The greatest joy of many parents is to see their children join a renowned university in the country. Better still, their children wearing gowns during their graduation.
Often, the parents sacrifice to the last coin for their children to pursue their academic dreams so as to be the game changer of the financial situation at home. In the recent past, we have had a surge in cases of drug abuse, homosexuality, money laundry, scamming, gambling, cold deaths and 'devil worship' amongst university students in pursuit of quick money or 'living the moment'.
The place where people were expected to improve their lives has turned to be the place to destroy their bright future and dreams. Things have drastically changed. The future parents no longer care about anything.
There are trending photos of young beautiful ladies in the hottest nightclubs having a good time with men almost double their fathers’ ages. Young men are trapped in love triangles fighting over women, with some ending up killing each other.
Many have lost hope and purpose, all they do is smoke into the air more than an old manual vehicle with an impaired gearbox. What about the luxurious lifestyle comrades lead whenever they get Helb loans? They might be competing with the Treasury CS in expenditure.
They will cohabitate until the last coin is spent before regretfully going back to their 'kuinama-lunch-ipite' lifestyle. The rainbow community is busy recruiting members more than the clergy. Being a lesbian is becoming the norm. Something that was unimaginable a few years ago. Maybe our mothers will be the last prayer warrior cohort.
The 'mapema ndio best' slogan has driven university students to join scamming, gambling and money laundering businesses. Many parents are burying their children killed in deals gone sour.
Our sisters have raised standards and only date men with German machines and beards while they are busy swallowing P2 pills like groundnuts and others abort pregnancies recklessly. Churches are slowly becoming empty due to busy weekend schedules with the Big Boys and Aunties wa Harrier. Worst of them all, exchanging their bodies for CAT and end-of-semester marks.
How many university brothers will we bury due to wash wash scandals? How many sisters will we bury due to love triangles? For how long will we continue captioning RIP because our classmates were poisoned while partying and drinking?
When will we stop fundraising for our peers to fly to India due to liver cirrhosis or lung cancer? For how long will we continue burying great minds who carried the hope of their clans because of our silence? We have killed our past and we are busy killing our future.
Shockingly, some parents have never visited their children on campus because they don’t have “time” or the children are now grown-ups. Little do they know that their children are busy cohabitating, exchanging their Mr Right every week like a pen.
Parents value education more than the health and spiritual aspects of their children. Few parents will care where their child will spend the weekend, whether the child went to the place of worship, where the child lives and who s/he lives with. The only concern is if the child attended lectures, sat for the Cats, did the end-of-semester exam and if they are on the graduation list.
My take is parents should be more concerned about their children to avoid regret in the near future. Universities' management should do more than just equip students with education. The Ministry of Education and National Youth Council should handle this menace with a wider look before our bright future turns to be the worst nightmare.
President, Clinical Medicine Students Association of Kenya and finalist student, Kenya Methodist University
