Big Girls in Ghetto Quarters

 

When a Queen steps out in her ball gown, tiara, and glass slippers, the most absurd thing to imagine is a place in her palace without glitters and dazzle. For the name and reputation, Queen Elizabeth II hall can qualify as a palace - acting as a beehive for beautiful ladies (at least, according to UI folklore). But this palace has many dirty corners and even dirtier housemates. Before you comment on the freshness of a Queenite, think about the living quarters she just stepped out from because you might just be complementing body lotions, scrubs, fine dresses, and fragrances.

Across all the blocks in the hall, the states of the toilets have been a reason for many discussions year in, year out. If the roofs are not leaking, a pipe has burst open, or the users have messed the place up. The bathrooms have become shuttle toilets. The stench that comes from the corners where toilets and bathrooms are situated can serve as an infectious agent - God help you if you just finished a meal. Even in finalists' blocks, the situation is only a little better. 

The corridors can stand alone as a case study. Several waste bins are placed in the corridors of the blocks but biscuit wrappers, plastic bottles, and takeaway packs still find their way to the floor. The housemates of our palace do not like neat corridors. 

Worthy of note is the state of the cafeteria. It is a miracle that a disease has not broken out in the hall. Queenites are susceptible to typhoid, cholera, and diarrhoea among others due to the poor condition of the cafeteria's cooking area. While this is no fault of Queenites, it shows that Queenites are not the sole problem of the dirty living conditions in the hall. Eating meals prepared in this environment is not appropriate and can lead to a breakout of food and water-borne diseases. 

It seems nobody is seeing the deplorable state of the key areas of the hall because no one is talking about it. The cafeteria should first be attended to - we should not pay money to get ill. It is easy to overlook this part of the hall but its effects are not cheap to handle. The least that is expected from a place that feeds over five hundred students is some form of cleanliness. 

The state of the bathrooms and toilets can also serve as an avenue for the spread of infections. We risk being registered serially at Jaja Clinic if we do not take these matters seriously and do the right things. It might be more stressful to be careful but the consequences of carelessness bear huge costs.

Dear Queenites, dispose of your trash properly, flush the toilets, free the gutters of your urine, and discard your sanitary items properly; these things are not that hard.