How to survive NYSC Orientation Camp - Items you must take to Camp

 
Now you have been mobilize, there is a list of things that you should
have with you during the camp period. Some of
these things can be brought with you from home,
or you can buy them at the " Mami Market" when
you've settled into camp.
LIST OF THE ITEMS BELOW.....

• White shorts, shirts and socks.

BRING from home. I would say
at least 3 pairs. This is what you
will be wearing for the next 21
days. Some camps allow plain
clothes on Sundays; mine didn't
(actually they did, but only for
guys - SEXIST LAGOS CAMP!!!

• White sneakers. BRING. NYSC

will supply you with one, but
you'd be lucky if they fit you.
Other alternative is to exchange
with someone else or buy at the
market. It's better to bring one
that's easy to clean because
they get dirty very quickly. I
bought one that all I needed to
do was wipe it down with water
and voila!

• Dettol. BRING or BUY. It's just

to disinfect your bath water,
which brings me to...

• Bucket. BUY in camp Mami

Market. There's no sense in
traveling around with a bucket,
and chances are that you'll want
to leave it in camp when you're
leaving anyways.

• Towel. BRING from home. At

least you know it's clean.
Anything you buy from Mami
Market may or may not be
secondhand. Now is NOT the
time for vintage/thrift shopping!

• Bedsheets, pillow cases, and a

pillow. BRING from home. Again,
the peace of knowing what
you're sleeping on is clean.
Mattresses will be provided by
NYSC. It is best to "double up"
with the mattresses, as they are
about 1 to 2 inches thick. I
basically slept on the spring for 2
weeks because I got one
exceedingly thin mattress :(

• Handkerchief. BRING from home.

There will be BUCKETS of
sweating. Do yourself a favor.

• Sleep clothes. BRING from home.

*note that it is ridiculously hot
at night, so a large t-shirt or
long tank top and little shorts
will suffice. In my experience, I
went from fully clothed at night
to sleeping in my underwear by
the end of the camp*

• Underwear. BRING from home -

DUH!!! Although I have to
mention that I discovered
disposable underwear at one of
the stalls in the market. It's not
a bad option, seeing as someone
stole one of my panties!
Ewwwww, how do you steal
someone's underwear??? NASTY!

• Bathroom slippers. BRING or

BUY. Trust me, going barefoot
for even a second in camp is
NOT an option. The bathrooms
are filthy! The bedrooms are
dirty! The corridors are icky! Just
have something on your feet at
all times.

• Detergent. BUY from market.

Again, this reduces the amount
of load you're bringing into
camp. Remember how I said
camp offers no frills? You have
to wash your clothes, underwear,
and bed things. However, if
you're lucky the mami market
will have vendors offering laundry
services! The only caveats are:
you run the risk of your stuff
getting lost (this one vendor lost
my shorts, shirt and socks and
had the nerve to grumble when I
switched to someone else) and
the money quickly adds up. It
costs N50 per item, N100 for
your khaki trousers or shirt, extra
N50 if you want your items
ironed. I'm not sure how much
washing your shoes cost.

• Flashlight and batteries. BRING

or BUY. Seeing as there's hardly
ever any electricity, and you
might want to read at night,
having the flashlight helps.

• Toilet paper. BUY in Mami

Market. The bathroom situation -
well, I'll give tips in another post
- but you do need toilet paper.
Always carry around with you,
just in case...

• Painkillers, malaria medicine,

allergy medicine, etc. BRING
from home. You do not want to
make the mistake of getting ill in
camp. The camp clinic is a BIG
JOKE! True story - A corper from
the previous batch donated at
least a million naira worth of
medicine to our camp clinic, and
barely a few days later, they
claimed to have run out of
medicine *insert BB straight face
here* WTH?????

• Padlock. BRING or BUY. Well, I

didn't take any with me because
I went to camp with a hard
Samsonite suitcase - no
padlocks required. And anyways,
thieves apparently were simply
tearing people's bags with
scissors or knives to get to their
things.

• Waist pouch/Fanny pack/Bum

bag (or for the more fashion-
conscious, a cross-body purse).
BRING from home. The bum
bags are more popular because
they won't bang against you
when you're active and your
hands are free to do whatever.
You need it to carry your money,
phone, small valuables, pens, etc
around with you at all times. You
should sleep with it too.

• Good old CASH MONEY! If

you're like me, you would need
money for laundry, to charge
your phone, to eat and drink, to
purchase necessary items, to buy
UNnecessary items, etc. You can
budget N1000 per day to cover
the basics. Make sure you bring
smaller denominations... I ran
into issues because I had only
N1000 notes most of the time.
Plate/Bowl or Food flask with
Cup. BRING or BUY. I never ate
the food provided by the camp
kitchen, so I never needed these
items. I only drank coffee (yup,
we had a coffee stand) and ate
chicken pie from TFC (Tasty
Fried Chicken); shawarma (yes,
we also had 3 vendors making
shawarma); small chops, suya;
and noodles. Ooooooh! I also
bought akara in the morning
(take one notch from my Aje-
Butter belt), and had plantain
and/or sweet potatoes for dinner.
They cost N10 per piece, so it
wasn't expensive and I got full
on 5 pieces generally.

• Mosquito net. Erm, considering

that I still got bitten by
mosquitoes EVERY NIGHT and
caught malaria 3 weeks after
camp, I'm not sure this having
this helped. Maybe BRING
mosquito repellent? But you
must religiously apply it on your
skin! MUST!!!
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