Author Description

The true short stories found in "Footloose in Africa," are an echo of the twenty-five years that Penny Bennett has experienced while living and working in Africa as a teacher, a librarian, and as a gender advocate. Some of the stories are happy, others are sad, many are humorous, but the over-riding emotion is one of love and a strong commitment to her work. In 1982, Bennett accepted a three year volunteer position to teach at a rural secondary school in Zimbabwe. At the end of her contract, she elected to stay on, but eventually, she had to leave because of the intolerable conditions and the danger she faced. When she returned to Nova Scotia, Bennett wrote about her time in Zimbabwe. Her writing is a reflection of the passion she felt for the country, the people, the students and the wildlife she had come to enjoy so much. In 2006, Bennett accepted another contract to volunteer as a gender advocate in Northern Ghana and to build a library. Her writings from Ghana, despite the difficulty of living in such an impoverished area, are often amusing, adding balance to her life in a place most people wouldn't want to visit. In 2012, she accepted another volunteer posting to Mozambique for thirteen months where she lectured at a teaching university. Her writings to friends and family are enhanced by the young Mozambican whom she mentored and about the dogs that came into their life. The writing tone is easy yet exuberant because she was back in a classroom with the students she loved to teach. Bennett is now in Canada, living in a fishing village on the coast of Nova Scotia. She hopes one day to return to Africa.