She did not just help teach workshops about human trafficking and modern-day slavery last semester. For 10 days, she also ate the same diet that an Indian slave eats each day to see, in a small way, what being a slave is like.

For Kay Burrough, visiting professor of communication at St. Edward’s University, enduring this meager diet was one of many things she has done as part of her work to help street children.

Burrough’s efforts were recognized when another St. Edward’s communication professor, Tere Garza, nominated her for the Ten Thousand Villages International Women’s Day Humanitarian award. The winners were announced at a ceremony on March 11.

Burrough did not win, but she was still grateful for the nomination and appreciated the ceremony.

“It was really nice to see other people dedicated to helping others,” Burrough said of the others nominated along with her who attended the 7 p.m. presentation.

There were three award categories — animal rights, environment and humanitarian — and five other candidates besides Burrough were in the humanitarian category. Ten Thousand Villages, the sponsors of the annual award, is a nonprofit program that creates opportunities for artisans in developing countries to earn fair wages.

Garza’s nomination noted Burrough’s teaching efforts both at St. Edward’s, where she has worked since 2008, and beyond. Garza said that Burrough is important to the university.

“Kay has made St. Edward’s University a better place through her creative teaching efforts,” Garza’s nomination said.

During her time as a professor, Burrough has spread awareness and advocacy about homeless children through various organizations. She has served as the North American Ambassador for the Consortium for Street Children since 2008, and she has also recently begun to work with the Global Campaign Against Poverty.

“GCAP helps nonprofits around the world to reinvent the wheel together,” Burrough said. “If one campaign or movement in Bolivia works, then with some tweaking it can work elsewhere.”

Burrough has sought to educate students about the plight of street children through the classes she teaches and through other programs. Last semester, she and School of Behavioral and Social Sciences professor Mity Myhr planned and carried out the workshops about human trafficking and slavery, which students taking Cultural Foundations 3330 and 3331 are required to attend.

Her latest project with the university is a study abroad trip she planned and will pilot this summer. She will take six students to South Africa, where they will meet and interact with some of the street children who are helped by a program, the Pegasus Children’s Trust, and the woman who founded it, Judy Westwater.

Westwater was a former street child herself and starved, stole and endured rape during the years she lived homeless in South Africa. Her book “Street Kid” chronicles her experiences during this time and the years prior, when — among other instances of cruelty — her father forced her to live in the backyard and find scraps in dumpsters for food.

After Burrough and her CULF class read Westwater’s book last summer, Burrough contacted Westwater and had her speak via Skype with the class and, a few months later, with the students at a couple of the human trafficking workshops.

Burrough decided to create the South Africa study abroad trip as a result of her conversations with Westwater. The students going will take two courses, Communication and Culture and a CULF 3330 class specializing in street children. They will also visit places like Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for his anti-apartheid activism.

But the focal point of the trip is interacting with the street children. Students will visit Westwater’s orphanage, Zip Zap Circus (a program that teaches the children performance art) and the Junk Orchestra, a group of children who make instruments out of trash and play them. The orchestra teaches these children to value themselves.

“If they are able to make music out of junk, they learn that everything has value, including the kids,” Burrough said.

Once Burrough returns from South Africa, she will begin to teach global studies classes in the fall and in future semesters.

Burrough said her background contributes to why she decided to focus on street children and other impoverished groups. She received her law degree in England and practiced international law with a focus on human rights and grew up in the Canary Islands. She also traveled and was exposed to the people that she now spends her time advocating for.

“During my travels, I saw kids and people less fortunate than I was, which I suppose is where I got my need to say something about it,” Burrough said.

The study abroad group is able to take two more students. Interested students can contact Burrough at [email protected].