The lecturers' strike was finally called off on Thursday after negotiations between the lecturers and concerned parties bore fruit.
The strike paralyzed learning in public universities and during the entire period of the strike, lasting close to two weeks, most students never stepped inside school.
So where were they?
In the public library, studying. Improbable. In the hostels, revising. Not exactly. At home, helping parents. Definitely not.
We asked around for students to tell us what they had been up to when the lecturers were up there bargaining for better cash.
Egerton was closed indefinitely since at the time it was not certain when the stalemate would be resolved. Most of the students went home where they joined their old time buddies for celebrations of an early holiday.
They would go around drinking and acting like they owned their home towns. Others even ended up in police cells for petty crimes such as being drunk and disorderly, causing disturbance, risking their lives and a horde of other stuff.
Another section stayed home or at their parents businesses the entire time helping where they could.
Yet still, a few took the opportunity to join or create gangs that terrorized residents of various places such as Umoja in Nairobi. A police officer from Buruburu mobile patrol informed us that they had arrested a gang of university students who had allegedly broken into a shop and taken electronic goods valued at over 200 thousand shillings.
"Hawa watoto tunawapeleka shuleni wasome lakini kazi yao ni kuiba iba tu," remarked the officer, who didn't want to be named.
It was not immediately evident to which universities the students belonged.
Aside from that, for many students, the weekend began early. So as it is with campus life, they threw parties in their hostels as others went out clubbing. We chanced to gatecrash one party in Westlands. A University of Nairobi student had invited his friends to his parents home. He told us the parents were away in Dubai. It was music and loads of drinks until the wee hours of the morning. Some even passed out after having one too many glasses of bluemoon and his cousins.
At intervals, student revellers paired out and disappeared into the boy's bedroom only to emerge later, looking happy.
At the end of the party, some students had to be dragged out or helped up by their comrades as their host embarked on cleaning.
However, some students took the time to engage in business. They put their computers to task and did a variety of jobs, mostly online. They wrote articles, did thesis researches for a number of clients, wrote project proposals, did online product promotion and other stuff.
The strike is over, and students are expected back in school. Some students are dead broke after spending their entire HELB loan on cheap drinks and parties. Others are not just vibed up with the idea of getting back to class, this soon.
Many wish the strike could have carried on for a little longer. Joseph from Kenyatta University wished that the strike could proceed even for a week more!
But it's been a holiday anyway. Time for books now.
www.doitadigital.com