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A life rich with meaning

TAMPA - Jenni Voth spent last Thanksgiving in the galley of the Anastasis, a 52-year-old former passenger cruise ship that was docked off the coast of Benin, West Africa.

Ashore was disease, poverty, illiteracy and arresting beauty.

Voth, a missionary, longed for her family in Tampa, who gathered around a dinner table more than 5,700 miles away.

This year, for the first time since 1999, Voth will celebrate Thanksgiving with her family and friends in Carrollwood. Her sister-in-law has planned a feast. But for Voth, family is the bigger draw.

She hopes to get to know her clan's new babies and reconnect with her siblings, cousins and parents.

Now a self-described minimalist, Voth will also have to navigate the rabid consumerism that Thanksgiving ushers in.

"I really don't know what to expect because it's been so long," said Voth, 41.

Wherever she goes, she will carry her stories.

She will tell of Sierra Leone, where she saw people living with the remnants of more than a decade of civil war: mangled hands, lost limbs, dead relatives and, improbably, Voth said, unflappable spirits.

She will recount stories from Togo, Liberia and villages in Benin, where destitution prevailed.

"While I'm here, I'm to make people aware of what's happening in other countries," she said. "God doesn't want me to judge, (just) make people more aware."

Born in Little Rock, Ark., Voth moved to the Tampa Bay area from Long Island, N.Y., in 1972. Her father owned radio stations; her mother was a homemaker. The family lived in Brandon for seven years before moving to Beach Park.

Voth graduated from Florida State University with a degree in hotel and restaurant management. She managed hotel restaurants in Tampa, then switched to retail work, but longed for more.

In her late 20s, Voth became a Christian. She joined Idlewild Baptist Church in 1991 and was soon drawn to mission work.

Through Idlewild, she heard about Mercy Ships, a global charity that operated hospital ships in developing nations. At the Port of Tampa, she toured the Caribbean Mercy, which serves Central America and the Caribbean.

Not completely convinced that she could handle long-term mission work, Voth tried two 10-day mission trips to Brazil. In 1998, she enrolled in a five-month training course, which took her to Benin and Ukraine.

Voth had never viewed herself as a missionary - at church, they always came with boring slide shows - but she could no longer ignore her call.

In August 1999, Voth made a two-year commitment to work aboard the Anastasis, a 42-bed floating hospital that docked in West African nations including Senegal, Ghana and Gabon.

The senior pastor at Davis Islands Baptist Church anticipated Voth's decision.

"She's got a servant-type personality," the Rev. Jeff Parish said. "You could tell that something was going to happen with her. You could tell she was going to go into some sort of work that had to do with serving people."

The Davis Islands church, where Voth attends Sunday services, and Idlewild, where she is a member, decided to invest in her work.

Each church donates about $300 a month to help Voth pay for room and board on the ship.

"She has done amazing stuff there in very primitive situations," said Reno Zunz, minister of family care and missions at Idlewild. "I don't think I could do it. Jenni just amazes me. Her real compassion for people is just unusual, and it's the grace of God."

The ship has three operating rooms where doctors volunteer to perform surgeries, which range from cataract removal to tumor extraction.

In her first two years, Voth focused on the Anastasis' staff. She taught other missionaries. Then for three years, she served as a ship chaplain, counseling missionaries heavy with the turmoil and sadness they encountered onshore.

When the Anastasis docks at a new port, Voth traverses the mileslong lines of sick, offering water. She also visits villages, spending time with orphans or comforting the dying.

Voth proselytizes primarily through her deeds, especially in countries where Islam prevails, or where people practice animism and voodoo.

"I don't go through the steps of evangelism," she said. "It's just so much more effective to just love people."

In the fall of 2004, Voth became a literacy teacher. She works with adults who want to learn to read and write. Her students range in age from 19 to 70.

Most are women who were pulled from school to tend the hearth while boys continued their education. Voth hopes to empower generations of females, young and old.

In Liberia, her students wanted to learn to read the names of candidates on the country's first ballot after the civil war. Vendors sought basic math and accounting skills.

More advanced students learned to write grant proposals seeking government help with digging wells for their villages.

After Christmas, Voth will rejoin the Anastasis in Liberia.

It will likely be her last year on board. While Voth remains committed to mission work, she has captured the fulfillment she sought.

"I feel like I'm doing something with my life," Voth said. "I'm not in a dead-end job. I feel like I'm accomplishing something, something eternal that matters."