Jochen Ott

Motivation to study physics in Kenya

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 informarion weekend organised by the Berlin-Nairobi Exchange sound interesting, especially 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.