BY KEITH LACEY
For a woman who just recently turned 30, Mary Katherine Keown has accomplished more than most her age and she looks forward to another huge adventure in her life when she leaves in early February for Arusha, Tanzania.
She’s been hired to work as a communications adviser for the international AIDS agency called the Eastern African Network of National AIDS Service Organizations.
“I’m going for selfish reasons because it’s overseas and I’ve always loved to travel, but I could do that working for an oil company or something,” she said. “I’m taking this particular job because I have a history working for AIDS organizations and I want to try and make a difference.”
Keown is a graduate of Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School. She obtained a degree from Laurentian University in biomedical biology, before enrolling and graduating from Humber College’s international project management course.
Last year Keown graduated with a journalism diploma from Cambrian College.
She’s worked numerous jobs in between post-secondary studies, including as an outreach worker with Access AIDS in Sudbury.
She’s backpacked across Europe for two months, lived and worked in Egypt for seven months for a women’s rights organization and worked as an editor for a Buddhist magazine.
She also worked as a volunteer and then part-time employee at the Sudbury Arts Council.
Her biggest passion in life is photography and she looks forward to taking photos during her upcoming assignment in Tanzania.
“It will be a photographer’s paradise and I’ll be stationed one hour from Mount Kilimanjaro at the base of Mount Meru,” she said. “My passion for photography was my biggest inspiration to take a journalism course and a big reason I’ve tried to do as much travelling as I have...”
Keown says she’s enjoys experiencing different cultures and countries.
“I just look at it as building a strong foundation for what I want to do with my life,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of work with people with AIDS and AIDS organizations and studied journalism, so I’ll be able to use a lot of the skills I’ve acquired in a positive way.”
Keown says she’s been counting down the days, waiting to jump on a plane for Africa. She got hired in the early summer and has been waiting patiently to complete paperwork and take all vaccinations needed to travel to and work in Africa.
“Things have all finally come together and I expect to get the call to fly out in the next couple of weeks,” she said.
Her contract is for one year and she’s committed to completing it, and then will consider all her options once the contract is set to expire, she said.
There is so much more western countries could be doing to help Africa’s AIDS victims, but Keown doesn’t blame the Canadian or American government for inaction.
“I honestly don’t think it’s indifference,” she said. “It’s lack of education and lack of awareness. “AIDS is a disease and it doesn’t have the impact of war or violence or a suicide bombing.
“But the fact remains the problem is overwhelming and many millions continue to die and there have to be people out there who are willing to try and help.”
For most people, places like Tanzania “are nothing more than a dot on the map” and it’s hard to get the message across of just how many lives are being lost due to AIDS, she said.
