SCENE SPOTLIGHT

Political science professor Leslie Gray has been working steadily over the years in African communities. She has conducted research in Burkina Faso and West Africa, studying population growth effects, soil quality and deforestation in these areas in which the human population is growing at an exponential rate. à

Within this area of research, Leslie Gray, focuses on how the poorest of the poor deal with environmental scarcity and degradation.

ààààGray is also working on another project in the African society. She and her husband Michael Kevane, a professor in the economics department, have started a non-governmental organization "Friends of Africa Village Libraries." Gray saw the need for this organization when she was living in an African village and realized that the people there had no reading material. à

Burkina Faso has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. àEven children in school do not have access to reading material. Gray, who believes that "education is the most important path to development," saw this as an opportunity to give back to the people and the community which had given her so much.

Gray and Kevane have opened three libraries in Burkina Faso and one in Ghana. She notes that the libraries are very much in use. à

ààààDuring her years as an undergraduate at Georgetown University, Gray studied Arabic.àShe displayed a growing interest in cultures and places very different from those to which she was accustomed.

ààààSoon after graduating from Georgetown, Gray started living in Sudan and working with CARE (an organization devoted to fighting poverty).àShe later moved to Burkina Faso to continue her research.

àGray lived in Africa for about four years.àShe lived in Egypt for seven months, Sudan for two and a half years, and Burkina Faso for over one year.àShe is planning on returning in the winter with her children.àDuring this time, she will continue her research and her work on "Friends of Africa Village Libraries."

Gray hopes that her work in Africa will teach her children about life.à"The things they are given are a real gift, not something everyone has.àI hope they realize how much they can give back to the world," said Gray.

ààààGray concludes that her experience in Africa has been a wonderful one, "living in Africa has been one of the most joyful experiences in my life." à

-Written by Tara Kathleen King