Robert Bierkandt

My first impressions of studying physics in Kenya

January 2006

Landing in a New World

I left Germany at a normal cool day in October, made a stop at an incredible hot place called Dubai and arrived some hours later in East Africa. Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, is placed at an altitude of 1500 metres and because of that it has an amazing climate, comparable to German summer days.

When I got off the airplane, I expected a year full of impressions. A year, which will provide insights, which I could not even imagine at this moment. I was the last of the Exchange-Team this year. Malte and Jochen arrived 3 weeks earlier. I was very happy when Malte came straight towards me at the airport, only to ask, if I want to go home by taxi or if I want to choose the more interesting way by bus. Of course, I took the second possibility and got in touch with the strange public services, which consists manly out of buses and matatus. The last one are small Mitsubishi vans, filled with up to 14 seats and are equipped mostly with fancy neon lights and very loud Reggae or Hip Hop sounds.

Because of the fact that Jochen and Malte experience many things before I came, I was in a special situation. Guided by them, I felt like in a big fairground. In only one day they showed more things then I could digest. The streets, the houses, everything seemed so much the same that it was not easy to get the view for the detail. For me, and I think for the most Western tourists the motion through the traffic jungle is the most different and sometimes shocking experience.

The streets are crowded by pedestrians, the sidewalks are mostly in a bad shape, when you don't watch you might fall in deep hole. When you are lucky, you find traffic lights, but no car will care about it. Probably a consequence of that is that you find roundabouts everywhere. Additionally, it is very noisy, the air is polluted and often you can smell burned waste. That is probably they reason, why all Kenyan guides look at Nairobi as a pass through station, where it is not worth to stay longer. And for most tourists, who visited Nairobi, the impressions were limited to the points, mentioned above. After some weeks now, I started to like this side of the town more and more. Between all the people you feel like swimming in a living town and you can try many interesting shops and restaurants. But when you leave the main traffic places, you can discover a complete different world.

My New Home

I was very surprised by the city centre, expecting a historical, colonial influenced centre. I found a place made up of many skyscrapers. I felt like in a small version of an American town. In opposite to many places in town everything is in very good condition. A twenty minutes walk from the city centre to the Northwest leads to Chiromo Campus. There is the student hall located, where we live.

A sweet little 8 square meter room will be my private territory for the next two semesters. One bed, one desk, one chair and a wardrobe. All what you need. A thin wooden wall is separating my room to my neighbour's. The wall is not reaching the ceiling, so we share every talk or radio session. In the beginning that was kind of difficult but now it is very normal to me. Everything is very simple in the student halls, but I am really happy to live here and enjoy the great atmosphere among the students. We three Berlin-Nairobi Exchange students are the only mzungos on campus. The Swahili expression for a white person. So we are attracting a lot of attention and it is easy to get in touch with all the students. For me is the stay among all the African students very important. In my opinion that is causing a complete different view on Nairobi than for example many United Nation workers have. They are living mostly in a different separated world. Also the location of our place is very great, all important places, like city centre, German embassy, Goethe institute and Alliance Francaise, are reachable by foot.

Physics in Kenya?

After two weeks, I really settled in this part of world, far away from Germany. At this moment, the first lectures started at university and I began to concentrate on my physic studies. In the beginning, it may be difficult to give a complete picture of the way of teaching, but I will give my first impression.

In Nairobi you have the possibility to meet many temporally working people, coming from Western countries and telling them to be a physics student in Nairobi causes always surprise. To go to Kenya for studying physics might be really unusual, but the teaching is not so bad at all. Actually it is hard to judge about the quality. Some aspects are better and some are not so good compared to a German university. I really appreciate the opening hours of the library. Until ten at night during the week and until five on Saturday. Especially the small classes and the very close contact to the Professors are amazing. I have the feeling that the professors are teaching very seriously and things run very smoothly. Only the health problems of one professor are avoiding a good, periodical teaching in the very important subject Quantum mechanics. Additionally, the Department of Physics is placed on an incredible green and nice campus. On the other hand, the amount of assignment is less than in Germany, which are very important for your calculating skills. Also there are no tutorials for our subjects and on average the physic student has with 19 hour of lessons per week less than in Germany. To sum it up, I have the possibility to improve my physic knowledge and I am glad to be here.

It is a Good Challenge

Nairobi met not all my expectations. The street traffic is more adventurous than I could imagine before and seeing the city centre, you do not feel to be in Africa. I also expected much more difference, related especially to food. You can see the Western influence everywhere and sometimes the similarity surprises you. For example, when you see young people with tuned up cars and you ask yourself how they can drive on those bad roads. On the other hand, the gap between rich and poor is more shocking, then I was expecting. You just have to cross some roads and you see a world, which is not human.

In general, here in Kenya is everything different, the way of living, the thinking or the teaching. I am glad that I can be here to discover that difference.

To study one year in Kenya is a very good challenge to broad your view on the world.