As several Makerere University Business School (MUBS) students who were unable to go home continue to be affected by depression and anxiety, Campus Bee has embarked on a move to have their stories told to the world on how they live day by day during this COVID-19 lockdown.
Denis Nsubuga is a second year MUBS student currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Marketing, who also doubles as the President of Marketing Students Association of Makerere University (MSA).
Nsubuga, who works as a freelance writer and public relations personnel narrates that the quarantine period has not affected him like any other student. Nsubuga’s quarantine story is of reading books, sleeping, listening to music and more sleeping.
Fresh from sleeping, Nsubuga kicks off his day with some cleaning before turning up the vibe with music. The second year MUBS student narrates that he does not cook, lucky for him his neighbors give him free food.
“So what I do when I wake up… the whole sleeping schedule changed, so I wake up at 11am, sometimes 10am. Nowadays I read a lot about what I do, I don’t cook coz my neighbors give me food. My neighborhood is in a communal setting, so my neighbors are so cooperative.” Nsubuga narrates.
“Sometimes when I get time, I go to Nakawa to purchase some fruits, so most of the time I be talking to my neighbors about a couple of developmental stuff. Actually today is my first day to play Ludo, that’s what I was doing when you called me,” Nsubuga said.
The knowledge-hungry Nsubuga has dedicated this quarantine period to reading a lot of books about marketing. Unlike other students who spend most of their time on social media, Nsubuga has apparently paused on that since he is not making any money by staying online.
Feel surprised yet? Well, Nsubuga meditates a lot…like a lot. Apparently, he meditates about life in general and what he wants to do in future.
“So I actually don’t have a planned schedule but when I wake up, first thing is cleaning my house, play some music too. I do marketing, so what I do is read a lot about propaganda and how marketing is done in outside countries,” Nsubuga added.
“I’m no longer online and I try as much as possible not to be online because I’m not getting anything important from internet these days because I’m not working. By the way I meditate a lot, I meditate about life, about what I’m going to do after this,” he revealed.
The MUBS student, who pays his own tuition and rent told Campus Bee that he is currently surviving on his savings. Speaking of books, Nsubuga confessed that he does not revise because he is not sure when campus will resume.
“I’m not getting any money from home, good enough I had some savings, so that’s what I use. I don’t revise because I really don’t know when we are going to go back. The reason I don’t read for campus is because I don’t have any motivation. I don’t even know when we shall have exams, so basically I will revise again when they tell us when campus is going to resume.” Narrates Nsubuga.
On food, Nsubuga noted that they were promised some relief items and their phone numbers were collected. However, the delivery team has not reached Mutungo, where he resides.
“They told us that they are going to give us food but they haven’t delivered it. I’m told a few people got but they haven’t reached Mutungo yet. But for me I’m not really starving or anything like that.
He urged the government to ease a bit on the restrictions followed by students to clear tuition because parents will not have any money. According to Nsubuga, the deadlines of clearing tuition should be extended because parents will need more time. In his opinion, students should be allowed to sit exams before clearing tuition.
Nsubuga advised fellow students going through the same situation to use this time to read about the practical bit of what they want to do in life.
“My advice to fellow students going through the same situation is to read about what they want to do. Let them not waste this period on social media looking for gossip. They should instead spend their data on learning important things as well as networking.” He advised.
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