27th July 1997

Enid Burke:

A friendly woman journalist

By Roshan Peiris

Enid Burke is a friendly woman journalist from Kenya. She has many firsts to her credit. She was the first non-white woman journalist in Kenya.

"I did not allow the men to fob me off with doing only pages for women. I resisted stubbornly work on the women’s page and was quite firm that I should do the same as the men," she said.

"I am proud to say I did myself and my sex proud by having an exclusive interview with Jomo Kenyatta. I also interviewed John and Jackie Kennedy when they visited Nairobi, though not when he was President. I also interviewed Robert Kennedy," she added.

Enid Burke at that time was at the receiving end of apartheid. She finished her secondary education and as a Black she could not go in for higher education.

Her Sri Lankan father, a qualified accountant, with adventure in his blood, had wanted to go to Africa. After settling down to a job in Kenya he looked for a bride and being told that the women in the Seychelles were beautiful, found himself a wife there. Enid was their child.

When it came to her higher studies her father wanting her to see the country of his birth, made arrangements with with Ms. Frank Samaraweera of the Salvation Army here. Thus Enid came over and joined the Methodist College hostel. For her holidays she lived with the friendly Samaraweera family.

"I went on to Peradeniya to do a degree in General Arts and went back to Kenya. There I got a Fulbright Scholarship and so studied for my Masters in the US. After that I was working as assistant librarian in Aberdeen Scotland," she said.

Enid took a breather and came back to Kenya where she worked as a journalist for ten years.

Travelling runs in her blood so first she joined the United Nation as an Information Officer in Nairobi and then left for Venice to assist diplomats attending U.N. conferences there.

Enid is married to a man whose father was from Trinidad and mother from Seychelles.

She sounds like a mini one woman United Nations. Her father-in-law had been an advisor to President Kenyatta. Enid was nostalgic to see Sri Lanka and meet with old friends and so came over to live with Iranee Kannangara. She has the knack of making friends quickly and no doubt this has helped towards a rewarding career.

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