Pennye Nixon-West founded Etta Projects, an organization to help a rural town in Bolivia, in 2003 to honor the life of her daughter Etta, who died in a tragic accident in Bolivia at age 16. Here’s more from Pennye:

Fearlessness defined my daughter, who died eight years ago, at age 16, while living as an exchange student in Bolivia. Not the fear of something that might be dangerous but rather the fear of our thoughts, self talk and our mind that limits our courage to be who we might be. Etta was, and still is, fearless.

I remember visiting Kenya with her when she was 16, just 5 months before she died. Our family walked into the Masai village with our guide. After songs and greetings we were invited into one of the mud huts to see the interior and how they lived. After several minutes I realized Etta wasn’t with us. I didn’t worry, but I was a little irritated as she is missing something special.

Later we find our daughter sitting in the door of a hut conversing (not thru spoken language) and sharing with a Maasia girl of her own age, 16. They were discussing this young girl’s two children, and laughing that Etta didn’t even a mate. I was wrong….she missed nothing by not being present for our tour of the hut.

Etta taught me that fearlessness is about Faith. When she was just 16, she talked her father and me into letting her apply to be an exchange student and live with a family abroad for a year. She wanted to go to Australia, Peru or Chili. She got Bolivia⎯the poorest country in South America. I remember she was so disappointed that she cried, but she went anyway. Maybe fearlessness involves a lot of disappointment. Maybe a part of her even knew she would die there.

Fearlessness is about challenging belief, thought, and tradition. Etta challenged so many things she was told in Bolivia: Don’t play with the poor kids; don’t treat house staff as equals; don’t save sloths from the street; don’t dance in the rain because you won’t fit in.

But she did all of these things during the three months she lived in Montero, Bolivia before a bus driver fell asleep at the wheel, killing her and six other people. Even after she died, Etta’s presence remained strong in Montero.

A few months after her death, we were contacted by the local Rotary Club and the priest of the Silesian Catholic Church in Montero (also Etta’s school principle) who knew her compassion and commitment to social justice well. We were asked if a nutrition center for impoverished children could use Etta’s name; I couldn’t think of a better way to honor my daughter’s life.. The sorrow of Etta’s death was transformed into joy with the feeding of many children at the Comedor de Niño’s Etta Turner.

We founded Etta Projects in 2003 as a fearless act based on faith that we are not in control of everything, but life makes some kind of sense if we get out of the way. Now, I devote my time to improving the lives of the people in Montero, not just by raising money to support projects that provide health care, clean water, nutritious food, education and income generation, but also by facilitating communication to find pathways for the people, NGOs and government there to work together. Etta Projects goal is to sit with people and listen, plan, and then join to accomplish.

Etta Projects is about my daughter’s life, not her death. Every project manger and many others who work in these projects have felt what they define as her spirit. Maybe they just say that to make me feel good but I know that she is there. Strange things happen, a chill, a warmth, a pressure, a sighting at just the right moment that helps us make the decision to take some opportunity that has come before us. That’s her⎯still fearless in her faith that the world can be a better place.

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