The Malicious Spread of HIV/AIDS in Our Universities: Hoax or Reality?

HIV/AIDS Ribbon

 It first started or rather reported way back in 2006 where a female student in one of the public universities allegedly slept with 24 men whom she deliberately infected them with the dreaded virus. Since then cases of a student providing a list of persons whom she has slept with and supposedly infected has been on the increase in recent times. Two weeks ago one female student here in this campus claimed in Facebook to have deliberately baptized a number of students. She claimed to have been infected by a student in school of Business and Economics (name withheld) whom she met in a popular pub in stage. Having discovered that she was positive she started a revenge mission.

Concerns are now being raised about this worrying and unfortunate trend. Are these claims actually true or hoax? They have since caused panic and suspicion among comrades. However, what’s more worrying is the number of people who still engage in unprotected sex. This has left stakeholders in the fight against HIV/AIDS scratching their heads.

The government and other stakeholders involved in HIV/AIDS campaigns had significantly cut back on their spending (advocacy for protected sexual intercourse) believing that they had successfully driven the message home. These incidences have brought to the fore one critical question: are people being oblivious of the lurking dangers in having unprotected sex or are they purely ignorant?

In the notes left by the perpetrators it gives one a picture of a person raging with anger and revenge. The victims claim that they contracted the disease while in campus and they make personal vows to spread it like bush fire in an attempt to feed their revenge. This act is punishable by law and one is guaranteed of going to jail if found guilty. It’s more disturbing given that it is taking place in the top most level of the education system where brilliant people build their careers not to mention the huge investments made by the parents and the government.

Nuisance as Cockroaches Invade Hostels

Cockroach

Friday was a very important day, apart from the much awaited Fresher’s Night; I had other plans which were supposed to crown the day. Preparations for this day began long before as I was expecting a visitor whom I hoped to impress that day. When the visitor arrived, I prepared tea as we chatted. I served tea and placed the slices of bread on the plate. As I picked a slice from the plate, a big brown cockroach strolled from one slice to the other. I am not sure whether my visitor saw it but she refused to take bread claiming she’s full. Deep down my heart, I knew the cockroach had just spoiled my date.

Cockroach Invasion

From hostel A to campus suburbs comrades have been forced to put up with the unwelcomed visitors. It’s normal to have at least a few roaches in almost every house or room but going my own experience and those of friends the population of these pests is growing fast. The roaches are virtually everywhere crawling from the utensils to wardrobes oblivious of, not only the embarrassment they might be causing us in front of our esteemed visitors but also the disease causing microorganisms they might be carrying with them. This has brought additional expenses as comrades have been compelled to make budgetary allocation for pesticides courtesy of cockroach invasion.

Cockroach 101

Cockroaches are attracted to sweet and floury foods. They also eat non-organic items such as toothpaste and books! They live in warm and damp places, like kitchens, bathrooms, and places where people eat and drink. Brownbanded cockroaches prefer warmer, drier, and higher locations than most cockroaches. They do not need much moisture and avoid light whenever the can. Cockroaches crawl through dirty areas and then walk around our homes/rooms taking in lots of bacteria and germs. They can contaminate food by shedding their skins. Their cast off skin and waste by products are allergens that can trigger allergic reactions, asthma and other illnesses.

Prevention

The hostels department should consider the idea of fumigating the hostels before occupation by comrades. I guess by now, you have bought a pesticide to combat the invasion. Meanwhile, entomologists encourage you to keep your room clean and dry with special attention to cooking, eating and food storage areas.

