What Sundays Looks like in NYSC Orientation camp
Some of our readers have been asking what happens in the camp on Sundays. Their enquiries have made me write this article. I guess you too might love to know what happens in the camp on a typical Sunday.
Sundays is the best day in the lives of most corp members. It is to corp members like been let out of a cage to take fresh air. It is basically a free day.
Just as God found a day to rest after his works the camp is organized properly to reflect the need for rest too. The week has been a long week of working with waking very early in the morning, to exercising, taking mild military punishment here and there, and thus setting a good time like the weekend for rest can be a good thing for corp members not to burn out.
You are allowed to put on any dress. Visitors are also allowed to come and visit you in your hostel. Certain things remain regular like having your breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Freedom, however, doesn’t necessarily mean behaving inappropriately to fellow corp members or officials.
So let’s take an overview of the day’s activity looking at the morning hours till late in the night.
Sunday Morning
On Sunday mornings almost everyone is expected to go to some church or something. There are basically two church groups that are recognized in the camp namely the NCCF and the catholic fellowship. Not everyone would like to attend that particular religious worship, so some choose to find their little groups to worship at a convenient area in the camp. Well, while most camps are strict about avoiding any small gathering of any sort some are not too particular about it. So for the earlier the church groups try to do carry out their worship activities in a more discreet manner.
They are however many who do not choose to go to church for reasons best known to them. Maybe they do not want to answer Christians in the camp. I wonder what name they want to bear.
Some choose to wash their wears on this day and maybe rest a bit or make their unstopping noisy talks and jokes with roommates.
Sunday Afternoon
The resting and freedom to do anything without the regular camp dressing, exercises, lectures, drillings and marching that is common during the week days continues into the afternoon. So you can put on anything you would like and do anything you want to do with your time.
Around this time visitors would likely come around. You can move around, visit people and talk with anyone you want to. For others it is the normal resting on their beds and cracking jokes with their pals. Some are awoken enthusiastically by the ringing of the bell for afternoon lunch. So they get out and get their food served to them.
By later in the afternoon the horn is blown and corp members are expected to gather at the parade ground for any activity scheduled for that afternoon. The activities might include selection of corp members from each platoon for marching, marching practice section, sports competitions, and others. Corp members are expected to be in their uniform by this time and to support their platoon in their preparations or activities.
Evening
By evening everybody retires to their hostels. Dinner gets ready. Corp members cue for the meals. Most cannot do without using the time evening to spend some quality time with their loved ones, their colleagues, or friends at some drinking or eating at the ‘mammy’ market. I feel it is basically a good day to have a good time to release the piled up stress from the strain of the week.
Then in camp, I could see girls and guys drinking, over-drinking, binge drinking, dancing, twerking, and fooling themselves with stupor. “The romance in the air seems to increase because I remember going out with my soldier girlfriend on these days,” says Daniel.
That has been a rundown of a typical Sunday in most orientation camps. I hope you have a better idea in your mind right now of what a Sunday now looks like. We will be willing to accept your questions and queries. For now, have a beautiful day at www.awajis.com/nysc