Wairimu Mwangi

I did not leave Kenya to find peace. I left Kenya for Germany to study peace and conflict studies after years of working in the peacebuilding space and wanting to understand the work more deeply.

My name is Wairimu Mwangi, and I came to Germany this year as a DAAD Helmut Schmidt Scholar to pursue a master’s degree in peace and conflict studies at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg. Over the past six years, my work with the Global Peace Foundation and Global Peace Women, alongside my wider experience in community development, education, youth and women’s initiatives, advocacy, and community work, has shaped both my understanding of peacebuilding and my decision to return to school.

That experience gave me practical knowledge, but it also left me with questions. Why do some disagreements become lasting conflicts while others are resolved? What helps people rebuild trust after division? How can young people, families, faith leaders, and community leaders contribute to peaceful communities? And how can peacebuilding efforts continue after a particular project or organization has moved on?

I reached a point where experience alone was no longer enough for the questions I was carrying. I wanted stronger analytical and research skills, a deeper understanding of conflict, and practical tools for dialogue, negotiation, and mediation. That decision eventually led me to Germany.

Wairimu Mwangi

Studying in Germany has given those questions a new setting. I am learning alongside people from different countries, cultures, and experiences. A classroom discussion can introduce a perspective shaped by a completely different history, challenge an assumption I have carried for years, or make me reconsider an issue I thought I already understood.

I am also learning to connect academic ideas with the realities I have encountered through my work. I want to understand conflicts more carefully, ask better questions, research responsibly, and develop approaches that respond to what communities actually experience. I want to become better at designing and assessing programs, learning from what works and what does not, and supporting communities to take an active role in addressing the challenges they face.

For me, this makes peace and conflict studies relevant far beyond the university. Questions about conflict and cooperation arise in families, schools, workplaces, communities, and leadership. They appear whenever people have different interests, expectations, identities, or ways of seeing the world. Learning how to understand those differences and respond to them constructively is useful in everyday life.

Leaving Kenya to pursue this opportunity was still a significant decision. Kenya is home. It is where I built my career, my relationships, and much of my understanding of community and social change. I also made this decision as a mother and a wife, so the journey has never been only about me. Family remains part of every decision, even across borders.

Then there is the experience of starting again in Germany. I am learning the German language, adjusting to a different culture, and finding my way through systems that were unfamiliar to me. Some days are easier than others, but each new word, conversation, and experience adds another layer to the journey.

This blog will document that journey from Kenya to Germany and beyond. I will share what I am learning from my studies, my experiences in Germany, and conversations with people from different countries and backgrounds. I will also explore practical questions about peacebuilding and peace advocacy that people encounter in their families, schools, workplaces, communities, countries, and across continents.

I want someone who has never sat in a peace and conflict studies classroom to be able to come here, understand the ideas being discussed, and see how they connect to everyday life. Whether you are a student, parent, teacher, community leader, young person, professional, or simply someone trying to understand why conflicts happen and what we can do about them, I hope you will find something useful here.

Wairimu Mwangi

I left Kenya with experience behind me. I came to Germany to deepen it, challenge it, and turn what I learn into something useful for the communities I hope to serve.