Member of African Jewish tribe returning to Kansas

A member of Uganda’s Abayudaya tribe, which adopted Jewish practices nearly a century ago, will visit Lawrence and Topeka for a series of talks next week. (See below for details.)

J.J. Keki is a leader of the Abayudaya community, as well as a Grammy-nominated musician and a member of an interfaith coffee-growing cooperative. He is on a U.S. speaking tour organized by Kulanu, an organization supports isolated and emerging Jewish communities around the world. Kulanu (It’s Hebrew for “All of Us”) brought Keki to Topeka in 2001, which is where Washburn University Psychology Professor Dr. Joanne Altman met him for the first time. She is serving as his host this time around.

“J.J. is a wonderful man, and the story of the Abayudaya was meaningful to me,” Dr. Altman said in an e-mail to The Chronicle. ”I became a contributing member of Kulanu since that visit.

“I was motivated to try to bring the Abayudaya speaker to Kansas for several reasons. First, diversity is an important issue for me. I am not sure if diversity is so important to me because I am Jewish and therefore part of a religious minority; or if it is because I am a New Yorker and grew up with a much greater awareness of diversity, and feel a certain dearth of diversity in Kansas.

“Second, I am an educator and feel awareness of diversity is an incredibly important lesson and my  responsibility to share. I don’t think there can ever be peace until we understand we don’t all have the same beliefs and ideas, and learn to respect each other.

“Third, I am also an animal behaviorist, and I lead student trips to Africa, Indonesia, Central and South America and other countries and I know the value of meeting people who first appear very different, but after just a small amount of conversation we realize how similar we are. …

“Finally, I have a summer study-abroad trip planned for late May, to Uganda, and we already had plans to visit the Abayudaya. What an amazing opportunity for students to meet J.J. here first and then travel halfway around the world to see a friend! Incidentally, we have openings for any adults who wish to take the course to Africa to study animal behavior and meet the Abayudaya.”

For more information about the Abayudaya, visit kulanu.org.

Talk coffee, more with J.J. Keki

J.J. Keki will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union on the University of Kansas campus. It is free and open to the public. His visit is sponsored by the KU Hillel Foundation. Keki will talk about the work he does within the Jewish community, their schools and his coffee cooperative. Keki will speak at 1:30 p.m. the following day, Friday, Nov. 13, in the library at Washburn University as a part of the “Diversity Matters” speaker series. It is free and open to the public. CDs of Jewish songs by the Abayudaya community will be for sale, as will kippot, Islamic prayer hats and Keki’s “Delicious Peace” brand of “fair-trade” coffee.

Keki will also speak at Shabbat services, which begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, at Temple Beth Sholom, 4200 S.W. Munson Ave.

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