Hastings physiotherapist Noetzli in the village of Chitwan in Togo with some of the local children.
Most 29-year-olds are focused on building a successful career, buying a house or starting a family.
For Hastings’ Anita Noetzli, life’s taken a very different turn.
For nearly four years the physiotherapist has been based in South Africa, working as a fulltime volunteer, helping people in need.
But her mission hasn’t been without challenges, from snakes and power outages to 40C heat, contracting malaria, and the “worst nightmare” of losing her father while abroad.
“I was in South Africa when we got the phone call that my dad had passed away. It was a sudden heart attack on the farm ... This has by far been the hardest thing I’ve had to go through in my life,” Noetzli said.
The former Scared Heart College head girl volunteers with international organisation Youth With A Mission (YWAM), a Christian programme that has over 20,000 volunteers worldwide, who are involved in a variety of missionary work, including teaching in schools and universities, helping vulnerable women and supporting drug rehabilitation.
“I rent a room in a house with a young family and two other girls in Potchefstroom ... My day-to-day life is dependent on where I am,” Noetzli says.
“It can look like anything and everything from building a house to sharing in schools, to serving in the local church, to ministering in hospitals. You can expect the unexpected.”
Noetzli was working as a physiotherapist in Nelson when she first joined her older sister, Veronica, on the mission programme in South Africa in January 2022.
“I planned to do this for six months and then do some travelling in Europe before coming back. But after those six months, I just fell in love with the work and came to see a different side of life where I can make a difference.
“In my job, I see a lot of people hurt and in pain, not just physically but also emotionally and spiritually. So, I wanted to learn how I can help people in that way too.”
Noetzli says learning is mutual, with Afrikaans people teaching her how to value even “the smallest things”.
“They have so much joy in the midst of having little. That’s impacted me, how they’ve been able to still have joy and faith despite hardship.”
Along with life lessons, she’s picked up a fair bit of rugby banter too.
“I often get reminded that the Springboks have won four RWC finals. However, no matter how long I live in South Africa, the All Blacks will always be my number 1. I’m a proud Kiwi and always will be.”
Still, being a Kiwi didn’t prevent her from adopting their eating habits.
“They love their meat. Never in my life did I think I would eat a lamb chop for breakfast.
“I’ve also eaten the best fruit in Africa, with watermelons wider than my shoulders and pineapple that tastes like lollies.”
Her journey comes with a cost of about $3000 a month, funded through donations, sponsorships and the income she earns when she returns to Hastings once or twice a year to work as a physio.
Yet the greatest “cost” of her mission is not financial.
“The hardest thing is being away from my family, especially after losing Dad. Mum’s here in Hawke’s Bay with my brother. It’s hard on her heart, and on ours.
“It’s because we have God and because we have found something greater than the materialistic things in the world that the cost of being away from family or having a secure income or building something for myself is worth it. I see the value of what I do over there, and nothing can really beat that.”
As for her future, she’s unsure as yet.
“I don’t have the classic life goals of buying a house or getting ‘this much’ money. I just want to keep following God and keep loving people.”