Brady speaks about Kenya at international luncheon

By Julie Trac
News Editor

Heather Brady, assistant professor of modern foreign languages, presented an International Luncheon titled, “Writers, Activists and Nuns: Grassroots Lessons About Kenya,” Wednesday, April 5 in the Highlander Room, located in Stockdale Center.

Because of a grant from the Global Partners Project, Brady was able to embark on this trip of a lifetime.

She visited Kenya over MC’s winter break where she traveled from the capital city of Nairobi to the Lake Victoria region.

Kenya is a diverse nation surrounded by Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Tanzania with a population of more than 34 million. There are more than nine ethnic groups, including the Kikuyu, Luhya, Luo and Meru.

Brady’s talk focused mainly on the Luo community, since she stayed in this community and interacted with its members during her visit.

The main reason for the trip was to compile African short stories for an anthology she is working on with faculty at the University of Illinois-Chicago and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Brady wanted to meet with writers to look at their works and find the best ones which she could put into the anthology.

In addition, Brady wanted something “concrete and practical” to do while in Kenya, so she contacted the Global Alliance for Africa, a non-governmental organization, located in Chicago, Ill., to assist in any way possible.

According to www.globalchicago.org, the Alliance exists to “identify Chicago’s global assets and its economic, social, intellectual and cultural links to the rest of the world, facilitating communication and collaboration among internationally-minded groups and helping Chicagoans understand the challenges and opportunities of globalization.”

After arriving in Kenya several days before the New Year, Brady stayed at the Methodist Guest House, located in the Lavington neighborhood where she saw shambas, which are roadside gardens, and experienced an inexpensive ride in a matatu, which means “taxi” in Swahili.

Brady, a self-described “coffee fanatic,” discovered interesting facts about coffee, tea and flowers while in Kenya.

Young children often work on coffee and tea plantations to pick the beans and leaves and Kenya produces a large volume of flowers, which supplies the world’s demand.

While in Kenya, Brady went on a safari, saw Mount Kenya, hiked Mount Homa, located across from Homa Bay in Lake Victoria, and participated in a story-telling on Ghost Hill.

Brady will return to Africa next spring when she will help direct the Associated Colleges of the Midwest’s (ACM) Tanzania study abroad program.