Kathy Watson to give presentation on her experiences in Africa

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Dr. Kathy Watson, who is back for the time being from her year-long mission in Kenya, plans to give a presentation on her experiences in the strife-torn African nation.

"I am going to talk about my experiences I've had, some of the violence I've experienced there," Watson said.

She left Eldorado Oct. 30 to start an orphanage in Kenya, which is plagued by the African AIDS epidemic and ethnic strife. Her travels in Africa also took her to Zambia and Sudan.

While in Sudan, Watson spent 17 hours in territory held by rebels, waiting on the side of the road for people to remove land mines so her group could proceed, she said.

"But I am still here, I made it," Watson said.

Watson lived near a refugee camp that housed 30,000 people fleeing the conflicts, a seven or eight-acre area where most of the people live in gunny-sack tents. There are over 800,000 orphans in Kenya, Watson said.

Watson will show pictures and a Power Point presentation about her trip to Kenya.

"I am just going to be talking about some of the things I did," Watson said.

She plans to go back to Kenya in November.

Watson is affiliated with Freedom House Ministries, a non-denominational ministry.

- On the Web: www.freedomhmin.org

- Watson's presentation is 7 p.m. Thursday at the Bank of Marion conference center in Eldorado.