08 Sep Camp Connect 2022: Connecting for Impact

Day 1

This is the report of the New Covenant Church, Agodi Youth Church Camp Connect activities in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

It’s going to be a fantastic weekend; expectations are high, bags packed, swag prepped, time for bonding, souls are yearning – Abeokuta better be ready! 

It’s Friday morning! Unfortunately, nature won as a heavy downpour nearly ruined our departure – an advantage for someone like Victor, popularly known as Obashalaye, who almost cost 30+ people their trip due to his extreme case of punctuality. Alas, we finally got to the train station and luckily made it into our coach, and the story began!

After a lovely one-hour trip, we arrived at Wole Soyinka Train Station. We were greeted by the calm ambiance of the train station, and we took some group photographs as Oliz and Nifemi began curating our experience. 

Many didn’t see it coming, but our first stop was at the popular tourist site, Olumo Rock. We explored the art galleries, and by this time, people were already showing, taking pictures, and doing snaps and later thrilled to a beautiful presentation on the history of Ogun state, her arts, culture, and the prominent personality from the gateway state.

Next was rock climbing, but before, there was an amazing burger snack – bread + Akara (winks).

We got our tour guide, and our tour started officially. The climb of Olumo Rock began with a flight of 120+ stairs which some of the youth found challenging, namely sisters Jola and Rhoda. 

Our tour guide lectured us on the history of the shrines and the hidden caves on Olumo Rock, and we got to see some of the hiding places.

The actual rock climbing was fun for most, but for others, the steep hills were the scariest thing they had ever encountered. People shook like they had seen ghosts, and apparently, one of our sisters (name withheld) started to cry.

A slight rearrangement kept us waiting for about an hour, and the youth resorted to a Bottle Flip tournament to eliminate the boredom.

By 3 pm, we made it to the Abeokuta Staff Club, where we were lodged.

Almost an hour later, after relaxing, we went to a branch of the New Covenant Church in Abara for the afternoon meal of fufu or amala.

Later in the evening, was a powerful worship session followed by brother Mike’s prayer meeting.

By 8 pm, we were back to our suite and told to get some rest, but some hoped to mingle.

Key highlights

-Bus Arrival

-Rain

-obashalaye’s lateness

-rushing into trains

-train ride

-gallery

-2nd gallery show

-bread and akara

-olumo rock

-petrified children of the lord

-waiting

-Bottle flip tournament 

-arrival at suite

– dissapointment with arrangement 

-“dinner”

-amala and fufu

Day 2: 

Saturday morning was a bit unusual for some folks who are not used to the heavy knocks on our rooms for the morning devotion and warmup exercises, but it was a beautiful day, and having a light exercise doesn’t hurt. An hour later, we were at church and served breakfast of yam and fish sauce.

After breakfast, we watched a video about the Principle of Management by Dr. Myles Munroe, had a little discussion, and ended the session with a seminar from Brother  Stephen on money-making in the digital space.

Soon, we were divided into our respective teams for activities such as Draw-Your-Sword, Tower Building with paper, and a ranking competition which caused much debate.

We had a prayer session and an incredible sermon from Brother Anuoluwa for the evening and proceeded with the last two games, which saw Team Exodus lead the table.

The night ended with a fish pepper soup washed down with chilled malt and jollof rice on our way back to the hostel.

Day 3:

We started the final day with devotion and exercise early in the morning, got our food given to us in our suite, and were off to join NCC, Ibara Centre for Sunday service.

The service was lovely, Agodi Youth Church gifted them a precious gift for their warm welcome, and we watched a touching movie which everyone enjoyed.

Almost immediately after, we went to our last stop – the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, where some took boat rides and others explored the area and took pictures.

The end of our trip drew closer, and we were at the train station at 4:30 pm. We made it into the train just in time and got to Ibadan at 6:45 pm. Our trip to Abeokuta ended with everyone dropping at their respective bus stops and getting home safely.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience, and we look forward to the next one, hopefully, outside of Nigeria. Cheers!

Article by: Temitayo Makanjuola and Victor Akinkunmi

Editor: Stephen Alagbe

Social Media Team.