Tübingen
South Africa Program 2010
Report:
"The people I have met" by Chenai Mukumba
As I start my report I would
like to say 'Ich heiße Chenai' that was the very first sentence
I learnt here in Germany. It was only after a after a couple of
minutes of rigorous repetition and contorting of the mouth that
Eva, my German teacher, told me I was a natural. The importance
of that sentence however goes a lot more than just being my introductory
sentence to the German language because to be very honest with you,
in retrospect, after the past three weeks that I have been here,
the very first person I have met here in Germany is myself. It sounds
almost ludicrous to think that I came all the way to Tubingen and
met myself but the experiences I have been privileged to go through
and the people I have had the pleasure of meeting have allowed me
to take a deeper look into myself and see who I truly am. I cannot
write about everyone I have met so I have chosen to write about
four specific people I have met since being here in Tuebingen -
one physically, and the other three I have met in a lot less traditional
sense.
It seems only fitting to start with one of the most important
people I have met here in Germany - the mayor of Tuebingen, Boris
Palmer. In fact, to be completely honest with you, he probably ranks
as the most important person I have met in my life to date. He is
a very dignified gentleman yet very down-to-earth. It was an honour
to just be in the same room him let alone take a picture with him
- which he did with all twenty three of us! As he spoke I could
not help thinking about how young he was to have already achieved
what he had. But what I learnt from that meeting with him was that
when someone is passionate about something and motivated to do something
there is no telling where your path will take you. We all left that
meeting a little more inspired.
by Chenai Mukumba
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Thomas
Bilda / © Universität
Tübingen
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