Published via Ecency

From my title, you'll probably guess that yesterday was a full day for me.

It was my Community Development Service (CDS) Day and we were to collaborate with 2 other CDS groups to facilitate an outreach programme for the members of the community.

The chosen location for the outreach was the popular Deji Of Akure's Palace located in the heart of the city of Akure, Ondo State.

Because of my work schedule, my only free day this week was Wednesday so I had already planned that I would make the most of it.
And I'm glad I eventually did.

The outreach was to start by 9 am, being an early bird that I am, I had already prepared since few minutes past 8am.
But I didn't want to go alone so I thought it wise to wait for my flat mate.

My girl is an unrepentant latecomer 😂
I say this because she does it without any form of remorse whatsoever.

I don't blame her actually because many times when you go early you end up waiting endlessly before the program starts 😒

Also, the fact that you even go early doesn't guarantee that when it gets to the time of signing the attendance or being cleared that your being early will be taken into consideration.

Anyways, because I had my plans for the day, I decided to just chill and wait for her.
We eventually stepped out of our lodge at past 9am.
This was even too early for my beloved flatmate 😂

We took a few selfies before we hit the road.

Because the location for the outreach was not trekkable, we took a walk down to our junction first and then boarded a cab that took us to the main market.

So we highlighted just before the market, at a place they call "Post Office".

We then remembered that we were supposed to take a passport photograph and submit to our Local Government Inspector (LGI).

Just a little rant.
We had our capturing done in camp o.
But I wonder why we were still asked to submit another passport.

Anyways, on our escapades to getting a passport.

Being dressed in the NYSC khaki has its own good side and bad side.

The bad side is one that we almost experienced if not for our good negotiation skills😂

So a man sighted us as we were looking like people that were obviously in need of something.
He asked if we wanted to take passport photographs.

We said yes, so he said we were at the right place.
And he offered to take us to someone who was doing it.
More like a middle-man job.

We asked him how much, he said 2,000 naira each for 8 copies.
So I and my friend would pay 4,000?

So I first laughed 🤣

Then I told him, we don't even need up to 8 copies.
We just needed 1 copy each. (The passport was going to be with our crested vest and NYSC cap, so at the end of NYSC, it won't be useful for other things)

But because we know that the paper they use is used to print 8 copies, we will do 8 copies for 1,000. 4 copies for each of us.

As with every Nigerian Mum sense 😂, we started walking out of the premises, then he reached out to us and said we should pay 2,000 instead.

Then we refused, and continued walking 😂😭
Then he quickly said we should pay 1,200.

Finally, he said "okay, we should pay the 1,000".

While taking the passport photograph, we noticed small boxes that were numbered.
And then it dawned on us that we were at an actual post office that was once functional.

Then my friend went on to reminisce on the fact that her Dad used to receive letters via his box some years back.

Its so amazing how this was the only means of communication years back.
I honestly wonder how they coped then, must have been a lot. 😒

Now we have swift means like Emails and other social media platforms.
I'm grateful to be born in a time like this where the world is a global village.
Grateful for technological advancement, it has honestly made life easier.

After taking the passport photos we checked the time and it was already past 10am.
Thankfully, we were already close to the location for the outreach.

So, we took a brisk walk down the street and got into the palace compound.

We saw other corp members there already, some were already holding placards and trying to do some publicity for the outreach, others were seated at different locations.

We also saw someone taking passport photos for people who were interested.
We asked how much it was and thankfully it was the same amount we did ours.

It would have been painful if we were exploited by the person we met on the road side.

I quickly spotted my CDS president and since I already told him about my plans for the day, I dropped my bag with him and signed in to return in an hour's time.

The outreach hadn't started at this time.
So I thought would be better to quickly go and make my hair and return to meet them.
Rather than sit and wait endlessly.

Glad I took that bold step.
The hair stylist was pretty fast and in an hour I was back.

They had just started with health talk,
I was part of the doctors that would be consulting so I hadn't missed much.

The outreach went well but the turn out of people was not encouraging.
And this I blame on the fact that there wasn't enough publicity for it.

For an outreach that will be holding in the market, the people should have been informed earlier not on the morning of the outreach.

We did the little we could do and we took pictures and called it a day.

But my day wasn't ended yet😐

I needed to return into the market to get some food stuff.
I usually keep the buying of my foodstuffs till every Wednesday being my CDS day.
So I save up on spending extra T fare.

I quickly dashed into the market with my friend of course and we got the necessary things we needed.
The market was so crowded, I didn't even remember to bring out my phone ro take pictures.

We finally got back home and I laid down for some moments to catch my breath and proceeded to the kitchen to start cooking.

Kudos to every mother out there o. It's not easy😂

I was tired but I had to cook because I know I would be going to work for every other day of the week.
I made Stew and vegetable soup the popular "Efo Riro" that is going to last me for a week or more.

I had my favourite meal for dinner, fried plantain and egg.
And retired for the night.

It was indeed a full day.
I'm glad I did the things I planned to do.