BEFORE YOU HATE THAT P.P.A.
Many a time life gifts or forces us to settle for what we’d rather call very unpleasant situations that elicit pity when we see people who happen to be in such. Situations we at best would only picture in dreams when we fall into trance. Such situations shouldn’t be real. Such situations are not logical and should have little or no affiliation with reality. If ever this unreal fiction plays out before us, we’d rather see it as a lie.
I’ve heard, seen and been with people (mostly corps members) who life forced such situations on. They never wore the hard times with ease even if such times were trending like new fashion. The overwhelming nature of these uncontrollable times seemed to take its toll and wear them down with worry__ blinding them with a lie. What lie? The lie that these situations cannot be real, that these should only transpire in a nightmare, that these are not only illogical but also unfair. The lie that they are not meant for such situations_ that the bitter pills of these times are not only impossible to swallow but that if they succeed in the swallowing act, they’d die.
Have you ever imagined the daughter of Dangote being posted to a place like Mgbagbu-owa in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu state? Well, for those who have not heard of such name before I’ll let your imagination see you through but if you are familiar with the said Mgbagbu I can only imagine how loud your exclamation will be to have Africa’s richest man’s daughter posted therein. That’s not all. It could happen as a mistake but let’s that her employer in the PPA refuses to reject her coupled with the not so factual fact that Nigeria is a country that has and upholds her principles thus, she must undergo her one year compulsory National Youth Service Corps programme in that most rural settlement I’ve ever seen/been too and lived (at least for now). A place that has no good power supply, no ultramodern markets, no café, no good telecommunications network service, no good roads, no shopping malls and the other goodies befitting her status_ no way! How can the daughter of a man whose worth can cater for the needs of an entire continent be relegated to such dastardly situation? How in the pit of hell will such damsel find comfort here? An “ajebota” in a place where even the “kpakos” dread is a picture that seems more like a photoshoped photograph than real. Yes! But isn’t that a lie? That such a place is not a place where Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s daughter should be? Her status may not allow that but isn’t that a lie too?
However, this is not about whether or not the rich and the influentially affluent Nigerians would choose to allow themselves or their wards down such lowly hollows. It is not about how they will react when faced with such situations or whether or not they will stay or do what is seem as sane (to repost or redeploy). It is about how we choose first to empathize with the lie of impossibility before accepting the truth. What’s the truth?
Firstly, I’d like to talk about myself_ my service year rather in summary. My woes began when after having printed my call-up-letter, I realized I’ve been thrown to the Eastern part of my Fatherland_ Enugu state. It was a shocker moreso because I never anticipated such nor did I ever picture myself in the east albeit serving the Ndi-Igbo people for as long as one mighty big year before this harsh reality dawned on me like the morning sun. as if to corroborate my disdain for this awkward situation (or so I thought), I found myself in Awgu camp which was not only unpleasant but made me wish the days and my stay therein would just rush by like a loosed tap and thereafter I’d leave ASAP. The hills, the cold and short nights, the sleeplessness, the boring lectures and stern soldiers_ nna eh! Well, the grand finale of this woeful sojourn was that I was finally posted to Ezeagu and worse still was that I found it quite difficult to pronounce the name of my Place of Primary Assignment_ Community Secondary School, Mgbagbu-owa. The names instantly reflected what I’ve seen in Nollywood’s epic movies of Igbo setting_ the evil forest!
Funny but true. When I got to that place sometime in May 2016, my mind’s eyes became wet while all manner of irritation stood out of my skin like goose pimples. Was it the sand flies, the muddy soil or the fact that the school was and is still a near debris that angered me the most? I don’t know but am sure I hated the scene as much as one would hate a heartbreak. Then I began to think of writing to the state coordinator that with the kind of result I graduated with, I’m not supposed to be posted herein. I again thought that since I studied mass communication, I should be reposted to one of the media houses in the city. This was when Mr. Gilbert Ozobodo (my employer) looked at me with a reflective concern and said, “Kadiri, you are a young man who has a lot to offer our school. We need you!” Though I tried to tell myself all sort of lies that the environment isn’t befitting and that he was just sweet-talking me to stay, the truth about the whole situation stood out of his voice like the sun at dawn after the darkest of nights. It was finally clear to me that I was between the pettiness of my irritation/disdain for the place and what I’ve been called upon to do for not just the school and her students which to me were children but also what I could do for the community at large_ Service!
What is the truth? Is it what or how we feel when hard times overwhelm us or that which we set our minds and hearts to do (positively) despite the feeling of frustration and disappointment? I don’t know what it is for you but I choose service over my dislike for how things were and still are. What’s more honorable than to be called upon to serve one’s fatherland!?
That a place is remotely rural does not mean it isn’t habitable and more so enjoyable. Life could have taken me somewhere good, better or worse but what mattered (and still matters) was that I did my beat and that beat of mine had an impact_ a life changing impact on my PPA.
Therefore, before you hate that PPA, simply because it seem not compatible to your personality or not conducive for your being, ponder over the reason why you are there and believe that if it won’t be worth your time, God will not have allowed the winds of life blow you there.
Who knows, if you give you best like the famous Ben Carson, you might just become a source of inspiration to others because of the numerous blessings that come from giving your best.
