Serving Jesus where no one wants to go

Sister Mary Joachim, above, founded the Mission of Hope to help “those no one serves, in places where no one wishes to go.” (Courtesy photo)

By Emily Woodham

Staff Writer

It can be difficult for American Catholics to imagine the nearest church being more than 400 miles away.

While most U.S. Catholics have the opportunity to go to Mass and Adoration daily, in Gode, Ethiopia, Mass is celebrated only when a missionary priest can make the long trek to the military town on the border of Somalia.

“We have Mass about every two weeks,” said Sister Mary Joachim, who established the Mission of Hope in Gode, where infrequent Mass is not the only hurdle that she faces.

“We do have Adoration every day, in the morning and in the evening. That is our source.”

When Ethiopian children point in public to the cross around Sister Joachim’s neck and ask her, “What is that?” she has to choose her words carefully. “It’s mine,” she replies.

The answer is truthful, simple and will not give government authorities reason to deport her. The dominant religion of the area is fundamentalist Islam. Although there is religious freedom in the constitution of Ethiopia, if she says too much about the cross in public, she could be accused of proselytizing.

Sister Joachim buys food for the Mission of Hope at the local market. (Courtesy photo.)

Because she is a foreigner, the community is more lenient with her, but to proselytize would completely upend the witness she brings through her missionary work. Her efforts to save women and children from abuse and poverty shout the love of Jesus more effectively than getting into an argument with government officials.

“Thankfully, the governor of the area is supportive of us, and we are more welcomed by the poor,” she said.

Although the work in Gode is enormous, Sister is undaunted.

“We have to believe that God uses, as Mother Teresa would say, all our little acts of love to open doors,” she said.

Sister Joachim and the Mission of Hope are the focus for this year’s Church Builders of Hope fundraiser. The event is from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7, at the Pioneer Room at Jack’s Urban Meeting Place (JUMP)in downtown Boise.

Sister Joachim

She was born into a devout Catholic family in Watford, England, in 1959, and eventually entered St. Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in 1980. She served for more than 30 years, mostly in Poland, when she felt called to do even more for the marginalized in society, especially for “those no one serves, in places where no one wishes to go.”

In 2011, she began the Mission of Hope. Three years later, while serving homeless psychiatric patients in Cebu, Philippines, a bishop invited her to visit the Ethiopia-Somali region. While there, she met a missionary priest, Father Christopher Hartley, who had lived in Gode for six years. He had requested assistance from various religious congregations, but no one offered any help. Gode is a large city with a military

base. The job opportunities in restaurants attract young women and girls from around the country to work as waitresses, cooks and kitchen girls. However, after coming to Gode, they feel pressured to work in prostitution, which provides more income.

Most of these young women become single mothers and are unable to break out of prostitution or other abusive situations until they are infected and seriously ill from HIV,

tuberculosis or sexually transmitted diseases. Unable to work, these women and their children become homeless.

Volunteers give school lessons to children whose mothers are in training for jobs in textiles. (Courtesy photos)

“In 2015, we started to work with these women and their children, offering them the opportunity immediately to leave the world of prostitution and begin the road to recovery of their dignity,” Sister Joachim said.

Through the Mission of Hope’s Tamara Project, women are invited to learn a skill and have their children cared for while they are in training. Additionally, women regain their

sense of being important and precious to others, “rather than being a commodity which is consumed.”

The Mission of Hope also provides nutrition and medical care. Last year, the United Nations said an estimated 16 million people in Ethiopia were in need of some form of food assistance. The needs and expenses are significant, and the Mission of Hope is

entirely dependent on donations from private individuals. However, Sister Joachim does not want the Mission of Hope to be defined by worries about money.

“The people have a right to have the Gospel preached in any way that we can,” she said. “I believe that we have to walk, and God will provide the road.”

One Christmas Day, Sister Joachim went to the market to get some things for the children, when it occurred to her how unaware the people around her were.

“I was in the middle of the market when it struck me so strongly: They don’t know!” she said. “None of them in the market know that God is their Father, that Christ came to

earth, that they are loved. It’s the 21st century. How can this be? Three-quarters of the world hasn’t had a credible witness of the Gospel yet. My mother’s family are all Irish.

Thank God for missionaries who went to Ireland. We have received, but then we have a duty to pass it on in whatever way we can. Mother Teresa said the drop in the ocean is essential, even if it is just a drop.”

Sister Joachim sews clothing for her mission. (Courtesy photo)

Although the work of Mission of Hope is focused in Gode, it has assisted in other areas at the invitation of a bishop and under the guidance of parish priests. Sister Joachim has

a team of lay volunteers whom she also invites to assist on short-term missions.

When a task entrusted by a bishop is completed, or when others come forward who are willing to take over projects in a sustainable way, the missionaries then move to where they are most needed. To purchase tickets to hear Sister Joachim speak about her work in Ethiopia and the Mission of Hope at the Church Builders of Hope fundraiser, visit ChurchBuilders.us. Table sponsors are eligible for a 22%

discount.

If You Go: Church Builders of Hope

Fundraiser

What: Fundraiser supporting Sister Mary

Joachim and the Mission of Hope in

Gode, Ethiopia

When: 5:30–8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7

Where: Pioneer Room at Jack’s Urban

Meeting Place (JUMP), downtown

Boise

Details: The evening includes dinner,

guest speakers and updates on Mission

of Hope’s outreach to women and

children in Ethiopia.

Tickets: Available at ChurchBuilders.

us. Table sponsors receive a 22%

discount.