Learning to care for a baby monkey and a chameleon, growing giant vegetables, meeting Pygmies in the jungle, finding the source of the Nile that Davidson and Stanley once searched for, sleeping in the open of the Serengeti prairie, and hiking around the rim of a volcano were some of the rare activities that Marilyn Kellum Barr describes that she experienced while living in Burundi, Africa as she attended schools there and in Kenya in the 1960's.

In The Heart of Africa she reports that the native people of this tiny, mountainous agricultural land lived simply, valuing their family, their small plot of land, and their mud hut, while many found Jesus and worshiped Him with enthusiasm in the midst of poverty and government strife. Even though she had to eat foods she found abhorant, she loved the culture and challenges of central Africa as her parents reached out to the people and worked with native leaders to begin a Christian radio station. Through God's grace and the hard work of many Christians, Radio Cordac opened to air the gospel in five languages, also providing a school where Burundian students could learn electronics, recording techniques, and other relevant skills while working alongside other missionaries. While the station is now closed and missionaries are no longer allowed in the country, she shares reports from family members who have returned more recently on short-term visas that faithful Christians abound in this country and that a Christian radio station still offers the people spiritual hope even though electricity and running water are not available to rural people.