No. 112/2021

Illustration: Humboldt Foundation/Martin Rümmele My story begins four years ago. Three things happened in my life all at once: I was offered a new job at my university in Kenya, I was granted a fellowship by the Humboldt Foun- dation and I discovered I was pregnant. What to do? I talked to the Foundation and decided to accept the job and have my baby first and then take up the fellowship with the baby at a later stage. In 2017, I gave birth to twins. Sadly, the lit- tle girl died after a month in intensive care. But I wanted to stick with my plan. “Are you mad? You’ve just lost a baby and you want to go to Germany?” was the reaction of those around me. But I knew that the fellowship was a once- in-a-lifetime chance. In Kenya, although I was teaching at a university, I had no opportunity to do any research of my own. What I had let myself in for dawned on me when I got stranded at Frankfurt Airport late at night. Me, all on my own, with a fifteen- month-old infant strapped to my back. The flight was six hours late, the last train to Han- nover had long since left. I didn’t know where to spend the night. My baby son was crying from exhaustion. I would so much like to be able to thank the kind man once again who spoke to me, listened to me, helped me find a hotel and put me in a taxi. Less than 48 hours later, I embarked on my fellowship in Hannover. The university nurs- MS OMBAKA, WHAT’S IT LIKE BEING A SINGLE PARENT AND A RESEARCHER? ery promised to call me immediately if my son started crying. I spent the whole day staring at my mobile. It got later and later. No one called. I finally picked up a visibly contented child who had enjoyed the day watching the funny white faces. Getting a place at kindergarten was rather more of a challenge, but we managed in the end. When you are a single parent you don’t have much time for work. I have taught myself to work very efficiently when my son is being cared for by others. Of course, my male col- leagues have a much easier time of it. They con- centrate on their research while their wives look after their children. It would have been easier for me in Kenya, too, because my fam- ily would have helped us. But it was definitely the right decision to go to Germany. My son speaks fluent German and is the happiest little boy imaginable. And I have learnt so, so much. That will be to my benefit, I’m absolutely sure. Text MAREIKE ILSEMANN The Kenyan, DR LUCY OMBAKA, is a chemist at Technical University of Kenya in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2016, she was granted a Georg For- ster Research Fellow- ship, which she took up at the Institute of Tech- nical Chemistry at Leib- niz University Hannover in 2018. 11 HUMBOLDT KOSMOS 112/2021