Moi University Hostels Entrepreneurship Awards 2012

 Saturday,24^th November 2012 will go down in history as the first day that the university recognized outstanding entrepreneurship skills among students. The milestone colurful event was held in ICDC Complex where various hostels were recognized for their acumen in entrepreneurship. Speaking at the event, head of entrepreneurship studies, who was the guest of honour encouraged the students to start their own business instead of sitting back waiting to be employed….Alright, I made that up! There was no such event but what if we had one? Overtime, we have been able to witness significant growth of businesses in our various halls of residence. Conceivably, Entrepreneurship Students Association could come up with awards for these young entrepreneurs who have given convenience a whole new meaning. While ESAMU ponders on that, I would like to give a glimpse how the awards would have turned out. The following parameters were taken into consideration: innovativeness, pricing, variety of goods & services, quality & quantity of goods & services and customer care.

a side view of Hostel H

Front view of Hostel H

Hostel Entrepreneurship Award 2012 goes to….Hostel H!...This is the most enterprising hostel in the entire campus. This hostel hosts ISO Certified hustlers, comrades who are go-getters and literally have nose for money. Hostel H, just like Nakumatt, you need it, they’ve got it. Everything is under one roof: tomatoes, onions, hot mandazis, milk, porridge, omena, graphic designers, video editors, shylocks, and coil repairs among others…You name it, and you will probably get it. This hostel has an edge in innovation, variety of goods/service and remarkable customer care services where some entrepreneurs had their customer care numbers pinned on the door. Perhaps ESAMU should organize mbuzi plot for these peeps…

First runners-up…Hostel J. This is the most enterprising hostel among the divas halls of residence. Apart from the usual photocopy, printing, scanning, ngumuz, scones e.t.c they also sell githeri. The entrepreneurs here have outdone their counterparts in L and K in the sale of clothes, shoes, ornament& jewellery, and cosmetics among others. They are very aggressive, carrying out door to door sales and marketing.

Second runners-up…Hostel G, The Technology Hostel. I am not sure whether it is a coincidence or conspiracy that the comrades in this particular hostel have a thing for technology. This hostel stands out in technology oriented businesses. This is the hostel that hosts DSTV & internet service providers, computer technicians, digital photo processors and camcorders for hire. At some point they had a washing machine but I am not sure what became of it.

At the other side of the scale-bottom three, the least enterprising hostels we have: hostel A…located next to falls, these peeps don’t even have airtime leave alone ngumuz. They are closely followed by hostel E…Are there people living in this hostel? Hostel B closes the list…they have the usual stationery services but the entrepreneurs are always absent. Generally, all entrepreneurs scored well on pricing and quality/quantity of goods/services. Perhaps the only let down is the sale of stale ngumuz and scones. Otherwise have an enterprising day, won’t you?

Internet Con Artists

Drawing by www.thecontrarianmedia.com

“How are you and your family? I hope all is well; it’s just my urgent need for foreign partner that made me to contact you for assistance. I am a banker by profession in West Africa and currently holding the post of Director Auditing and Accounting unit of the bank.
I have the opportunity of transferring the left over funds ($11.5 million) of one of our bank clients who died in crash since seven years ago and none of his family member or relation has come for the claim, and now the bank is planning how to confiscate the fund since no one has come for the claim. Please without wasting time I need your honest and humanity to execute this transaction under your kind control for the benefit of our both families.
 Hence, I am inviting you for this deal I will offer you 40% of the amount mentioned above as my partner and the rest will be for me, please if you are sure that you are capable to handle this transaction and you are ready to assist me to execute this business with trust and honest than the further details of the transfer will be forwarded to you as soon as I receive your return mail.
 For more clarification reply me back and please note that the claim is 100% free.
Thanks.”(Adapted from an email sent to the writer)

Familiar?

I guess you have received such emails from people that you have never met before and they seem to be offering you an irresistible deal. Yes, check again you might be dealing with a con artist. Many people across the world have lost millions of shillings to these people who want to reap from people’s ignorance. The deal is usually very enticing as one above and if not careful you can fall into their trap. It usually begins by building trust between the con artist and the potential victim. The conversation goes on via email for quite a while and after obtaining your phone contacts they will call you. In some instances, they go to an extent of setting up fake websites in cases where they have used non-existing organizations. This is done with the aim of building trust between the con artist and the victim. When the con artist discovers that he/she has gained the full trust of the victim, the last wit is unleashed and the victim ends up losing money.

