Immortal legacy of my professors beyond campus

Immortal legacy of my professors beyond campus

My lecturer Dr. Samson Raiji and I. He is a media and public relations don.

By MUSYOKA NGUI

It was the last act in a journey that started four years ago thirteen days today. The graduation, having been postponed indefinitely, threw preparations into disarray. Comrades who were updating statuses with academic invites fizzled out just as a flat drink does. Just like that an ad was placed on national dailies and university website.

The frustration exposed the fatigue and weariness of job hunters and creators who expressed displeasure in missed opportunities. Others said were it not for the graduation they would have been employed long ago. More even attributed their broke pockets to the delayed graduation. As if sleaze and thievery had not descended on top echelons of the government making opportunities only reserved for cronies, clans and cliques.

Fast forward, having been granted the power to read after two long holidays (combined six months) I know the value of friendships. A lecturer used to tell us the only true best friends we will ever have are from campus. Perhaps it is because we have so much in common hence the understanding.

Uplifting and unsung stories abound. The journalism club we started is still going strong. Joseph tells me they had to change leadership. The ones we left in place did not work. Neighbours considered noise our mock radio. Marto the Technician readily gave us keys to fetch the speakers, mics, mixers and cables. That is when I realized Kalung’e had a beautiful radio voice that should have been in our leading airwaves like from second year. Yet we were there struggling to operationalise an unused frequency, stock media lab and manage blogs for the victims of writing bugs. It bit me and like a malignant cancer  I passed the pen to the club.

These days I don’t hear much about Theatre and Arts Club. The flamboyant T1 cast who begged the county council of Chuka to lend them a stage in their Town Hall and the mayor flatly refused as if it was his mother’s?

It is as if when we left  with some of the most prized possessions of the prophetic university. While working in Meru for County Review I was told I will not return to graduate with the only Faculty of Arts and Humanities Dean I know: Dr. George Ngugi King’ara. I did not accept or move on when he left for KU without witnessing the class he taught every lecturer punctually and without fail.

Just midway through campus Ms. Rose Nyakio Kimani secured a scholarship to Germany. She stole a visit and as soon as word went round she was around mobs of media students curiously crowded her corridors to say hi and know when she will be returning to teach them. She taught History of Mass Communication, Radio, Microphones and she was the one who exceptionally listened to every student talk. She did not interrupt whether your idea was silly or sharp. Maybe she will be back.

Now that you know my earlier campus lecturers, the other trio were (are) Raiji, Papa(Nabea) and Ms. Ann. Though I spent most of my time in college disagreeing with Raiji and openly differing with him, we kissed and made up after attachment. His news writing emphasis came out clearly and although he never showed up for my KNA assessment, he paid for our drinks and rode us back to hostels  in his car after what came to be known as Last Supper at Hotel Godka. He still is a friend I consult on media matters. Real issues and man talk.

I’d say Papa remains the most social and firm. He was as contrasting as photojournalism photos he taught.  A gym instructor no less, Papa nearly drowned my name by evoking stereotype when he repeatedly called me Mutua. He made colleagues think I was from Makueni and living in Machakos. They got it much later.

Papa, he of the famous “if you so remember what we were working on during our last session”, is the only lecturer who gave me a D and an A yet we remained cordial. He could have had his own standard of measuring exams. Some of these things vindicate him when his students shine.

Ms. Ann joined us latter. That notwithstanding, she left a mark that marches the elders who saw us grow from teens to beards and bulging baby bumps. The stunning beauty was a stickler to respect. She would not talk until all chairs stop screeching. I took it in stride when she said me and Kalung’e were fixed- minded when we did not seem to buy her argument that digital migration had stolen fan base from the three ugly sisters (read KTN, NTV and Citizen TV). She held that K24 and KBC had amassed followers during the 14 days of television blackout.

Ann taught gender with passion and I saw her fire through the gaze she shed to the girls. I would say she was their advocate for gender equality and she embodied the far a woman can go if she believes in herself. But right there laid the trouble. She seemed overly feministic and radical, kinda blaming men for all that are wrong with women. Surely is that fair? To the point of telling girls to reject a small screen cinema that passes for laptop entertainment and demand from their boyfriends a flick, an IMAX.

Matundura, Kobia,  Mugambi, Muthengi, Mwathi, Mueni and Doreen had  brief stints. Some were part timers and others from line departments related to media. Computer, law, Kiswahili, sociology, psychology etc. All played their part in the Friday 13^th.

I took the perspective of teachers because it is from the view of a student you know the legacy of the professor.