Mechanical Engineering

Assignment Report of Dr. Michael Kummer
Specialist for Robotics und Thermodynamics in Emerging Technologies
Polytechnic of Namibia, Windhoek
February 14 – June 30, 2011

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Together with my partner, Janine Rother, I was given the opportunity to teach at the Polytechnic of Namibia (PoN) as part of a volunteer commitment under the auspices of B360 education partnerships during the first semester of 2011.

To start with, the idea was to introduce a new course at the Mechanical Engineering Department. But due to lack of lecturers, Janine and I were asked to teach five additional subjects just two weeks before we left Switzerland. Our misgivings regarding the short preparation period were settled when we were told that course materials for these lessons was existing. We were ready to go on an exciting adventure in Southern Africa.

After a warm welcome on Saturday and a leisurely Sunday we learned on Monday that the meaning of organization, planning and ‘existing course materials’ was not the same in Namibia as it was at home.

Generating course materials kept us busy during the first few weeks, and as we weren’t the most experienced teachers, we had to reconcile our ambitious planning of the lectures with the mass of the subject matter. In addition to that, the timetable was only tentative - all in all it was a very challenging situation for us.

In all the commotion we almost forgot that we were in an African country where life is very different from what we were used to. But we quickly realized that the differences are not only legitimate, but actually positive. The friendliness and helpfulness of colleagues and supervisors helped us a lot to become more efficient. And the more independent we became, the easier it was to focus on the essentials. The essentials in this case were the students at the PoN. They are very motivated and keen on learning. Their thankfulness touched me a lot because it seemed very authentic. I rarely met a random group of people that showed so much social intelligence.

Even if there was a lack of basic mathematical skills, the students were not afraid to ask the right questions. The open environment, which I created, seemed to affirm them and the fact that I was a young instructor, turned out to be an advantage and seemed to be an additional motivation. Despite the serious atmosphere in my lessons there was room for humor and playful comments at the right time.

I wouldn’t want to miss my assignment in Namibia for anything in the world and may say that this experience taught me a lot about myself. I am grateful that I was allowed to develop my skills and collect wonderful experiences in a country that still has a long way to go with an enormous potential.

Windhoek, June 29, 2011