A Hard One This Year.

Life will definitely teach us a whole lot of lessons. No one hasn't passed through some hardest moments and not learnt something, if not two as takeaways to keep them on their feet. It hasn't been easy seriously, and I must say, this year has been a whole lot with one challenge to another, hoping to overcome them, and yes, it has been God's faithfulness all through.

If there is one thing I used to run away from and am scared of is to stand in public to speak. I could do this with a few people in private but when it comes to the public, it's as if the ground should swallow me up instantly because of how I would be shaking and it would show in my voice.

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I always run away from any responsibility or what would make me become a leader; I love to be among other followers and wouldn't want to be assigned any role. How is this even possible when I think of myself as a teacher? Taking up this profession cannot be possible without having to stand among people to give speeches and career talks to the students. However, I don't mind doing this within a classroom and anything other than that would be me hiding my face so as not to be seen and called.

When I got posted to this town and became a member of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) CDS group, I didn't know it would be all about moving from one place to another, incentivising the community and neighbouring towns about Drug abuse.

I thought as corpers, our responsibilities were just to attend CDs every Thursday, talk, write down our names as proof that we attended, take pictures as evidence to be sent to our LGI (Local Government Inspector) and that was all. I didn't know there was something more than that — one thing I dread doing.

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For the few weeks we were there, there was nothing much to do until one particular Thursday, I was picked unexpectedly that I would be talking in public that day. This wasn't like I was informed before that day, perhaps I could have prepared myself well for it but it was an impromptu one. No wonder one of the Ndlea representatives was mandating us to be jotting down some points from the lectures she was giving us, and being one that loves paying attention, I was serious and following up with the lecture.

Perhaps she noticed how attentive I was and that was why she picked me to speak to the community on that day with no prior notice. As I heard that, my mind skipped. It was a heavy task given to me. It would have been better if she had said I should only summarise all she had lectured us on with my fellow corp members but no, I would be talking outside to a large number of people. I didn't prepare for this. The only thing I said was "Ahh" and I kept quiet.

It was a hard one for me and I wished the woman could see through my eyes how I was afraid and should give to someone else but she didn't. I regretted coming to CDs that day. I did a quick rehearsal of the whole points as we were given some minutes to get ready. Being one to talk in English and another member to translate in Yoruba for those who couldn't understand my version, we both stood at the front with microphones in our hands. My legs were wobbling as I walked but some members noticed me and were encouraging me.

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We got to a T-junction and stopped. I just didn't know how those points were flowing out of my mouth as I had intended to be repeating as they were in my notebook but I did a good job as said by the representatives and the corp members. Those words were uplifting and since that day, I have been interested in it.

It felt so good speaking in public and while I talked, I was looking at people passing by, seeing how interested they were too as they had to stop walking and listening to whatever I had to say, it gave me the vibe to continue spilling out even words that weren't from my note.

It was a success in the end. I was scared at first but it turned out to be a great thing. I learnt something from it: it is normal to be scared of something you've never done before, but when you do, it becomes easier on the next trial. I was happy to do that. The next time we met at our CDS location, I was given the role of a lecture coordinator and I really enjoyed doing my job by lecturing other members and outsiders about drug abuse and how to overcome it.

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^{Both images are mine}