In my Four years of university, I have seen it all. literally everything under the sun. No one told us this is how it usually is. There is no prior preparation for the ordeal ,that is campus life. It hits you like a cloud of dust in Kitengela on a dry sunny afternoon.
The truth is, there is the good, the bad, and the utterly disgusting side of being a varsity student, especially with no side job or a privileged background to hold you in place.
If you’re in campus then you already know this, if you’re planning to join then brace yourself for the ugly underside. . .

1.The Poverty

There’s no money. Simple. There’s no disposable income or loose change to live life. You have to pay rent and pay for water & electricity.
There are also notes to be printed and photocopied and the occasional typed assignment.
Breakfast, lunch and supper too are in the mix. My friend once told me that ‘Three meals on campus is a LUXURY’. My soul weeps for us.
And these are just the basic essentials. What about other stuff like shoes, hair, house shopping?
Folks give you like 3000 for expenditure and expect it to be enough for a month? I once had neighbours who would eat rice with stew made up of tomatoes and onions. Tomato Stew. If parents knew how broke and miserable their kids are while away, they would cry.

2.The Alcohol

Dude, I am convinced that no one drinks as much as people in the last 4 of the 8.4.4. Seriously. I doubt even working-class citizens guzzle that much.
If you don’t believe me, then walk around Containers at Gate A on a Friday evening and see the multitudes sipping Keg. Girls and boys alike.
If you’re on time you’ll even find the classic sight of a group ‘Fundraising’ to buy a bottle of KC. (which will be downed in less than an hour)
Then the obvious Saturday morning sighting of a drunk guy being supported by the shoulders as he can barely walk after pulling an all-nighter, in the Club of course.

3.The ‘Bangi’

In the school I am in, getting a peddler is as easy as getting milk. The red eyes are a classic occurrence almost daily after around 5.00 pm when people flock in numbers at food joints and street food vendors to cure the ‘Munchies’

4.The Mental Torture

I understand we got to campus because of exemplary performance in Secondary school, but can lecturers relax?
The Workload of a typical fourth-year student involves 3 assignments per unit, 4 laboratory reports per unit, 2 CATs per unit and a project Thesis to work on. The units are about 7-9 per semester so that translates to 49 – 63 reports and assignments per semester, not forgetting there is the main exam which is supposed to be studied for.
All these while still having to balance a social life and making sure to avoid a supplementary?
Jesus Christ.

5.The Classism

classism. [klas-iz-uh m] noun. a biased or discriminatory attitude based on distinctions made between social or economic classes. Classism is differential treatment based on social class or perceived social class.  I like the use of the word ‘perceived’ in the second definition.

Three days ago in one of my elective classes, the lecturer asked us if we had ever watched the film ‘Anaconda’. A few people raised their hands of course and the rest of us sat silently because this was a film we watched years ago so I doubt anyone remembered anything from it.
The lecturer went on to point at some lady and said ‘You don’t look like you’ve watched it’ He then pointed to another and said ‘You, you look like you’ve watched it, tell us how it went’

The man probably had no bad intentions but I could see the classism based on the way people looked and how they were dressed that day, to tell who had a TV or none at home. This vice has gone all the way to the way people are treated in the department offices, to how lecturers handle guys. It’s terrible.

6.The Struggle

When they say the struggle is real, believe it.
I see the way everyone is struggling to look good, to have the best phone, to have the coolest backpack ,to live in Gate A and not Gate C where the sewerage system can only be saved by God himself, to be the best in class, to have good grades, to have the latest shoes,to have coloured print outs and not black and white. Everything is such a struggle.
I see it all.

7.The Sponsors

Does anyone notice the number of Benzies and BMWs around the school gate on Friday afternoons?
From MPs to Lecturers, to peoples fathers (and mothers). They all come to fetch their sponsees for the weekend(refer to point 1 and 6), who are then dropped back on Sunday evening looking and smelling like a bag of money.

8.The Sexual Misconduct & Miseducation

I have to admit that this is not exclusive to uni life. It’s everywhere.
Fornication, adultery, unsafe abortions, cheating, misuse of contraceptives and sexual abuse.
I highly regard the girls who decide to keep their pregnancies even with all the judgemental eyes staring in class and in the campus avenues.
Stay strong queens. You are going to be just fine.

The script, in their hit song, ‘For the first time’, said “..Someone helps us coz we are doing our best, We are trying to make it work but man these times are hard.. “

They never lied.

I’m glad I’m in my last semester and kudos to everyone who ever made it through to graduation. To those who are still a couple of semesters or years to go, sit tight because the degree won’t get itself, and neither will you die okay?
It may or may not be worth it in the end, but you’ll never know if you don’t try.

We carry on.