The year tweny tweny (2020) will go down in history as one of the toughest for university going students who spent over ten months at home in bid to slow the spread of COVID-19. Despite how dark the year was, we have a few campusers that did shine a light in the darkest days and we are proud to call them some of the most influential university students in 2020.
When everyone was complaining about having to deal with their parents everyday, the campusers in question took their creativity a notch higher and spread their wings outside the education doors and yes, their contribution to fellow students and the community is as real as me and you. These students devised means to survive not only for themselves but for others as well. Here are the top five influential campusers for the year 2020 (In no particular order).
Sheena Bageine (UCU)
Sheena Bageine, a Uganda Christian University (UCU) student kicked off the year with a bang when she decided to expose rapists and rape apologists on Twitter, a popular social media platform. Using her twitter handle @sheena_sheenzy, Bageine accused several Ugandan dudes of sexually abusing girls that reportedly blew up her DM with confessions.
The fearless Bageine exposed several rapists and rape apologists in a series of tweets starting from 2nd January 2020 when she made it official that no stone will be left unturned. The threats that followed her first tweet did not deter her from continuing with her cause and indeed it did pay off.
Bageine was joined by other activists, rape victims who found twitter a safe space to express themselves and more names kept dropping on the popular social networking app. Bageine singlehandedly started this, and up to this day, young girls can easily expose their abusers, something that has attracted law making bodies to follow up their cases.
Eric Opoka aka Eezzy (Kyambogo University)
Eric Opoka alias Eezzy is a second year Kyambogo University student currently pursuing a Bachelors in Industrial Art and Design. Eezzy, who is best known for his top charting banger “Tumbiza Sound” grew from an upcoming to a popular artist real quick and everything had to do with the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Eezzy dropped ‘Tumbiza Sound’ in the middle of the lockdown, when fellow musicians and campusers had less hopes of dancing again. The song slowly grew on people’s minds and its impact can be felt even after easing some of the lockdown restrictions.
Through his song, Eezzy is the reason why several university students and musicians stopped stressing and embarked on enjoying life using “emitima gyakaluba”, a popular phrase from his hit single. Eezzy’s Tumbiza Sound attracted the attention of officials from the Ministry of Health, who had reluctantly stopped listening to the cries of Ugandans in lockdown.
The officials recently penned a letter to Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) asking the content monitoring body to take action, following Eezzy’s hard-hitting message. Eezzy later met with officials from both UCC and the Ministry of Health after which both parties agreed that the Kyambogo singing student will record a remix with messages calling upon Ugandans to fight COVID-19. The move is a win for the Kyambogo University student and the country at large as the singer will walk away with money, while the citizens will easily get sensitized about avoiding COVID-19.
Esther Birungi (UCU)
Does she need any introductions?, well Esther Birungi is a student at Uganda Christian University (UCU) who has several times proven that you don’t need to be filthy rich to help the needy. Birungi, who is one of the top campusers running the Pearl’s twitter will remain in many people’s hearts following the back to back acts of kindness she does.
In 2020 around April, she founded ‘The Birungi Foundation’, a non-profit Organisation with the aim of advocating for the rights and welfare of the underprivileged women and children in society. Under her foundation, she managed to launch a campaign dubbed #PadThruCovid which saw several Ugandans come out to donate towards her cause of getting pads for young girls and women during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Birungi, who also doubles as the Director of Nurture the Girl Uganda, an organisation that seeks to nurture and inspire girls in rural areas stoop out last year and we are proud to include her among the top five influential campusers of 2020.
Oscar Kampala (Makerere)
Oscar Nyesiga aka Oscar Kampala, the founder of Oscar Kampala House of Suits is a fresher at Makerere University who has singlehandedly showed young fashionistas that it is possible to invade the industry at such a young age and become a big fish.
The down to earth fashion youngstar, who several students describe as the ‘easiest to work with’ joins our list of top five influential campusers following his hard work and zeal towards becoming one of the top celebrated fashion dawgs in the country.
Despite his humble personality, Oscar has continued to defy business odds by showing people that you can actually be humble and still run a successful multi million business. He inspired several young people to start up their own businesses in 2020 and he has actually grown his business despite the COVID-19 Pandemic. He has given the Ugandan suits industry a new face after he styled top fashion icons like Eddy kenzo, Jidenna, among others.
Word reaching us indicates that Oscar has expanded his business, forcing him to relocate to a new place. He is currently located at Universal House Luwum Street.
Christine Uwase Turamuhawe aka Kamalaika (MUBS)
Christine Uwase Turamuhawe aka Kamalaika is Makerere University Business School (MUBS) student who not only feeds on controversy but on creativity too. This little dove mastered the art of making easy money as it should be recalled that she secured UGX 1 million from a single gig.
Well, forget the gigs, Kamalaika runs her own business. This girl started as a cleaner who would solve people’s dirty habits in a flash and now everyone can’t get more creative but clone Kamalaika. Several young boys and girls have started up cleaning companies after the MUBS student showed them that they can actually get clients from twitter. If this isn’t being influential then we don’t know what to call it.