Jakob Emmel

First impressions of studying physics in Kenya

January 2007

I am now in Kenya for 3.5 months. I'm having the experiences I wanted to have: getting to know a very different culture, another way of living, great people, opinions from the other side of the world, etc.. Of course, not everything is nice, but to some things I got used to and other things reminded me that my live in Germany is really nice and most problems there aren't that big! Now I know better what is important for me.

I wrote my original "first impressions" report half a month ago. I wasn't in a good mood at that time, but nevertheless everything I wrote was the truth. Everybody I showed my report told me that it's very negative, but I felt that way! Earlier in Germany, I read all the reports written by former exchange students and my impression was that everything had been perfect! Now in Kenya, I think that these reports weren't a good preparation for my life here because I didn't read a lot about very disappointing situations. That's the reason for showing you my original "first impressions" report:

I'm now in Kenya for 3 months. Because of some organisational problems caused by Moi University, where I originally wanted to go, the Berlin-Nairobi-Exchange achieved to obtain a place for me at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). Because of this change, I came in the middle of September, although the semester at JKUAT started 3 weeks earlier. In Germany I had informed myself about the courses in Kenya and assumed that at JKUAT are similar courses as at the University of Nairobi and Moi University, like a lecture about solarcells or geophysics, but unfortunately there weren't any. On my first day I got a list of courses for undergraduate (4th year) and graduate (1st year) and I chose "physics of the enviroment and energy" (4th), "statistical mechanics" and "electrodynamics" (both 1st) and the course "group theory" for mathematical graduates. Jonathan Jacobson, the other Berlin-Nairobi Exchange student here had organised that we were allowed to attend this last course.

In my first week I also attended "atomic physics" (4th), but the lecturer was that slow that after 10 hours he still spoke about the "Bohr's atomic model". This was my last time.

The other courses were a little bit more interesting, but they weren't good either. Most of the lecturers are afraid to ruin their suits so they use the blackboard very rarely but dictate very long texts. Also the level of all my courses is very low. In the first 4 weeks with these disappointing experiences in my studies, I appreciated the long weekends, which we used for nice trips to the Masai-Mara, Kisumu/Kakamega Forest (the last equatorial rain forest in Kenya), Lake Magadi (the worlds second greatest source of soda) and Mombasa. My company were Jonathan and some other Germans living in our house on the JKUAT campus and doing internships. By the way, we are living in a nice bungalow in the staff quarters.

But my first week I spend in one of the students halls with Jonathan and one other guy in one room. In our hall it was very noisy until late in the night and the noise started again very early in the morning. For me it was hard to sleep there, but it let grow my respect for the Kenyan students living there for years! Still I had a great time with the German guys and some Kenyan friends. We were like a great family and when one left, we always had a nice farewell party.

After the fourth week the lecturers wanted a pay raise and began to strike. I spent most of the 6-week lasting strike in Mombasa and Lamu, where I met a film crew from Germany and got a job as an extra in the film "Afrika, mon amour" starring Iris Berben. The triology will be broadcasted on 8th, 10th and 14th of January on ZDF. For another week I lived with a Kenyan friend on a very lonesome island (Kiwayu) among 400 only Kisuaheli speaking inhabitants. It was a great experience and it improved my Kisuaheli skills.

When I came back to Nairobi, I found my laptop and 450 Euro stolen out of my room. During our absence some janitors had been in our house to fix a water problem. I assume that one of them took the opportunity to unlock my room and steel my stuff. The police is still investigating, but I have no hope anymore to get my laptop with all my photos back!

After 6 weeks the lectures came back to university, although their salaries weren't raised. In the first week the lecturers were still unmotivated. The usual lecture was that way: "Hello, where did we stop before the strike? Oh there, all right, there we are going to continue next week. Bye!" It was like a 7th week of strike!

Another disappointing situation: Most of the former exchange students had the opportunity to build solarcells on their own. In Germany, I was keen to do this, but now the machine to grow silicium crystals is broken, so I can't do so!

Nevertheless, I'm glad to be in Kenya to make all these experiences. And now you know what's academically going on at JKUAT. In my opinion, I am too far with my studies in Germany to study here. But students from Germany who finished their 2nd or 3rd semester could learn new things in these courses.

One month ago I just wanted to leave Kenya directly after the second semester. I had travelled a lot and there wasn't anything what teased me to stay here for some more months. But then I reminded me of the reason I had come to Kenya: I had wanted to learn about and work with solarcells. At the moment, I am looking for an NGO in East Africa spezialised in solarcells. I would like to extend my stay in Africa, because now I have a taste how nice it can be.