Falko Ueckerdt

My first impressions as a physics exchange student in Nairobi 

December 2003


I have been in Kenya for two month now and what used to be new and exciting already changed into everyday life. Only after the initial enthusiasm has vanished, you are able to get to know a country properly.

Our accommodation: Chiromo Halls.
As soon as we arrived at the University of Nairobi at the second of October, we got to know Alex Ogacho and Robinson Musembi, our Kenyan counterparts, who in meantime have gone to Germany. Only because of their guidance, we were able to get our rooms in the so-called Chiromo Halls already on the first day. For this we had to visit a few offices asking for different letters and permissions which took us the whole day. Thereby we gained a first insight into the distinct Kenyan bureaucracy which we would be facing several times in the following months. Whoever calls Germany a bureaucratic country should pay a visit to Kenya.

Though our rooms at the hall of residence are quite small and the fittings are very basic, I have come to love mine in the meantime. It is so comfortable to walk on foot for only ten minutes to get to the lectures every morning. The campus itself is very nice. It contains spacious meadows where some goats and sheeps graze, weird-looking trees and huge playing fields for football, basketball, volleyball and rugby, where the university teams train almost every day. I am proud to be a part of the basketball team.

The beautiful campus of the University of Nairobi (top). The skyline of Nairobi (bottom).

Fortunately, the way through the campus leads straight downtown. So the campus seems to me like a kind of idyllic oasis in the middle of busy Nairobi or Nairobbery, as it is occasionally called due to some places, which are supposed to be quite dangerous even when it is still light. But usually, it only needs a healthy dose of common sense to avoid incidences. On the other hand, Nairobi looks like a western city with several cinemas showing the latest Hollywood-movies, with big luxury hotels, shopping malls, internet cafes, bars, restaurants, nightclubs and three public universities. The public transport consists of busses and these famous colourful mini-busses called matatus, which are always filled to burst.
Participants of the DAAD conference.
After only ten days in Nairobi, a matatu brought us to the Safari Park Hotel where we attended a DAAD conference on "Quality Assurance through Curriculum Design - A Case Study of Higher Education Management in East Africa". We gained an impression of what education at East African universities is like and which problems have to be faced. At this conference we had the unique opportunity of meeting the German ambassador Mr. Braun at his residence in Nairobi. Moreover we had the honour to be invited to an Alumni-meeting of DAAD, where we got to know former and present scholars and learned more about the history and the work of DAAD in East Africa. This evening petered out with a diner and dancing in a boisterous atmosphere.

I only had three weeks of lectures so far. The system is quite different from the one I am used to. Every student at the University of Nairobi has to choose five courses per semester. A course contains three hours of lectures a week. Unfortunately, tutorials had been given very rarely. Moreover, lecturers were late or did not even appear and you find yourself with 20 other students waiting in the lecture hall. A situation that almost never occurs in Germany.
On the left is the  building which houses the Department of Physics and I am on the right standing on the campus of the University of Nairobi.

The courses we took are rather theoretical so that the lack of experimental devices does not bother us much. The range of courses is quite sufficient and the university is willing to extend their courses on demand. For example it would have been possible to be given lectures in Elementary Particle Physics only for the three of us if that worrying strike had not arisen. Unfortunately, the lecturers have been on strike for higher salaries for two month so far, but an end is in sight now. As you might imagine there are no lectures in the meantime. But we are still allowed to stay in the halls of residence, although all the other students had to leave.
My solar cooker: The sun of Nairobi bakes the best cakes.
The Kenyan students seem to me very engaged and interested in their studies. Moreover they are friendly and open-minded. It is not too difficult to make friends. Many Kenyan students are interested in spending a year in Germany. Therefore it was pretty easy to find someone from whom I could learn some Kiswahili in exchange for teaching German. Although I only learned a few sentences so far, the Kenyans are always delighted if they hear you speak Kiswahili. They are especially amused, if you use a word of Sheng, which is more popular with the youth. This is kind of a mixture out of English, Kiswahili and other words.
I am almost always treated in a kind way and I did not notice any sign of racism. People get rather interested when they see a white student or "mzungu", as white people are called here in Kenya. One always gets attention and some people can even become very pushy. The only kind of discrimination I have to cope with is what an economist would call price-discrimination. What happens is that I am occasionally charged higher prices than Kenyans. You can avoid that by finding out the real prices and refuse to pay more.

These days, while the strike is still on, I occupy myself with testing a solar cooker, which I got from Mr. Hasler, a German engineer. It is also still possible to borough books from the library, which provides very useful ones. Thus, I am able to devot some time to self studies. Moreover, I am keen to become an intern at the UNESCO office in Nairobi. I am particulary interested in science policy and I hope to be allowed to develop my own project. This is why I am far from wasting time these days. Due to the strike, we are also lucky to have some time left to explore this wonderful country. For example, we have recently been on Mount Kenya, Africa's second-highest mountain which was a fantastic but very challenging experience.
We were climbing Mount Kenya. Mario is pitching up a tent.

Coming to an end, I would like to express my strong gratitude to Dr. Anthony Owinoh and especially to Dr. Jürgen Theiss for their boundless guidance and support, which was not only very motivating but in particular also instructive.
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Falko Ueckerdt, December 2003
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