Beadenkopf recalls trip to Africa

Published 11:36 am Thursday, November 15, 2012

Brenda Beadenkopf will speak at the Penn Friends Community Church Sunday about her exeperiences during a recent trip to Africa. (Leader photo/Provided)

Brenda Beadenkopf, former editor of the Cassopolis Vigilant, Edwardsburg Argus and Berrien County Record will be presenting a program about her trip to Africa Sunday at Penn Friends Community Church.

Following a potluck supper at 5 .m. at Penn Friends Community Church, 19107 Quaker St., Cassopolis, Beadenkopf will talk about the April trip she took the Sixth World Conference of Friends (Quakers) at Kabarak University in Kenya.

Beadenkopf, a member of the Penn Friends Church, will talk about the Kenyan culture, political programs and the complexity of the Kenyan people and their homeland. Hear tales of her stay with an urban family in Nairobi and a rural family in Kapsabet.

Learn about the concerns and struggles of Kenyan Quakers as they try to maintain peace and stability in a country surrounded by chaos.

Beadenkopf will have a power point presentation that will show the natural beauty of Kenya from its baboons and jungles to the Great Rift Valley and giraffes in the Nairobi National Park. On display will be Kenya artwork, jewelry, material and Travel Minutes from Kariobangi Friends Church in Nairobi.

Not only has Beadenkopf been an editor of several local weekly newspapers, she was also a reporter for Leader Publications. She is a board member of the Minority Coalition of Cass County and the Underground Railroad of Cass County.

A Quaker historian, she recently lectured at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Grand Rapids Friends (Quakers) on the topic “Quakers and the Underground Railroad in Southwest Michigan.”

Beadenkopf is additionally a member of the Niles NAACP and also a member of Concord Friends Meeting near Philadelphia. Beadenkopf is published in national magazines Friends Journal and Guideposts, including this year’s Guideposts One-Minute Daily Devotional for July 21.

She is also published in Highground, a national veteran’s magazine.