I’m not a product of University of Nairobi but I owe the University a great deal for contributing significantly to what I am today. Having been raised up at the former Kenya Institute of Administration (currently Kenya School of Government) that is separated by a fence from UoN’s Lower Kabete Campus (School of Business), I used to spend a significant amount of time in the campus to watch TV, games and sneak into their computer lab to learn how to use computers.
From the computer labs I was able to learn fast typing that contributed largely to my first employment, SPSS that made me venture into research works and chess that has transformed my nights to fight nights (I’m fighting the addiction though). The computer labs also made me make great friends including Kachwanya, Steve and others that have been of great positive influence in my life.
It is been long since I visited the campus (over 7 years I guess) so reading news about the campus makes me miss home. What has made me nostalgic today is the news that the campus has constructed ultra modern lecture halls that are big in size, have  projection systems complete with sound system installations.
Compared to other campuses especially my campus (Egerton-Njoro), I must say students from Lower Kabete generally have better learning experience. At Lower Kabete, students do not experience the troubles of over crowded lectures (at times over 1,000 students per lesson) and at least they have had access to Internet connected computers. Back at Njoro we could only access a Windows 95 powered slow machine at the comp department’s comp labs which had less than 20 comps for the over 6,000 students in session (you can now understand why I had to sneak into Lower Kabete’s computers to learn how to have my comp lessons).
The construction of ultra modern lecture halls therefore makes Lower Kabete be several steps ahead of other campuses and hopefully students from this campus will continue to be of positive impacts to individuals and to the society in general.
Well done UoN’s school of business.
I am nostalgic too. That computer lab was my home. I first saw and touched a computer in my first year at Lower Kabete campus. I remember my friend, one Salim, teaching me how to turn on and off the computer and the difference between a keyboard, a monitor and a mouse. In the end, I taught him how to manouvre around complex processing using the computers. The fast internet connections, new machines, e-library, all made me be the researcher than I am. I wish I met you in the lab Washington. If only MsC Finance course was that rigorous, I would be back in those labs again – using the ones for postgraduate students. I wonder whether it is still there though.
You must have seen me several times in those labs, or in your printing/typing bureau. I used to spend more than 14 hours a day in those comp labs mostly next to one Steve Gitau.
Wow. I can hardly recognize the lecture rooms in these photos. I used to spend a lot of time in that computer lab chatting on a site called “lifeinred.com” . That time FB hadn’t arrived in Kenya. I too am nostalgic.