Motivation
February 2005
I think that it is very important for every student who wants to
broaden his horizon to study in a foreign country for a certain period
of time: Living in another country means to adapt one's whole way of
life to a different environment (maybe not the whole way of life, but
certainly a substantial part of it), i.e. learning to understand
the people living there, their views and their ways of life, learning
from another culture to involve these experiences in one's own
decisions and way of life later.
When living in another country, there are obvious changes like changes
in your accomodation, which language you speak, what things you eat and
what things you can buy... But there will also be some less
obvious changes, for example in the way you should behave. Some
behaviour patterns that are appropriate in your home country may be
uncommon or even offending in others. But just these are the
things that make a stay in another country a challenging,
interesting and lasting experience, which you can benefit from
for the rest of your life.
But some benefits can also be located on another level --- not only the
personal one: If it is possible to establish lasting contacts with
people in the other country and let them profit from your contacts and
experiences --- though that idea seems idealistic and a bit naive at
first --- it could actually be a certain contribution to international
understanding as well.
Besides that personal experience one can also learn about the history
and development of the country which completes the image of the variety
of persons and cultures.
Some of the points mentioned --- especially the last one --- are also
reasons why I enjoyed so much staying in other countries during
holidays. Together with my parents I visited many foreign countries
among them China) and I was always fascinated about the people, their
history and their culture.
Therefore, my plan to study abroad for a year existed long before I
heard of this exchange programme, I only was not sure where to go: I
didn't like the idea very much to go to the United States or Great
Britain, France, Spain etc. because in my view, these countries belong
to the same culture group but --- as I mentioned earlier --- the
different culture is the main reason for me to participate in an
exchange programme.
Then I heard of this exchange programme and realized that it absolutely
covers my wishes for a stay abroad: It is an English-speaking country
outside the European (or North-American) culture group, on a continent
I don't know yet. Beyond that, one can study physics at the
University of Nairobi and work on interesting projects.
The more I hear and learn about Kenya, the surer I become that staying
there for a year and getting to know the people there and their way of
life would be a great experience. Of course, I am aware of the
experiences the other exchange students had and that there will be
difficult situations I would have to face there. But I am
confident that I would be able to cope with these situations. My
confidence has also some roots in my personal experience: I have
already lived two years in another country with another culture
(Mexico) where I successfully managed such situations and can now say
that I benefited a lot from that experience.
Besides these experiences with other people, it would also be
interesting to see the political situation in Kenya as it is very
different from the one in Germany, as the country has a different
history, a different economical situation and therefore totally
different problems to face like corruption or the problem with AIDS.
Another interesting point is the nature in Kenya: I have never been to
Africa before and I would like to visit a national park and see some of
the nature and landscape of Kenya.
But it is not only the country and its people what I would like to get
to know. One important reason is the possibility to study physics
at the University of Nairobi --- which is considered as one of the best
throughout Africa. Not only to learn about physics but also to
see the differences of the university compared to German ones (for
example, how teaching and research is done with much less funds) and
attend courses not offered here. I would also like to contribute to one
of the projects I heard from at the information weekend. With my
participation in several competitions (Jugend forscht and ICYS) I have
already some experiences with working on mid-term (i.e. a few years
lasting) projects. Many of the projects presented at the weekend sound
interesting, espacially I could imagine to contribute to the
IBE-project to help to improve the situation a bit at universities in
Africa (although my interest is not limited to this project).
Though it would not always be easy I think I would benefit a lot from
participating in the exchange programme. But not only I would
benefit from my participation, I think that also the programme
would benefit from my participation as I could help in future
organization. More precisely, I could imagine to help to establish an
internet platform for an alumni--student exchange (see below) and to
help to establish a registered association in Germany which organises
the exchange.
On the problem of late reports
I know from my own experiences (as being in charge for the websites of
MHN) that it is always a certain problem to get an article on time. My
experiences also showed that a mere promise by the authors to pass it
in on time is not enough, even if it is meant honestly at the time it
is given. Therefore, another procedure which promises more success
should be considered.
Which procedure works best, is a difficult question and can't be
answered across-the-board, because each year different students take
part in the programme and therefore different ways might be appropriate
or necessary. So a longer-term answer can only be found by testing the
different possibilities.
For a start, I would suggest a double-sided strategy: appeal and
enforcement.
An appeal to the exchange students (asking them to write the report on
time) in which it is made clear for which purposes the report has to be
written: As representative material for the press and potential
partners, as feedback for the organisers, and --- last but not least
--- as a document to inform one's potential successors in order to make
it easier for them to estimate the everyday situation for the exchange
students in Nairobi enabling them to come to their decisions more
easily (or at least more founded).
On the other hand enforcement: I suggest that every exchange student
deposits a security in form of money (about 100$) that is paid back in
full if (and only if) the reports are written and passed in on time
(otherwise only a part of it is paid back).
Of course, it would be better if the second part of my suggestion
(enforcement) would not be necessary. That would probably be the case
if the exchange students were involved in a network where alumni help
them in answering questions and share their experiences with the
students in Nairobi to make it a bit easier for them in some
situations. Then I suppose, the students would feel to be bounded
in honour to fulfill their obligation and write the reports and pass
them in on time.
Jochen Ott,
February 2005