A comrades' pocket is toned while in campus

At times I get irritated with the perception the society out their have on campus student. Am not being biased but the truth must be weighed in order to determine who is digging into comrades' pocket.

Last week while traveling from home to school, I met this man at stage entrance and offered to lift my luggage into the bus stage. The guy on arrival demanded sh50 for his services. To me it sounded so awkward only that I did not want to be rude to him, I told him I had sh 20. The guy kept on insisting to be given sh 50 but at last settled on sh 20.

This incident reminded me of Mary my hairdresser a month ago when I visited her salon for my hair dressing. She had narrated to me on how campus life used to be luxurious some years back when students had money to change hair styles on weekly basis and dispose their belongings such as basins, mattresses, shoes and electronic gadgets at the end of every semester only to buy new ones on reopening.

According to Mary, the business used to be lucrative due to student money and led a comfortable life, "During that time, I could plait several students with the amount of money I demand without the negotiation but nowadays things have changed, they bargain up to the last coin sticking unto their amount," Mary reiterated.

Mary said the business has gone down recently as students prefer styling their hair after every month or two due to economic hurdles they are undergoing due to reduced HELB loan deposited into their accounts unlike in the past when they used to receive huge amounts enough to buy a car in two years. Gone are the days when student leaders could drive vehicles outdoing their lecturers.

The big challenge that students face is the way outsiders view them as income earners to a point of raising the living standards in the surrounding environment. What disgusts most is the fact that residential rooms in stage goes at sh 3,500 to 8,000 per month. This is mining from a comrades pocket as they do not have choice as the university can not accommodate all the students within university premises.