision of schools, equipping of laboratories, legal aid, constructing of sports fields, donation of drugs and the list remains countless. These show individual corp members’ impact on their host community.
The group community development service has also played its role in serving its communities. The charity group usually donates clothes, provisions and other necessities to different parts of their community. The environmental group can instill the need to be clean in their community. There are always one or two things that each group can contribute to their host community.
This would go a long way to increasing this host community’s good feeling and goodwill and appreciation of people from other parts of Nigeria.
Inculcating Useful Habits
Having gone through university and developed some sense of maturity, corp members can teach their host communities many rich values. Many of these communities are not that educated and have many young ones to whom they can instill useful habits. They can teach them the culture to read, improve their spoken language through teaching, and teach them vital behavioral attitudes that can shape them as young ones.
Serving as Role Models
These young ones in the host community of corp members usually see them as role models. They would yearn to be like them someday, especially when corners show admirable qualities. Corp members should thus be motivated to live to their best character so that these young ones can learn from them.
Over the years, corp members have proven to be goodwill agents and positively impact their host community. Most of them have left a lasting mark on the sand of these communities that have continued to unite and improve the relationship across the country even after they have gone.
I hope you, too, will continue this impact in your new host community. I wish you a lot of grease to your elbow. See you sometime later. If you love this article or any other, I’ll appreciate it if you let me know. Thank you