Joetta Smith - a woman of courage and faith

Making a difference in Africa

Mama Jo

One Woman’s story of courage and faith…

My daughter’s Dana’s favorite movie during her childhood was (she probably watched it 50 times) “The Inn of sixth Happiness,” based on the life of Gladys Aylward, who was a woman who did not take “no” as an answer. She decided to become a missionary in spite of not having an educational background for it, in spite of no church or mission agency sponsoring her, in spite of everyone saying that she could not, she went off to China and paid her own way with money she earned as a housekeeper and took her earnings to the travel agency on a weekly basis until she had enough money to go. Gladys triumphed and succeeded in spite of the naysayers in her life, she triumphed because of her faith and deep convictions that God’s hand was in all of this. Ingrid Bergman played in this wonderful, classic film about the triumph of the human spirit and the ability to follow through on an inner vision in spite of the outer voices telling one that it is impossible.

Joetta Smith is a modern Gladys Aylward. I came across her emails one day as she was sending me questions about Africa and Kenya in particular. She wanted to go to Africa and work there amongst women and children. She did not have the money to run an agency, she was a retired woman living on her monthly social security disability check and should have just enjoyed her golden years in California, but no, she had this dream and people told her that she should not go, but she had this inner vision of going to Africa, in fact she had it for years and felt that now was time to go.

She was no stranger to adversity but also had come to learn that within adversity, cancer there are seeds of faith to overcome the obstacles placed within one’s way. Being a woman of faith, she felt like the Apostle Paul who wrote as he was imprisoned four stories beneath the ground in Rome “if God is for me who can be against me.”

And yes, things were against her from the lack of finances, poor health, age (62 years young), friends who turned out not to be friends, churches who would not support her in her dream and on and on.

Joetta received an invitation to come to Nakuru in Kenya from a pastor of small church. Nakuru is located about an hour and some minutes depending on how you drive from Nairobi. Most people go there for the national park to see the flamingos and wildlife and most never venture around the town, since there is not much to do from a tourist angle. But Joetta is no tourist, she lives there and has become a “mudagavu” (African) and recently received her permanent visa at a time when most westerners are not getting renewals since Kenya is trying to deal with acute unemployment problem and has the labor pool of skilled workers but lacks placements and foreign workers are being asked to leave to open up opportunities for Kenyans, but because Joetta works in the non-profit field she can remain in Kenya.

I wrote her some emails of advice about how to get the visa, but at the end of the day it cost her lot of money, including her refrigerator and stove that she had to sell to pay for the visa. Most people who have known all the comforts of home in the west could not part with the refrigerator or gas cooker, but not Joetta, she still has her computer which allows her to write emails to friends and family and have them stay in touch with her on a daily basis, but as far as the comforts of home are concerned, this Mama Jo, as she is affectionately called is now taking the Matatu (mini bus) and walking to most places and doing that in flip flops since she gave away her last pair of shoes to someone who needed them more than herself.

The question that arises in one’s mind is “why would a person go through all these ordeals when she could live in reasonable comfort in the USA? “The dream of the heart” comes in here once again. The vision of the heart sees things that the natural eye does not and there in Kenya, amidst poverty, despair of hunger and aids around here working with orphans and women in local churches her heart becomes still, knowing that she is in the right place at the right time and that this is what she was created for.

I have met many people in Africa; most often they are young and driven by the passion to change the world. They come from all over working with non-profit organizations from the Peace Corps to the UN. The other group that I have often found are men in the 40’s and 50’s who want to dream again and work in war zones, fly the planes that perform food drops and simply recapture the youth that the have lost and there is Joetta Smith a modern day Gladys Aylward that is in a class of her own.

Working with nothing in her hand but faith and hope she is reaching out the voiceless of Africa that we in the West rarely hear about, she is toiling in her quiet way and only after much prodding told me of her circumstances when I asked her if I could write her story of her time in Kenya.

I have been deeply touched by her emails that speak compassionately of the needs at hand and describe her day to day experiences. She is rare, filled not with pity for she works amongst, but Joetta a compelling compassion that has led her into action to be a change agent of her world. I am humbled and touched by her story as I was by the character that Ingrid Bergman so aptly portrayed in the “Inn of sixth Happiness.” I wonder what would happen if we simply dared to dream once again, where we would wind up, what we would be doing? It is an interesting thought…why not ponder on it…jon

If you like to become involved in the work of Joetta Smith and be of help to the orphans and widows in Nakuru, Kenya and in other places in East Africa you can write to Joetta Smith and I am sure she will be glad to hear from you.

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Joetta Smith - a woman of courage and faith