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Testimonial of my experiences in my masters. Charity Mumbi Mwangi

How it began
I began my masters of Science in Sustainable Urban Development in September 2019 at the University of Nairobi, department of Geography, population and environmental studies. I was a beneficiary of the Gandhi Smarak Nithi Fund scholarship, and this
eased my financial burden and allowed me to focus better on my masters, for professional growth and enhanced skills development.
Was my journey smooth? Not at all.

First, when I began my evening physical classes at the university, I was quite excited that I’d get an ‘additional’ degree, increased skills, scientific grasp of urban sustainability and by default- upward mobility! No one had prepared me for the level of commitment
that comes with being a student and employee in a fast-paced company. Luckily, I am a very resilient, consistent and adaptable person, who sees things to the end. What seemed like a challenge became a key opportunity for me, as I was able to link my day
to day professional activities with my coursework, and the interconnectivity allowed me to look forward to my evening classes, where I could get more insights from my tutors based on my work experiences. This genuinely added real time value to my professional work.

Fast forward- COVID 19! What was this monster that paralyzed the University education system for close to a year? In January 2020, our lecturers would mention that there was a new disease in China called COVID 19, and would express their fears of the disease
spreading to the developing countries. One lecturer explicitly said “If COVID 19 gets to Africa and Kenya, we will die like rats. May God help us all”. Well, the disease did ‘get’ to Kenya on March 13 th 2020. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. No one
had the expertise to deal with COVID 19. As all the middle-income groups were rushing to the nearest shopping centres to purchase tissue papers and sanitizers at scale, the University was left with the burden of defining the next course of action for its students.
As the Ministry of health was issuing the COVID 19 guidelines, which included reduced physical gatherings, 6p.m- 6a.m curfews among others, the University had to ‘shut down’ physical classes, to be amenable with the ministry. The worst part is that there
was no clear indication of when the physical classes would resume. Everyone, myself included, was optimistic that COVID 19 was just a terrible temporary wave of respiratory infections, which would clear as fast as possible, and ‘business as usual’ would resume.
Nature had other plans. As such, we sat for our semester 2 exams online in May 2020. This was then followed by 4 months of no studying, as the university was restructuring to fully move to the online teaching. Coursework for Semester 3 began in October 2020,
and was completed in January 2021, after which I sat for my exams using the online platform.

Let’s get to the thesis. I developed my draft concept note and shared it with the course coordinator in February 2021. That was intense. I had to develop the concept note in 10 days’ time, as that was the indicated time by the University. Problem is, I am a person
inundated with incredible innovative ideas. Imagine trying to fit all those ideas in one concept note, do a bit of researching to develop literature review in a span of 10 days?

Would my concept note make sense and would my readers understand my flow of thought? Great for me, the concept note was accepted, and I was allocated 2 astounding supervisors to work with: Professor John Muthama and Professor Alice Odingo.

Communication with supervisors: My thesis writing taught me that (my) supervisors are amazing, readily available and a pool of wisdom, all I have to do in return is to keep the communication channels open, ask when I am in doubt, share my ‘absurd’ ideas, and
be open to change of thought. Why say this now? When I completed my concept note in February 2021 and was allocated supervisors, I expected them to reach out, as I had assumed that they had received my concept note from the course coordinator. I did not
reach out for a long time. I shelved the concept note to the extent that I was afraid that I would lose touch with what I wanted to accomplish with my thesis. In February 2022, one year later, I emailed my supervisors, informing them that I was their ‘student’, to
which I received very positive feedback. I shared my concept note with them, and they both gave me very constructive feedback, including on restructuring my objectives, which technically meant going back to the drawing board. By July 2022, I had
developed a full proposal, awaiting departmental proposal defence. I defensed my proposal in August 2022, and my readers gave me comments and area to improve on. I was elated that I was making progress, but scared that I would not make it to the
graduation list in 2022. After integrating my readers comments, I developed field questionnaires, collected data, and began analysis. Let me put it this way: analysis of field data gives me a hyper excitement. I overdid this. It was clear from my supervisors’
comments. The level of detail in the analysis was admirable. As an urban and regional planner by background, I had began developing actual plans as my recommendations.

Professor Muthama was instrumental in guiding me on how to move from detailed plans to policy and practice level recommendations. I completed my thesis in April 2023, and defended it in May 2023. This was followed by corrections and further research as guided by my readers. And on the big day- September 22, 2023- I became a graduate in MSC (Sustainable Urban Development). It is critical to mention that my entire thesis was very iterated, inspired by my supervisor’s guidance and my individual research.
This was a genuine co- production process between me and my remarkable supervisors, which allows me to share this incredible experience. For instance, my concept note was themed:
 Analyzing electricity insecurity and affordability: a case of Mukuru kwa Reuben informal settlement My final approved thesis has evolved considerably, and was themed: 

Assessing electricity security in relation to electricity supply dynamics in Mukuru kwa Reuben informal settlement, Nairobi, Kenya.
This experience of a powerful support system (my supervisors, my workplace, mentors, spouse, parents and siblings) has motivated me to aim to reach the highest horizons, as a willing mind is limitless.