A Life of Purpose in Bolivia

WAITSBURG – It can be tough being a mom. Watching your children grow up and move away to lead their own lives is seldom easy. It's especially difficult when they move to a foreign (and potentially dangerous) country.

For Rosy Nechodom, a recent visit to Bolivia to join her daughter, Annemarie, who serves as a missionary there, helped to ease the pain and bring new understanding.

Annemarie, daughter of Rosy and Dan Nechodom, graduated from Dayton High School in 2009 and attended the University of Idaho, where she earned her bachelor's degree in child development and family relations in 2012.

After college, Annemarie accepted a position teaching preschool and Kindergarten at a Montessori school in Richland. She enjoyed the experience but felt that something was lacking.

"It was a fully equipped facility, with highly educated people, serving fairly privileged families," said Rosy. "Annemarie really felt called to work with needy children and wanted to see where she could go with that."

Annemarie began looking into missions but didn't inform her parents until she had decided to go, Rosy said. In August 2013, Annemarie became a missionary with the Mennonite Central Committee and spent a year working in a children's group home in Bolivia.

"That is where they take children who are removed from homes because of abuse or neglect," Rosy said. "They will basically spend the rest of their childhood there.

"We figured it was a one-year thing. But she came home for six months to raise money and said that she was going back to stay another year – possibly longer."

Annemarie returned to Bolivia in February, this time as a missionary at El Jordán, in the city of Santa Cruz.

This time Rosy decided to see firsthand, what was continually pulling Annemarie to Bolivia. "I wanted to see what she was doing; why she was so drawn and why she didn't know if she would be coming back," Rosy said.

Rosy's birthday was Aug. 28 and Annemarie's was Sept. 1, so Rosy decided that a visit to Bolivia from Aug. 19 to Sept. 3 would serve as a joint birthday gift. They would enjoy the time spent together, but she also hoped to leave with the gift of understanding.

El Jordán describes itself as "a place of help and direction." Many of the children and teens who live on the streets of Santa Cruz are stuck in traps of drug addiction and delinquency. The mission provides medical and dental consulting, childcare facilities, classes and workshops, and works closely with orphanages and rehabilitation centers in Bolivia.

"The ministry was started 15 years ago, to get the homeless off the streets," Rosy said. "Many girls and women become prostitutes, and people from El Jordán go out onto the streets, meet at-risk women and encourage them to come to classes where they can get free training to learn a skill. They are taught to make purses, jewelry, cards – something they can sell so that they don't have to become prostitutes.

"Prostitution is legal so there are lots of teen pregnancies and lots of children," she added. "Annemarie's job is to be in charge of all the children's ministries. That includes classes, crafts, and activities for infants through teens."

Rosy said Annemarie can serve up to 100 kids on a weekly basis. "One of the things she does is to make sure each child has their own toothbrush that they use when they visit the center," Rosy said. "It's probably the only time they get to brush their teeth. They may not even have a water supply at home. Many of the families she works with don't have indoor plumbing."

Annemarie's days are spent teaching classes, working with teens, leading activities, making home visits, planning events, and visiting the jail and hospital.

"Hospitals there aren't like here. Nurses don't bring you medicine or meals. Someone needs to go to the pharmacy and get them for you and someone needs to bring you meals," Rosy said.

Because the mission is on a tight budget, Annemarie has to raise her own support, and must also pay for all the supplies and materials she uses with the children. Rosy estimates that it costs Annemarie, who has an apartment at the mission, about $400 a month in living expenses.

When Annemarie makes chocolate chip cookies with the teenage girls, gives Bibles as rewards, gives the children toothbrushes, or does a craft project, she is responsible for buying her own materials.

Rosy admits to being concerned for her daughter. The conditions in the homes she visits can be dangerously unsanitary, the hospitals are frightening, and Annemarie is a beautiful, young, single woman in a sometimes hostile environment, she said.

"She is surrounded by good people, has great support, and lives in a good home (at the mission), it's just when she's out on the street that I worry," Rosy said.

But in spite of her fears Rosy returned home with a deep understanding of why Annemarie feels called to Bolivia.

"I absolutely get why she wants to be there. She is loved! She is loved by all the other missionaries as well as the people in the town. She fits right into the culture and she is really making a difference in their lives. She is building deep, meaningful relationships," Rosy said.

"I just want her to feel fulfilled in her life and it seems like that's what she's doing there – her life has purpose," she added.

Annemarie sends out a monthly newsletter with pictures, mission updates, and prayer requests. To be added to the mailing list, email Annemarie at alnechodom@gmail.com.

Learn more about El Jordán at kidsinbolivia.org.