Janina von Groote

Motivation to study physics in Kenya

February 2007

My name is Janina von Groote. I was born in 1985 in Rosenheim. My family lives in Bruckmühl which is a small village about 50 km southeast of Munich. It appears that I was borne into a physics minded family: my father holds a PhD in physics, my older sister is studying physics at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland and I am studying physics in the 5th semester in Regensburg. This year, I passed the Vordiplom examination with an average of 1.8.

Ever since my family sponsored a girl living in Kenya, I became interested in the Sub-Sahara region. When I read about the Berlin-Nairobi Exchange my mind was set on my participation. I collected books and fictions concerning Kenya, and my curiosity is still growing. Kenya is a fascinating country and I believe the people there are more open-minded than e.g. Germans when welcoming foreigners. This will definitely ease my way to learn about and to live in a cultural environment which I expect to be quite different from my home country, especially outside the academic community. This is a challenge I am looking forward to. I want to learn and understand what people think, what their cultural and political ideas are, and I want to relay some of the German background. This way I hope to increase the mutual understanding and tolerance between the cultures.

A major reason to apply for the Berlin-Nairobi Exchange program is the fact that two of the projects directly deal with renewable energy and the other two are closely related to it. Electricity based on renewable energy such as sunshine, wind and biomass is an essential means to overcome hunger and poverty and to provide more independence from import of expensive fossil fuel. So far I have no academic background in renewable energies since this topic is not offered at the University of Regensburg. Therefore I am convinced that the academic year at Nairobi will be very beneficial for my further studies and career in Germany. Renewable energies are also central to the prosperity of industrialized nations, like Germany, and to the fight to reduce climatic change. I believe we can learn from Africa things to be considered in developing them.

I understand the way of teaching and learning is quite different at universities in Kenya compared to Germany. But this is a challenge I will gladly take since it is an opportunity to broaden my academic experience. There are many ways to achieve success in learning and doing it in different ways will certainly help to find the best suitable way for myself.

I would be grateful if you would take my application to announcement. I would be proud to be one of the Berlin-Nairobi Exchange students and I know that I would happily make the very best of this unique opportunity to study at JKUAT.