What you need for NYSC orientation camp

‌I heard the next stream will be leaving to camp soon , so I decided to scribble something down that will make it easy to live in camp.

Camp is fun they say, you’ll make new friends, you’ll meet people from every part of the country, there will be fun social activities ”
Was camp fun for me? No.At the end of every day I thanked God for one less day.

Why am I writing this? Before leaving for camp, I read articles about camp. what to take there, What to expect and just guidelines on how to behave.. Guess what? Most of those things were lies.

This post will guide you on not just important things to take but also how to act in camp and things to do in order to make your camp experience bearable.. Cos believe me ” camp is not fun.. They lied” it just gets easier to handle at a point.
DOCUMENTS:
CALL UP LETTER: ( very important, do not laminate)
GREEN CARD: that slip you printed after registration
STATEMENT OF RESULT/ CERTIFICATE: (it’s ok to laminate this one if you want)
Final year student ID card
My clear bag for your documents
For Doctors, Pharmacists, Nurses & Lab Scientists, take along your proof of certification. Graduates of Medicine and Pharmacy are expected to have their Certificates of Registration with Nigerian Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (NMDCN) and Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) respectively.

FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS
First University Degree or HND Certificate

Complete official Transcript of the Degree or HND program

Marks Sheets (for Indian Schools only)

O’level Certificate i.e WASC, GCE, SSCE, NECO, IGCE, GCSE, High School Diploma for those who schooled in USA e.t.c. Candidate must obtain credit in not less than 5 subjects (including English and Mathematics) in any of the examinations at not more than 2 sittings. (Statements of Result or Attestation Letters are not acceptable in lieu of any certificate).

Medical Doctors and Optometrists are required to produce in addition, Registration Certificate, Original and Photocopy of completion of Housemanship of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria/Optometrists Association of Nigeria, as applicable.

Pharmacists shall produce in addition, original and photocopy of completion of Internship and the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria registration certificate.

No!!! You don’t need 15 photocopies of each document or 20 passports. You need 2 photocopies but just to be safe incase you want to redeploy or change your name, you can make 5 photocopies.. You don’t need any passport, you’ll take passports with your crested vest when you get there. But just carry passport if you feel like.
Basic stuff you’ll need

Bed Sheet and pillow cases: 2 of each will be fine. Camp is 20days, you can use them for 10days each

White shirt: I will advise that you take not less than 10 shirts when going because 1) if you wash and dry , they’ll steal it 2) laundry guys won’t be delivering exactly when you need it and you don’t want to be stranded. If you are a very careful person, you can wear one shirt for two days and that’s 10 shirts for 20days.. You’ll have two extra that nysc will give you. I wasn’t careful tho. I wore two shirts a day sometimes..

White shorts: 8 shorts are fine, plus the two nysc will give you. That’s 10.. It’s hard to keep a clean short for a day cos you’ll sit on the ground, kneel, squat .. So I’ll advise you wash with the laundry guys,get a particular person that will be doing your laundry so you don’t start missing your stuff.

White canvas: pls take rubber.. Pls pls pls.. Easy to wash, clean, dry… I was looking peng all day everyday with my rubber shoes.. People that got cool shoes started to look brown after a while

Towels: 2 towels. 1 for 10days, it’s healthy .. Although I took one, I got really uncomfortable using it at a point and it was so big so if I washed it , would have been hard to dry.. I wouldn’t want you to go through that .

Socks: not less than 10 socks or more for your own good. Nysc will give you two..

Money:50 thousand Naira is the safest amount of money to take to camp .If you can really manage and will be eating nysc food, you can take 30k.. Anything less than that. You’ll be stranded.

Waist pouch : this is the most important thing, cos all your valuables will be inside here

A pack of handkerchiefs

Padlocks ( Very Important)

Mosquito net

Shades : You won’t be allowed to wear it tho … Until the last days but it’s important still .

Stationaries.. You can get from there

Toiletries.. Boys pls, buy enough soap and tooth brushes cos a lot of boys complained of these items being stolen.. For girls. Just take 2 soaps ,2 tooth brushes and other toiletries. P.s soap dish and bailer is very important

Slippers: bathroom slippers is the best cos nobody will steal it. If you think you’ll have the opportunity to showcase your fine slippers. Sorry , I wore my slippers one evening and it was seized . I had to walk bare feet back to the hostel. You’ll wear canvas 24/7

Nighties, undies.. Very important

Hangers: for your towels and pants.. If you’ll be washing your white yourself, you’ll need this too

Basic drugs: Pls take this cos stress.. You’ll need it

Provisions: I took just biscuits… A lottttttttttt of biscuits that lasted two weeks . All them short bread, digestive, wafers and stuff.. If you like cereal you can get that too.. It’ll help save your money .

Buckets, pillows.. You can get it from there. Don’t stress with so much load pls.. I heard some camps had to carry their boxes on their head but I didn’t see any of that in my camp.

