Friday, June 06, 2008

Change is posible

I had blogged here some time in 2006 about my misadventure at the University of Nairobi when i went to pay 500/= exam fees for a friend. That time i could not even get into the compound since i did not have a sticker. well just yesterday, i was back there again, to collect fees statement for my brother. first shock at the gate, the guard was unusually friendly. Only asked for my national ID so that he could record my particulars. Second , shock the parking lot! It has been sweetly paved with the 'cabro' blocks and in between the parking rows, beautiful flowers have been grown. at a glance i could not believe this was the same dusty parking we used to use some 2 years ago. The visitors parking lot did not look anything like a Kenyan University parking lot. maybe more like a company's yard. and mostly a company that respects customers. Ok so i park and start walking to G3 where such statements are obtained. 3rd Shock! on the sidewalks, the lawn has been done sweetly, its so even , green and inviting and flowers planted all around the lawn. then under trees, resting seats have been erected all over the place. it looks like some great recreation park. I could see the lucky students who obviously seem to have joined this institution at the right time, reading under those trees or whiling away the moment. some were lying on the nice grass in the compound. then i get to G3, and guess what, the place is all so different. its open siting for the staff and there is a clear queue for us. there is even a guard who helpfully shows you the correct queue unlike last time when you would be in the wrong line upto the cashier who would toss your documents away and tell you get to the correct one. then unlike last time when they closed on my face to go for lunch, they patiently served me and even helpfully gave me an updated fees structure, bound the thing and wished me a good day. I badly wanted to write an email to the VC to congratulate the dude for the good work, but i don't have his contacts. the different experience made me proud to be Kenyan really.

What did not make me proud though was the allocation for my safaricom shares. oh surely, i didn't think it would be this bad. So what am i to do with all that refund?

7 comments:

  1. UoN main campus is a wonder to behold nowadays. It's beautiful and good to hear the staff morale has improved as well.

    You do not know what to do with the refund, I can introduce you to a pyramid scheme...

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  2. uni's are reaping from the new fees strucutre, parallel programs and with autonomy (thank you Emilio), councils and control of their own budgets they are now sound business - (buying up land and buildings in towns to put up more campuses)

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  3. @prousette, pyramid! lol

    @banks, its an explosion really

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  4. I can't believe this is UoN you're actually describing..I need to come see these changes with my own two eyes! I was last there in 2000 and I'm sure it looks nothing like it did back then.

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  5. What to do with all that refund? I could use some.

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  6. @rene, 2000 is really long time. But come see for yourself, you will be shocked like I was. Even the students behave much more mature

    @PKW, lol

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  7. fellow bloggers, there's a blogger by the name lostwhitekenyan.blogspot.com who's written a post about Obama which has made me unhappy. Check out her post titled "Over here its all about Barry" and tell her what you think. Thanks

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