My fellow Corpers to be, this is the second part of yesterday’s post on what and what to take to camp to help you survive. You can read the first part here. Enjoy:

PART 3:

DAILY NEEDS:

11. ROUND-NECKED WHITE T-SHIRTS: This is an essential outfit in camp in fact in most camps this is the only allowed cloth to be worn throughout your 3 weeks. Even to church, you might not be allowed to wear colored cloths. You would be given 2 pairs of white t-shirts at camp to just fulfill all righteousness which surely would never be your size especially our very slim and small otondo in size . So you can bring extra pairs (6). Why? Because you probably wont have time to wash during the week after being stressed out from the parades and Man-O-War drills.

Tip: Do not carry more than 2 pairs of colored clothes because you wont need them.

12. WHITE SHORTS: I beg you please do bring yours. you would also be given 2 pairs of shorts which are really poor in material. They tear easily and it can be annoying. So my dear Otondos bring like 4 pairs of shorts. Trust me also you wont like to wash everyday, so bring enough to last you like 3 days so that you wont be stranded.

13. PLAIN WHITE SNEAKERS/TENNIS SHOES: This is a very important outfit. you would also be given an ugly pair of low quality white tennis shoes customized for NYSC. It’s either you are not given your size although you can find someone with your size and swap. But after the first wash it starts tearing. So just buy yours (white). They also sell this in camp, so in case you are not able to get you could buy in camp just carry extra cash for that because the price would be higher – as with everything in Mammy – because they know you have no choice than to buy. Now, If you happen to camp during the rainy season (Batch ‘B’ & ‘C’), get white rubber sneakers/boots especially if you’re posted to the Southern part of the country (esp. the South South. Read, Bayelsa). The parade fields/mammy market will be messed up after the rains. You will get this in camp.

14. WHITE SOCKS: Just get extra pairs.

15. PADLOCKS: [BRING or BUY from Mammy] Please lock your boxes and bags to avoid regrets and tears. I know someone who lost more than 5 items including his two phones – like he’s the only one in camp.

16. WAIST POUCH: /Fanny pack/Bum bag (or for the more fashion-conscious, a cross-body purse). 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.

17. MOSQUITO TREATED NET: You would do not want to fall sick in camp from malaria and miss out on the fun. Just bring yours. Also bring ropes you would use to hang it. The nets usually have these. I also used mine as a room to protect my box and properties from thieves and also from some insects and ants.

18. BASIC DRUGS: Like paracetamol, medicine for your allergies, menstrual pain relief drug, nausea relief drugs, antibiotics e.t.c. The camp clinic is sometimes inadequately stocked with drugs so help yourself. True story – A corper once donated at least a million Naira worth of medicine to the Lagos State NYSC camp clinic, and barely a few days later, they claimed to have run out of medicine.

19. ANTISEPTIC/DISINFECTANTS: Such as Dettol etc. This is very, very essential. Firstly the bathrooms can be very annoying and dirty and more importantly, you would not like to have infection from camp. Bad idea. Depending on your camp, the water can be dirty. Most people always have reaction to it.

20. DETERGENT: [BUY from Mammy.] Again, this reduces the amount of load you’re bringing into camp. However, if you’re lucky the mammy market will have vendors offering laundry services! It costs about N50 per item, N100 for your khaki trousers or jacket, extra N50 if you want your items pressed although cost will vary across camps.

Tip: The Bucket: Buy this in Mammy. Don’t stress yourself taking one to Camp, which you’re probably going to leave behind after 3 weeks. Toiletries: Toilet Paper, Sanitary Pad, soap dish etc. BUY in Mammy.

21. TOWELS

22. A PAIR OF SLIPPERS: [BRING or BUY]

23. Bed sheets, Pillow Cases and A Pillow. You could also get pillow from mammy market to reduce load.

Tip: Mattresses will be provided by NYSC. It is best to “double up” with the mattresses, as they are about 1 to 2 inches thick. Lol.

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

25. FLASK, BOWL AND CUP: [BRING or BUY] For eating. Important for those who intend on eating Camp food.

Tip: You will be fed three times a day in camp but I must not lie to you, the food there is nothing to write home about. They can be nice on few occasions like Sundays, but most days, they are poor. If you are someone who loves to eat good food, make provisions for your own food. You should get some fast foods along, some breakfast cereals and beverages. You should also hold extra cash to eat at the Mammy market. You will get good meals there.

26. BEVERAGE: The camp will supply you with “Tea-water” or ‘brown-water’ so you can make tea when you need to!

27. FLASHLIGHT OR RECHARGEABLE LAMPS: [BRING] Most camps, do not give light except at a specific time of the day. It’s very essential especially at night when you need to use the bathroom, early in the morning when preparing for morning drills and meditations and at night in case you need to do anything. At the mammy market, there is always light till they close, usually 10pm except on days like the Camp Fire Night where they stay open till, say, 3am depending on how lenient your camp commander is. You can charge your lamps there for a little fee.

28. Some form of entertainment: Novels – for those who get bored easily, please take a few. And for guys, games on your phone would do or chess. Your music player and headphones for audiophiles.

29. Your Ray-Ban sunglasses for the sun. And if you can’t afford that, get a Ray-Bon.

30. Get extra phone batter(ies) and extra Network SIMs. Some networks are not available at some camps as they’re usually in remote locations, far from town centres. Once you get your call-up letter, you can find out (from serving corpers or tweet at me @_NYSC) which network has the best reception at your destination camp. If you need data access, find out if that available also. Instagrammers and YouTubers, if you get EDGE thank your stars. But there has been some improvement as network providers now know the volume of traffic NYSC camps generate.

31. CASH: Extremely important. You would need about N20,000. Then between N30,000 – N40,000 to be ‘just’ comfortable. For those that can manage, say about N15,000. There are lots of things that take up money. Things like food (for those who don’t intend eating from the camp kitchen), energy drinks, recharge cards, charging of electronic devices, laundry, pleasures e.t.c.

32. ATM Card: You ‘normally’ wont be allowed to leave camp. So do not be stranded, trust me it’s not a good idea. Just budget N1,000 per day. You should take your ATM card along, in case. (This might sound counter-intuitive since there might not be any ATM in your camp and you are not allowed to leave camp. But figure it out…) You can keep your extra cash with the Accounts Department (as the case was in my camp) while some shops offer POS services, you still have access to extra cash whenever you need it.

If you have a camera you can take it along because you will want to snap a lot of scenes. If you have a Smartphone with great camera, that’s good for you because you can easily take and share photos on social networks instantly.

Tip: If you don’t have any of those, you will have to pay some guys on camp who do that as business to follow you around and snap you wherever you go. They might charge up to N2,000 for the duration of the camping. They should give you all your photos and videos in DVDs at the end of Camping. Or you could wait till the last day of leaving camp and snap at a cheaper rate.

That’s all you need to take to NYSC camp!. Waaaait. Where are you going? Now, don’t be selfish. You have to share this with your friends, don’t you? Click the share buttons below. Is there any item we left out of the list? Let us know.