Not all but most of the campusers we have come across will only do something if it is without a charge. Put a charge to it and several reasons to dodge will emerge.
Even a church service is skipped because of the offertories! They will however attend a free event such as a party even if it meant traveling to another campus, say from Makerere University to Nkumba university. As long as it is cost free, they will join.
However, for girls, everything should be entirely free. If it is an outing, pick her from hostel, drive her around with her friends and meet all the costs before you finally drive back.
Damn! She will hesitate to any suggestions involving solo events.
Since she doesn’t want to ‘give you’ some of her ‘goodies’, she will insist to coming with a friend. Let me leave the jazz about girls for another time.
Here are some of the freebies campusers love;
Any free event around the university: Organise anything, be it theatre or singing, even art, as long as it’s free, you will see these students there. You don’t have to put it on social media or send emails. These students can sniff a free event miles away and nothing will stop them from entering. Sometimes they even arrive and fill the space before the invited guests.
The ‘Bazaars’ that take place at the beginning of every semester are an example of these free events. Fresher’s ball, conferences, seminars and workshops are the other.
The gospel concerts:Talk of a gospel concert and every student will flock it. Why? Because they are usually free. No student wants to pay to see a musician jump on stage and sing yet they already have free wifi at the university and can clearly enjoy the video on YouTube. Some places like Phaneroo are flocked for these free gospel concerts.
Youth programmes: You know the youth programmes where the Government gives out shirts and a number of students are supposed to wear the shirts and attend the free concert.
Well that is every student’s favourite event – even though some won’t admit it. They will fight for it. Most times they don’t even know what the event is about but as long as they get the shirt, they are sorted. Makerere University students this year fought for free sodas and NRM shirts during the president’s visit at the university main campus.
Expo:You see the whole expo filled to capacity and think people are actually buying things but it’s filled with a bunch of students who go there thinking there is going to be “plot” (meaning a happening night) as they call it.
But even after they go back home disappointed, they still come back the next day.
Expo is for buying items at cheaper prices, not buying beer at 7k like they expect. The UMA expo that takes place every year in October is one of such expos.
Most campusers dodge the event on 9th October because there is a fee levied upon all entrants, they however flock the expo on other days.
Football: Students only support their university team if transport is facilitated or they are the hosts. They will only meet costs if it’s a rival do or die match. Forex ample Makerere University Students will at whatever cost watch a Kyambogo University game.
European football is the only thing that sometimes makes students part with their money. You will never see student pick money to pay for entertainment unless it’s his team playing. One time I was in a bar with students and they paid Ushs 2,000/= for drinks to watch a match.
Unfortunately their team didn’t win and they contemplated asking for their money back.
I think you know what club they support, Arsenal of course! Others visit their friends on Saturday afternoon to catch the match from the friend’s hostel or hall of residence. Choka Uganda!