I still remember the words of my orientation camp director Sir Tony Nzoka. He said, “I have never seen or known a man who worked hard believing in God that God did not bless.”
__prince Jeremiah kadiri
I’ve heard, seen and been with people (mostly corps members) who life forced such situations on. They never wore the hard times with ease even if such times were trending like new fashion. The overwhelming nature of these uncontrollable times seemed to take its toll and wear them down with worry__ blinding them with a lie. What lie? The lie that these situations cannot be real, that these should only transpire in a nightmare, that these are not only illogical but also unfair. The lie that they are not meant for such situations_ that the bitter pills of these times are not only impossible to swallow but that if they succeed in the swallowing act, they’d die.
Have you ever imagined the daughter of Dangote being posted to a place like Mgbagbu-owa in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu state? Well, for those who have not heard of such name before I’ll let your imagination see you through but if you are familiar with the said Mgbagbu I can only imagine how loud your exclamation will be to have Africa’s richest man’s daughter posted therein. That’s not all. It could happen as a mistake but let’s that her employer in the PPA refuses to reject her coupled with the not so factual fact that Nigeria is a country that has and upholds her principles thus, she must undergo her one year compulsory National Youth Service Corps programme in that most rural settlement I’ve ever seen/been too and lived (at least for now). A place that has no good power supply, no ultramodern markets, no café, no good telecommunications network service, no good roads, no shopping malls and the other goodies befitting her status_ no way! How can the daughter of a man whose worth can cater for the needs of an entire continent be relegated to such dastardly situation? How in the pit of hell will such damsel find comfort here? An “ajebota” in a place where even the “kpakos” dread is a picture that seems more like a photoshoped photograph than real. Yes! But isn’t that a lie? That such a place is not a place where Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s daughter should be? Her status may not allow that but isn’t that a lie too?
However, this is not about whether or not the rich and the influentially affluent Nigerians would choose to allow themselves or their wards down such lowly hollows. It is not about how they will react when faced with such situations or whether or not they will stay or do what is seem as sane (to repost or redeploy). It is about how we choose first to empathize with the lie of impossibility before accepting the truth. What’s the truth?
Firstly, I’d like to talk about myself_ my service year rather in summary. My woes began when after having printed my call-up-letter, I realized I’ve been thrown to the Eastern part of my Fatherland_ Enugu state. It was a shocker moreso because I never anticipated such nor did I ever picture myself in the east albeit serving the Ndi-Igbo people for as long as one mighty big year before this harsh reality dawned on me like the morning sun. as if to corroborate my disdain for this awkward situation (or so I thought), I found myself in Awgu camp which was not only unpleasant but made me wish the days and my stay therein would just rush by like a loosed tap and thereafter I’d leave ASAP. The hills, the cold and short nights, the sleeplessness, the boring lectures and stern soldiers_ nna eh! Well, the grand finale of this woeful sojourn was that I was finally posted to Ezeagu and worse still was that I found it quite difficult to pronounce the name of my Place of Primary Assignment_ Community Secondary School, Mgbagbu-owa. The names instantly reflected what I’ve seen in Nollywood’s epic movies of Igbo setting_ the evil forest!
Funny but true. When I got to that place sometime in May 2016, my mind’s eyes became wet while all manner of irritation stood out of my skin like goose pimples. Was it the sand flies, the muddy soil or the fact that the school was and is still a near debris that angered me the most? I don’t know but am sure I hated the scene as much as one would hate a heartbreak. Then I began to think of writing to the state coordinator that with the kind of result I graduated with, I’m not supposed to be posted herein. I again thought that since I studied mass communication, I should be reposted to one of the media houses in the city. This was when Mr. Gilbert Ozobodo (my employer) looked at me with a reflective concern and said, “Kadiri, you are a young man who has a lot to offer our school. We need you!” Though I tried to tell myself all sort of lies that the environment isn’t befitting and that he was just sweet-talking me to stay, the truth about the whole situation stood out of his voice like the sun at dawn after the darkest of nights. It was finally clear to me that I was between the pettiness of my irritation/disdain for the place and what I’ve been called upon to do for not just the school and her students which to me were children but also what I could do for the community at large_ Service!
What is the truth? Is it what or how we feel when hard times overwhelm us or that which we set our minds and hearts to do (positively) despite the feeling of frustration and disappointment? I don’t know what it is for you but I choose service over my dislike for how things were and still are. What’s more honorable than to be called upon to serve one’s fatherland!?
That a place is remotely rural does not mean it isn’t habitable and more so enjoyable. Life could have taken me somewhere good, better or worse but what mattered (and still matters) was that I did my beat and that beat of mine had an impact_ a life changing impact on my PPA.
Therefore, before you hate that PPA, simply because it seem not compatible to your personality or not conducive for your being, ponder over the reason why you are there and believe that if it won’t be worth your time, God will not have allowed the winds of life blow you there.
Who knows, if you give you best like the famous Ben Carson, you might just become a source of inspiration to others because of the numerous blessings that come from giving your best.
I still remember the words of my orientation camp director Sir Tony Nzoka. He said, “I have never seen or known a man who worked hard believing in God that God did not bless.”
__prince Jeremiah kadiri
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