Phones: go with a touch lite and one good phone for pictures and all. Pls pls go with a power bank too. Get one person in mamy to charge your phones and power bank with..

If camp opens on Wednesday, go on Tuesday or Friday.. On Wednesday and Thursday , the crowd for registration will be so much , you might cry… Going on Tuesday is the best so you can get good rooms, mattresses and corners… I went on the day it opened tho. I got a good corner, not so good Matrass and a good room..

For your registration, find a razz friend that will help you struggle to do stuff. If you go and be too much of an Ajebo and get an Ajebo friend too. You will cry for sure.

In camp people get involved in different groups after the swearing in. Obs, Red Cross and quarter guard are the groups that have preferential treatment. If you don’t want to do anything you can register in any of them immediately you do your registration… For me, the little fun you can get in camp is during parade.. Peoples conversations, punishments and all . So left for me, do not join any group.. All that talk about getting a good posting if you join a group. Well, maybe.. But I got a good posting, a lot of my friends did too but we weren’t in any group. You don’t want stress at all in camp? Stay at the back during drills and parade. Join the drama committee, you’ll escape marching.. You don’t have to act or do anything.. Just slay and be pretty… Style your white over white in different ways, tuck in, fly the shirt, use the jacket.. Swag up your waist pouch too..Would have posted pictures but… 🙈🙈🙈

Food… This is very important cos everyone must eat.. I ate one proper meal a day in camp until the last three days when I started to eat thrice. What I did? I had a lot of biscuits so I’ll eat biscuits in the mornings and evenings , then have a very heavy lunch. My food was always like ” fried rice mixed with jollof rice, salad, dodo, fish, beef and kpomo” sometimes ill include moimoi. The days I didn’t feel like biscuits, I’ll snack on something else or have noodles. Bole tastes better in the evening.. You’ll save your money if you do this. I didn’t eat nysc food for one day but I left camp with 10k out of 45k .. Some people went with 50 but got stranded at a point. Alcohol shouldn’t be a daily thing. You can drink Saturday evening cos Sunday’s are free days and you can chill. I was always looking forward to Saturday evening. My friends and I will go and drink a lot of alcohol and eat plenty Suya and food.. Yes, you’ll eat rubbish the first 3 days but after that, you’ll find the place with the best food and life will be better.

Hair: I don’t understand why people always scream ” braid your hair” people that braided stressed more than us that fixed..even if you want to braid, pls remember that you have to wear cap and if the braids are too full, the cap won’t sit well on your head.. Also know that you have to doughnut the braids cos your hair isn’t meant to touch your neck. I’d advise you do Ghana braids or you fix ..you’ll have time to comb it. Don’t mind people.

It is important to study your environment before making friends.. You need friends in your room and platoon. All those other randoms ain’t necessary.. The worst thing in camp is the 6hrs SAED lectures.. Sit inside with your friends , it’ll be easier to handle. My friends and I used to give out letters to girls/boys and get replies, just joke and stuff.. Don’t go and be a stubborn cow in camp. They say kneel down? Do so, they say jump? Jump.. They say frog jump? Do it… Even if you can’t , just attempt.. You don’t want the army to note you as stubborn.. You’ll suffer.
How do you leave camp with a fairly good skin? You will be exposed to sun so much , it’ll be impossible to leave without sun burn but

1. wear your cap always.. Always.. I didn’t use to remove mine till I get into my room.. A lot of people didn’t use to wear theirs because they thought it was an act of stubbornness and rebellion. If you are caught without your cap, you will get be punished..
2 . Do not rub cream during the day, you will burn, use your cream only at night.. You can get coconut oil instead

3.bath thrice a day if you can, before morning drills, after saed and before you sleep.. All the sweats and dust can mess with your skin..

Please girls, buy black pants and bras . BLACK , I didn’t say white ..BLACK. You’re going to be wearing white shorts and shirts everyday. Most of them are transparent. A lot of people brought white and it shows.. I don’t know what some people were thinking when they brought colors like pink, blue etc…

Boys!!! Pls all those floral boxers and extra colorful boxers.. You don’t need it. Nobody will even be looking at you like that so don’t try to seduce anybody. Bring briefs.. Navy blue/ black… One particular boy in camp. I noticed he used to wear briefs a lot, Made him look really sexy to me. I’m sure the briefs will make you look better than all the pretty boxers.

Camp is not fun but it’s a good experience, I learnt how to manage my time, money, discipline, be calculative..amongst other things.. There’s so much stress in camp, getting a boyfriend or girlfriend will make it worse.. Lots of drama , gossip, money spending and stuff.. It’s just 3 weeks, you can build friendship and wait till you’re out. Nothing beats an amazing bonkie. Pray to have one like mine and trust me it’ll reduce a lot of stress.

I wish you an amazing 3 weeks… Hope you enjoy it .. You won’t 😋
I might have forgotten some important things but please if there’s anything you want to know. Leave it as a comment, I’ll reply..