IUIU student hostels characterised by nasty door writings

When passing by magnificent hostels around several Ugandan campuses, one would wonder what ilk of ‘campusers‘ at IUIU Mbasel are nestled in there.

The glass windows, tiled floors, neatly paved compounds and beautifully trimmed flower gardens all account for their fascination.

However, when the opportune entrance comes, inside the hostels lie stone age-like inscriptions on doors, that completely altercate the preconceived perception about the inhabitants.

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Writing on doors also known as ‘chalking of the doors’ is a centuries-old practice throughout the world, though it appears to be somewhat less well-known in some countries.

In Deuteronomy, the lord commanded the Israelites to write the laws on the doorposts of their houses and gates while in Exodus, the Israelites marked their doors with blood so that the Lord would pass over their homes; but in various parts of the world particularly Great Britain, people mark doors with chalk as a sign that they have invited God’s presence and blessing into their homes, in specially organized ceremonies.

In Uganda, the tradition is scarce and one will only see ‘population census’ chalk inscriptions on doors or the ‘knock before you enter’ tags, house and room numbers being a constant; whereas, campus and hostel inhabitants have taken the practice a step further, inscribing comic, horrific or salacious writings on their doors to suit the inscribers interest.

In one females’ hostel, this is what I found; “Come in if ur man enough,” “Beware of pussies,” “Don’t knock; we smell hunks at the door,” “Doors were not invented for nara, use the next door (yet there was only one).”

Whereas in a males’, We photocopy chapatti, Out of bounds to Eniaalem members, No trespassing through this freehold kibanja, This door is delicate, knock on the floor Akata emesse, jenje, ensirri, sembera wano. And so on.

Then will you know the species of people in campus hostels. Moreover, some words are almost sculptured and stay permanent leaving the door outset unattractive completely.

Since hostels are just sojourned, who is responsible for such scripts, is it the current room occupants, who may also allege that they found them their or the former?

Whoever it is, hostel management should either take responsibility at every semester end to paint doors or cajole the room occupants into erasing them before exiting.