STORY- Iwopin: The Journey, the Camp, the Return.... Episode 2

 As promised in my last post on this story, here is the rest of the story.. enjoy and Happy Children's day.

Trying to turn, I noticed that we were on a cliff, and I told the driver to hold on, so I could be sure the back was good for him to turn, I swiftly came out of the bus and behold, there was a very deep cliff behind the bus, if the driver had moved an inch backward, the bus will dive into the deep ditch at the detriment of we losing our lives, I shouted and called everyone to come out of the bus immediately, as I placed a big stone behind one of the rear tyres before telling the youths what would have happened. 

After successfully turning the bus towards the IGELE Land, we entered the village, it was a very small community of people, and probably a man sojourned and started living there some years ago, because the village was about 30 or 50 minutes far from the next village. Our presence brought the villagers out, they gazed at us like we were strange, and I looked at them like they were in the stone age, no electricity, no network, haba, what a place?, well, we greeted and gracefully enough they replied, wow, that was a needed relieve. 

We told them of our journey, and how we have spent hours tracing the place, we also asked if we could spend the night there, and they referred us to their Baale, who told us that our destination was very close, less than an hour ahead, he also encouraged us to go ahead with the journey, because he is sure that nothing will happen to us, with that at the back of our hearts, we boded our bus and zoomed off, as we left, I gazed into the eyes of the villagers, and they looked at us, hoping to see that large number of civilized individuals again. We journeyed on till we got to our destination around few minutes to 11pm, it was indeed an interesting trip, and other campers were already waiting for our safe return, thanks to God, we arrived save too.

THE CAMP

The first night was like hell, kai, those mosquitoes did not even spare my blood at all, they sucked hard like they wanted to save the rest in their blood bank for the winter, but all the same I managed to sleep. We had about 7 units that made it to the camp, out of the more than 11 units in the state. Each unit must erect their tent and make it ready for all their 20 pathfinders, clearly demarcating the female side from the male side. There were more than 10 different games organized throughout the camporee, and each unit had to compete for the top positions of first, second or third. The games included, Tent making, Theme song composition, Parade, Flag hoisting, Drama, Bible sword, Bible Quiz(the book of Revelation), Cooking competition, Lime and Spoon race, Sack race, Knot tying among others.

The camporee was well organized, the rules and regulations of the camp were fair and the whole planning was much disciplined. The Four nights well organized camp held at Iwopin town, Ijebu ode LGA of Ogun state.

My unit won the first aid competition, took second in the knot tying competition, took second in the cooking competition, took third in the sack race, and did well I other competitions. 

I had a wonderful tourist experience by taking a walk through the streets of this ancient town, Iwopin riverside town. It’s a very big town when compared to the IGELE village. I and two other ladies with our driver drove round the village, looking at ancient buildings, happy people and most importantly civilization. We drove to the end of the town which was a very big water body, little wonder they called the village Water side. We were told by one of the villagers that their major occupation was fishing and that the large sea led to the Lagos state 3^rd mainland bridge, the man further elucidated that many of the villagers who were wealthy and work in big establishments in the Lagos island, take a boat ride to their lives on the island whenever they visited.  

An Iwopin villager, Maubuchi, Blessing, Mua, Driver

 I had so much fun, but was unable to have a good swim as I was informed that the river was too deep, and I could drown, hmmm, I swiftly took the wise counsel, so as to be alive to write this piece and also to tell my great grandchildren about a place I may never visit again in my live time, a one-time adventurous tourism trip to the great and ancient riverside, Iwopin.

THE RETURN

At the end of the adventurous pathfinder camporee, the first of its kind under the new Ogun state conference, my district, the Pioneer pathfinder club of Sango/Ilaro district emerged 3rd position. I screamed, shouted and celebrated hard, because we came, engaged in each competition and conquered at the end. My wonderful pathfinders whose names are:- NWACHUKWU GODSFAVOUR, POPOOLA EMMANUEL, STEPHEN AWE, AWOYOMI ANU,  AGBELEYE TIMILEHIN, POPOOLA JAMES, CHUKWUDI HYGINUS, POPOOLA ADEDOYIN,  AFOLAYAN SABBATHY, OKORO BLESSING, TAIWO ADEOLA, DANIEL PRECIOUS, DURODOLA ABIOLA, ADEWOYE SEUN, JOHN GLORY, DURODOLA BLESSING, ISIGUZO FAITH, ADIMA MAOBUGHICHI, OKORO FAITH,  and AKABUEZE PRINCE, made the district proud, they are our heroes,today being children's day, i celebrate them, praying that their future will remain great and bright, Amen. 

We sang along as we journeyed back home. We sang, sang, sang and sang till our voices failed us and our eyes gave in to the tiredness of our body, most of us dosed off in the bus, but I was determined to be awake, though it is my nature not to sleep in the bus. Indeed, our return was smoother than departure.

(Stay tuned for more stories.... The next story is titled- IGE..... the spirit within)