My sister, Kate Mitchell, who has died aged 42 in suspicious circumstances in Kenya, was a development worker with BBC Media Action, the BBC’s development charity.
Kate was born in North Shields in Tyne and Wear, to Rodney Mitchell and his wife, Sue (nee Kennedy), who were both teachers. Our parents were keen outdoors enthusiasts, and most of our early, happy childhood holidays were spent on camping trips or sailing in the North Sea from our base in Whitley Bay, where we lived. However, our father died after a long illness when Kate was 10, and our mother was left to bring up two young children on her own.
Although Kate’s intelligence could command any room, she never believed she was clever: her attendance at Marden high school in North Shields was scanty, and she never took A-levels. She then spent much of her time up to her late 20s being offered permanent jobs and turning them down – out of a desire to travel, an unwillingness to be tied down and a basic restlessness that was to define her life.
In London in the late 2000s, she finally found herself working for the BBC Trust and was then seconded to Media Action, where she was to stay for the 14 years until her death, first working in London and then increasingly overseas: in Lusaka, Zambia, as a project officer; for two years in Juba, south Sudan, as deputy country director, and then in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as a project manager.
At the time of her death she had been moved to Nairobi as a temporary security measure due to the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia, and had done so only under protest: characteristically, she had wanted to stay with her Ethiopian colleagues, doing the work she loved.
While working full-time and between countries, Kate had taken up education again, and completed a degree in social sciences through the University of London extramural course, followed by an MA in development studies at Birkbeck, University of London. Wherever she lived was always full of books, and she travelled constantly and with a consuming curiosity.
Her greatest talent was for friendship. She was bottomlessly interested in other people and quietly attentive to their needs: she is remembered at the BBC as unfailingly generous with her time, expertise and support. She also volunteered widely, with organisations that helped refugees and homeless people, and at womens’ shelters. Since her death we have continued to hear stories about her often extravagant acts of kindness and solidarity – many dating back decades – to which, with characteristic self-effacement, she never drew attention.
Although Kate’s career was clearly taking off at the time she died, she was resistant to pursuing higher-paying managerial jobs since she was happiest in the field, engaging with development partners and gaining an intimate knowledge of the countries and cultures she lived in.
She is survived by her partner, John Marks, her mother and me.
