final project

RED YESTERDAY, YELLOW TOMORROW

‘Here comes the bride…here comes the bride…’ are the words of the beautiful song that is being played on this particular day- my wedding day. Dressed in a long flowing pure white dress walking down the aisle with a smile on my face to meet the man I would forever share my entire life with. It’s not long when the sound of my alarm clock wakes me up and I realize it was a dream. I jump out of bed as fast as I can and prepare myself for the day.

On my way to the campus, I slip off and my toe is hit by a hard stone on the road and I think to myself ‘Who put that stone in the middle of the road? Nkt, they just had to spoil my day.’ I take a minute to decide whether to continue with my journey or not. Finally, I convince myself that my faith will enable me to reach school.

students during small group on a Thursday

Being a Thursday, the usual is expected of all students of this Christian institution-attending small groups. These are small groups of seven to ten members (both students and lecturers) that are aimed at boosting one’s spiritual life. Interesting enough on this particular day, all my group members turn up for the session. Rodgers, our group leader opens for us with a word of prayer, “Today our topic is Faith and how we practice it.” ‘This is the best topic for the day,’ I say to myself and the contributions make it worth listening to.

And that brings me to the question, what is your faith as a student in a Christian institution and do you practice it? Faith can be defined as a particular religion or belief for example Christianity. Different people do have different practices which dictate their faith. I know by now as a student in this campus you definitely know that you are a Christian and you are expected to practice it to the fullest.

I remember early this year in January it was my birthday and my dad organized a party for me at home. I invited all my friends and relatives to come and celebrate together with me. We dined and had lots of fun. It was a time to unwind and enjoy ourselves irrespective.

As the day comes to a close, my favorite cousin calls me, “I am willing to take you out to a place of your choice with your friends just to dance and enjoy yourselves.”

“Yipeeeee cuz!” I jump in.

 He interjects and adds, “And by the way no alcohol.” I agree to my cousin’s suggestion and so we leave home headed to ‘The Suite’* a club in town. As it is with most public places we are searched, the blast of the music from inside makes me sing along. The disco lights reflecting red, green, blue and yellow makes it almost impossible to identify anyone.

My friends and I go straight to the dance floor and ‘jiachilia’ totally. A few minutes later, a gentle pat on my back makes my head turn and to my surprise it is a guy from school- Peter.*

“Hi Irene, wasup? Happy birthday by the way sorry I couldn’t attend your party. Anyway we  are seated at that table with my friends from campus you can come say hi later,” Peter* says smiling and walks back to their table. I quickly turn my eyes to where they are seated hoping to spot a friend. I am perplexed to see the table full of alcohol bottles and guess what? All the people surrounding the table are Christians who wrote a salvation testimony to join this particular campus. Yet now they are drinking and misbehaving in a club. Sad indeed.

This takes me back some months ago when I attended worship night on campus. The praise and worship session which is always my best part of the sermon and Peter is into the spirit, lifting his hands up and down on his knees worshiping and praying. My eyes can’t believe it is the same person I am seeing in the club dancing and drinking himself stupid. The saying goes ‘Pretenders are worse than murders.’ This is really true as a murderer will make you know of his intention but a pretender will always have something hidden and you might never know of his actions. We dance the night away until late and my cousin insists that it is time to go home and we leave the club.

What do you think about the faith of students on campus? This is the question I ask almost everyone I meet the following week on campus. ‘Personally my brother wrote the testimony for me because I had to be enrolled, some if not all students just came to campus to learn and not boost their spiritual level, I hate the way the school insist on chapel attendance’ are just some of the answers I received from  the students.

That particular day I meet June* who is a community development student and she gives me a story she encountered one day she was invited for a party at her friend’s place at a hostel in off campus. She explains her ordeal with a guy who tried to spike her drink in order to get a chance to rape her. For sure this is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“I believe that the faith of most students is shaky,” says Rose* a student at the University. She adds that most of the students do not practice their faith in their daily life. “I think the institution should look for ways of not forcing Christianity to people but to let people accept it willingly,” she adds.

Winnie Gatwiri (fourth year communication student)

“People should absorb religion not as a punishment but as a daily practice that guides them,” is what Winnie, a fourth year communication student advices anyone who wants to work on their faith. Peter finished school but my question is, is he still a pretender in the job market? What you practice is definitely what you become in the long run. A good example, Jesus mingled with the prostitutes, sinners and tax collectors but did not do what they did, he made wine but the people did not over drink to do stupid things. This is what we should emulate. After reading this article take a minute and ask yourself, are you like Peter? Are you a chameleon, yellow on a sunflower, red on a rose and green on grass? Having fun is not a sin but when overdone it becomes a sin.

*Not real name

Jiachilia- having maximum fun

Wasup- how are you.

Nkt- clicking angrily

Yipeeeee- shouting in excitement

Cuz- cousin

(1,121 words)