Afrika Kommt! participants come back to Africa

Lucy Mutinda, Lorna Ndei, Juddy Akinyi and Mercy Migwi are four Kenyan professionals who were selected to participate in the Afrika Kommt! Program. They learned German as well as received practical and theoretical training at four different leading German companies over the course of a year. 

They have since returned to their homes in Kenya and sat for an interview with the GIC.  Here they share their observations, experiences, insight and future plans.

Welcome to Germany!
Lucy Mutinda thoroughly enjoyed her stay in “Deutschland”. What she found most appealing when she first stepped onto German soil was the cleanliness of the country: “The streets, fields – everywhere, it was sparkling clean.”

Mutinda also noticed the well-organized transport, political and social systems, “I could feel the presence of a government, the systems are working. There is responsibility and some good sense of leadership. There are public amenities and structures among many other things.”

Apart from making new friends, she travelled to other Schengen visa countries. She says she felt welcome and safe.

The only hindrance was the cold weather and maintaining her Kenyan hair, which she found expensive!

Professionalism worth modelling

Mutinda spent a nine-month stint with Continental, a multinational car components manufacturer based in Hannover. Back in Kenya, she feels she will be an inspiration with the experience she received in Germany.
“We need to change the business culture in Kenya, use accurate planning, meet goals with precision, become punctual and improve communication. I will be in a better position to convince people on these matters because I have first-hand experience from Germany,” she concludes.

Enlarge image Participants of the Afrika Kommt! programme in Germany (© Judie Kaberia) Lorna Ndei, Juddy Akinyi and Mercy Migwi are other beneficiaries of the program. They too took back strong impressions from their observations of the work ethic in German firms.

Ndei, a marketer, had her training in Cologne at Deutsche Telekom, a multinational communications company.  She admired the high standards of professionalism she witnessed in Germans and the healthy balance they maintained between work and family.

“I was on the T-mobile side, which is in charge of 11 countries. Those people, when they are at work, they work! When it is time to go home, you go home- not using all your time working and neglecting your family. At work they look at things globally, people don’t work just for self gain. It is a wide perspective,” she explains.

She admired the team spirit and “etiquette” at the company. “I was a trainee, but they treated me like a senior professional, they listened to my ideas and we worked on par with one another.”

Mercy Migwi noted a cultural difference in relation to time. “Germans have a lot of respect for time! If a meeting is at 10 it will start at 10,  not 10.05. Even the trains and buses...[They] will be there on time. This was amazing, this is what has made Germany a world class economy, it's an unspeakable degree of organisation and perfection,’’ she asserts.

How co-workers treat each other was also of interest. “In the office, colleagues use ‘Sie’ (the formal “you”) as well as the titles Mr or Ms, it is a sign of professionalism and respect.  That is why they are efficient- work is not family, nor is it friendship. It is about delivering.  And that is exactly how Germans are,’’ she concludes.

The allure of “Deutsch”
Aside from the wonders of the country and its physical trappings, the language itself had a wondrous appeal. ‘Allerdings’ is Lorna Ndei's favourite German word. “I liked it... it sounds nice! The lassen family, the words ending with lassen e.g. verlassen, entlassen are great too.”

‘Entschuldigung’ (excuse me) was another winner. With a lot of excitement she says, “I had to use it everyday, even after coming back I still say to Kenyans “entschuldigung”! I also learnt some manners. If someone says thank you, one  should respond with “bitte” (you're welcome). Enlarge image Afrika Kommt! participants Mercy Migwi, Juddy Akinyi and Lorna Ndei back in Kenya (© Judie Kaberia)

She realised Germans are respectful in their language, “they say ‘es tut mir Leid’ (I am sorry) for very small mistakes.”

For Migwi, a network engineer who was attached to Robert Bosch House in Stuttgart, her favourite word was ‘du’. “Because if a German refers to you as du (the informal “you”), it is a word of friendship. ’Egal’ (it doesn’t matter), in English it is too long, but in German it is very short.

She admits that she did learn all the bad ones. “I can’t say them aloud, let me focus on the good words. But if someone offends me, I will use them,“ she says laughing.

Fears of racism dispelled
Before her visit, Migwi had fears of racism. But during her stay, she discovered Germans are not racists after all.  “I went there scared, but to my surprise Germans are welcoming. There was not a single day that I was mistreated. I experienced the opposite of what I had expected. I was explained - and in a friendly way, that the stereotype of racism in Germany has to change. They accommodate all nationalities.’’

Migwi describes her trip to Germany as the best experience of her young life.  “Germany was the perfect place for me. I loved it.”