Atréju Tauschinsky

My first impressions of studying physics in Kenya

October 2005

Having been in Kenya for a little for than two months now it is time for me to briefly summarize my experiences here at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).

When I arrived at the international airport of Nairobi at the beginning of August, I was completely overwhelmed by the luxurious reception I got. Not only were the Dean of Science and his Associate already waiting for me to bring me to the university, when we arrived there they showed me to a nice little house on the university grounds in which I was going to live for the next ten months. This house, consisting of three bedrooms, a bathroom and a separate toilet, a well-equipped kitchen and spacious living room was already occupied by Jane, a girl from Scotland, and Renee from Germany who were at JKUAT for a few months on an IAESTE-program, so that the last of the bedrooms was left to me. By now they both have left for their respective home countries, but Renee's Kenyan IAESTE-partner is still staying with me, which not only gives me good company but also a chance to get to know a Kenyan student very well.

The university is set on a very beautiful campus, there are lots of trees and bushes all neatly trimmed and some sports grounds are available as well. Most of the university's buildings are in pretty good shape, though some of them could need a little renovation. The library is not very big, but sorted well and so far I found some books on any topic that interested me.

My lectures were supposed to start right the next week after my arrival - however, as seems to be usual in Kenya the first week of lectures was necessary for students to get used to being here again, and no lectures were held yet.

The university's administration gave me a lot of freedom in choosing the lectures I wanted to attend - I can choose freely from physics as well as math courses, and if I had inquired to attend anything else it would most certainly have been possible. More importantly - I could drop all the courses I did not want to attend, even if they are compulsory for the fourth-year students. The Dean of Science seems to be very eager to make this a working exchange and an interesting experience to both sides and helps me a lot. His Associate and the Chairman of Physics are also helpful whenever I have any problems.

The quality of the lectures differs widely, and one has to choose carefully in the beginning to find appropriate lectures, especially since many of the lectures that are part of the Kenyan curriculum in the fourth year are held in Germany in the second or third year. However, not all the courses listed on their webpage are offered, which was somewhat disppointing and does limit the choices one has. The style of lecturing in Kenya is very different from what I was used to in Germany - and in the beginning it is certainly a surprise to see how lectures are held here. In most lectures we are only 15 to 20 students giving a very personal atmosphere. However, some of the lectures seem to suffer the same shortcomings when it comes to being on time, or being prepared, as was reported from the University of Nairobi by former exchange students there. The quality of the lectures reaches from being good to rather bad, with some of them being held well, interesting and clearly organized while others are not really worth wasting time with.

I also noticed that physics here is widely understood almost as some kind of engineering science. This does show in some lectures, but much more fourth-year projects my fellow students are undertaking, which are mainly concerned with developing real-life appliances like AC/DC-converters, or security systems. Research clearly is not the focus here - not for the undergraduate courses anyway.

Life in Kenya is much different from life in Germany, and the biggest change I have to cope with is that here one has to be constantly aware of his safety. University grounds are considered pretty safe, but still there are reports of thievery from the houses - so I have to keep my windows shut whenever I am not in my room - and of course university grounds are only safe because of a big fence around them, and guarded gates. In town it is much worse. At night you move in constant fear of being robbed, houses of the middle and upper class are fenced-in compounds with guarded gates, and still have grills on all windows and doors. The expats I've met so far seem to be really frightened if the topic comes up and a lot of them do not go into town at all. I am missing the freedom to move around as I wish without worrying a lot. Still I am rather lucky - I just met someone working at UNHCR and he told me they were forbidden by their security personell to use matatus, walk the streets or even rent a house wherever they want to.

However, apart from these security issues Kenya is a beautiful country, with very friendly and open people and a beautiful landscape I did not expect here. My fellow students accepted me amongst their midst very quickly, and though we sometimes have vivid discussions about religion and politics, and often my opinion is very much different from theirs, this is one of the things an exchange like this is all about. They are really interested about anything going on in Germany, and are very well informed about German politics - they know much more about Germany than Germans usually know about Kenya. Already I got the chance to visit Mombasa on a field trip with the university, where we went to some Kenyan companies. But also this was very important to me to get to know my classmates more personally and outside class. I also did a very impressive safari in Masai Mara, went on a private trip to Mombasa, and got a chance to visit some places around Nairobi.

By now I just found someone teaching Kisuaheli, and I hope the lectures will start soon. This should give me deeper insight into local cultures and the chance to speak to some people better than I can do now.

Altogether so far my stay seems to be very worthwhile and even if there are many difficulties to meet in everyday life I am sure with the help of many friendly Kenyans I can overcome whatever difficulties there might be. I hope I will get to know some of the friends I made so far even better, and to learn a lot more about Kenyan culture, as well as helping Kenyans to get some impression of Germany.