𝑨𝑱𝑬𝑩𝑼𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹

Ajebutter is a Nigerian language for someone who isn’t used to certain things. (𝐶𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔)

Serving in Nigeria is teaching me.
Serving in Crossriver is teaching me more.

The thing about service is you can be posted anywhere, especially if you didn’t work it. (𝑝𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒.)

I turned down being redeployed back to Lagos and sometimes when the struggle here gets too real, I regret it. I regret not accepting the offer and being close to my family. There are really beautiful times here, yet I always want home. Probably because I’m not used to being so far away.

Or maybe, I’m not ready to be an adult. Let me be a baby girl in my Father’s house for some time.

Being here in Crossriver, many times, I’ve been called ‘Ajebutter,’ simply because I don’t act like I’m used to something if I’m not used to it.

I’ll not lie about something I’m not used to, no matter what.

Our monthly clearance makes me stay over in quite a number of houses in Crossriver. If I realize that it’s quite a distance from where I am and I didn’t want to be late, I’ll make calls to my friends close to the NYSC Secretariat and ask if I can sleep over at their lodges.

It made me come into contact with things that freak me out.

𝐶𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠, 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦. 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑎 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑔𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑤𝑙𝑠. 𝐹𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠. 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑠. 𝐸𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑠. 𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑠. 𝐼𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑘.

And Crossriver is a beautiful place, with food and all, but I’ve crowned them the King of flies, especially what’s being called sand flies. (𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑒, 𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠, 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑛)

When I see those things I have a phobia for, I’ll be pensive immediately, and ask to leave the place.
And people go all, ‘this geh na ajebutter sha.’ 😒

“𝑬𝒉𝒏, 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆, 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒋𝒆𝒃𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒔𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒃𝒊𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒓. 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒋𝒆𝒈𝒃𝒂𝒌𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔.”

I did a reposting within my LGA because of the same phobia for sand flies, ants and crawling animals. I was telling my mom that a teacher in my old PPA was calling me ‘ajebutter’ because of my decision to move and she was like, “before nko? Claim ajebutter and go o.”🤣🤣

She knew that I was nothing close to the ajebutter they call me because I know how to be independent and do my best to fit in, no matter where I am. So if that PPA didn’t work for me, it’s a serious thing.

It made me fall sick once every four days. Enough proof that it wasn’t working out. 😩

The essence of service is not me for to try to fit in and get really sick in the process. NYSC will move on if something bad happens, so if I notice one small thing that’ll harm me like this, I’ll put on my khaki and go to the Secretariat. I’ll sit in the office and start doing my face like I ate what isn’t good for my system, until I’m being noticed and asked what’s wrong.

Please leave people and whatever it is they have a phobia for, I read on Facebook that a girl has a phobia for balloons. I was confused at first, until I remembered that I don’t like creeping things too. Even rats doesn’t freak me out the way ant, flies, and creeping things freak me out.

In summary, stop giving people names just because you don’t feel the way they do about certain things.

Thank you.

We’ve come to the end of today’s blog post, I’ll love to know what you think about what I’ve just shared.