I have been a victim of the con artists who, later I discovered that they the infamous West Africa Con Syndicate. It all started by an email I received from a lady named Jennifer. We communicated for a while and we exchanged pictures. Going by the pictures she sent me, no man could resist such a lady but I was oblivious, since this was the trick to hook me up to the scheme. She told me that she was a refugee from Ivory Coast and that her father was a high ranking government official before being brutally murdered in the Ivorian civil war. However, he left her large sums of money amounting to $7,000,000 in a foreign bank called Royal Bank of Scotland. I therefore decided to check out the website of this bank to verify if it truly exits and voila! It was there! (so I thought).She wanted to transfer the money to a trustee (me) and then after successful transfer of the funds she will join me here in Kenya for loving marriage. She later told me that in order to transfer the funds; I need a Barrister (Lawyer) from her country of origin who will be in charge of the transaction. Here is the catch, in order to transfer the cash, I was supposed to foot the legal costs first which was $ 1250.I told the ‘lawyer’ that I didn’t have the money and he even called to encourage me to apply for loan from the bank in order to settle the cost. At this juncture I asked myself, if this girl has lots of money lying somewhere in the bank, why couldn’t she arrange with the barrister to get the money? It seemed easier that way and after all, which lawyer will decline to help in such a situation with millions of dollars in the offing? It occurred to me that actually I was being conned all this time and I seized all communications with this ‘beautiful lady’.

Tragic situations

In some cases the con scam may end up being tragic. In one incident here in Kenya, a man was duped into Gold business in a country in West Africa. When he went to meet the so called investors; they kidnapped him and demanded ransom from his family. The amount asked was too high that the man’s family could not raise immediately and it took them about a year before they raised the money that saw the release of their loved one from captivity. Failure to meet their demands may as well lead to the death of your loved one.

Way forward

The internet has brought with it many advantages including cheaper advertising means. However, it has also exposed us to real danger of cyber crime such as internet conning. The email service providers and even anti-virus softwares producers are working around the clock to ensure that our email accounts are safe. The email providers like Gmail, Yahoo, and Rocket Mail among others have analyzed such messages so that messages the traits like one in the excerpt are classified as spam. The anti-virus softwares try to prevent people who snoop and steal personal information from other people and use it maliciously. Most of the con victims have been blamed for being “stupid” hence gullible to con artists antics. All in all, we should be extra keen and ‘good’ things don’t just come that easy.

Concern as Radio Stations Go Vulgar

Source:www.dozendigit.i8.com

The radio industry has come a long way from one radio station transmitting in medium wave to over 30 radio stations broadcasting in quality sound frequencies: FM. It remains one of the most vibrant sub sectors in the entire media business attracting millions of shillings in advertising sales owing to its ability to reach millions of people.

Out witting competitors

However, the ever increasing number of radio stations has made them go to extreme extents to maintain their market share and jostle for lucrative advertising business. Some opted to hire comedians to attract and maintain audience. However, others have gone a step further to introduce sex talk shows and related topics. It has reached that point where it’s embarrassing to listen to radio in public especially in presence of elderly people. In most cases, the presenters discuss relationships/marriages. The audience call-in live to share their experiences and leaves one to wonder if morals still exists. As much as it has given people platform to exchange ideas or to vent, they have also significantly affected the attitude of people towards marriage not to mention poisoning minds with vulgar talks.

If it’s working ,why not?

On their part, contrary to the popular opinion, they say that people actually like the vulgar talk shows and its selling. This maybe attested by the high number of adverts during these shows. Some of the radio stations have since been warned by the Media Council of Kenya (in-charge of implementing Code of Conduct for Journalists) while others have been slapped with fines however the practice has persisted. This has brought to the fore two critical issues, one, does MCK has the ability to effectively deal with media houses that violate code of conduct? Two, is that attention has shifted to the professionalism of radio presenters. Most radio presenters are not professionally trained journalists as they are head hunted from the celebrity world.