·        A child’s dream

Anja Goertzen is a Paraguayan/Mennonite/Canadian “missionary kid”, who grew up mostly in a small city in the interior of Paraguay.  God rocked her world one sleepless night when He challenged her to give her life in ministry for homeless children.  She was 10 at the time, with completely different ideas, yet she gave Him her wholehearted “yes”!  Only then did she suddenly became painfully aware of kids at every street corner, oblivious in the traffic rain or blazing sun, asking for coins at her front gate, and so on.  A passion God put in her to do something about it.  Now what? A child herself, she only knew vaguely of the existence of orphanages…

·        Steps (and leaps) around the world

God lead Anja, a multicultural, confused youth, step by step out of high school in Paraguay and into the big world, through a few years of off-and-on training with Youth with a Mission in Brazil, Maui/Mexico and finally Switzerland, specifically in discipleship and area of children at risk.  Provision for these schools came fully through job opportunities in Canada where she connected on a new level with family, friends and a home church in Lower Mainland BC, Canada.

·        Back to Paraguay: from “mk” to “missionary”

It was in the Alps of Switzerland that God again spoke clearly to Anja, this time about her home country of Paraguay.  On her heart was the need for networking, the real situation of the street kids, and most of all for advocacy on behalf of the more vulnerable children there.  A crazy idea came to mind: the Spanish word for advocacy is “abogacia”, also meaning law career…  so she did in fact return a year later, try out for national university faculty of law, and made it with flying colors, nothing short of a miracle. “Coincidentally” not long after, she was introduced to a fledgling organization called Red Viva Paraguay (Viva Network) for children at risk, where she have been working full force since.  In 2009, stepping into the leadership position, a whole new ballgame began for her.  God has given much over a short time, taught her immensity in leadership, working with local ministries and Christian organizations big and small, identifying real needs and necessary strategies, and even guided training through Viva Together for Children, taking her to learn from both the Regional Centre in Costa Rica and national networks in Bolivia.   Already now, in 2010, both as fourth year law student and director of Red Viva Paraguay, she is finding amazing open doors to put into action what God put on her heart… networking and advocacy on behalf of the most vulnerable in Paraguay. Looking back makes her certain that only God knows what the future will bring, step by step!

NOTE: Anja is not an ACTION missionary, but is on staff with the Viva Network in Paraguay (Red Viva Paraguay), an organization ACTION has partnered with, that ministers to children at risk. For more information about the Viva Network and Red Viva Paraguay, see Paraguay.