Alpendurada
HISTÓRIAS
Roberto’s Story
Brazil
Veronica’s Story
Timor-Leste
Tin Mar Hwe’s Story
Myanmar
Roberto’s Story
Brazil
FECHAR
Roberto’s Story
As he lay in bed, delirious from drugs, Roberto felt himself slipping away. Crack cocaine had been consuming his thoughts for years and his body for months, and now it finally seemed to be taking his life.
When he was a teenager, skipping class and drinking beer with his friends, Roberto never would have predicted that drugs could one day ruin him. Everything had seemed fine, even as he transitioned into smoking marijuana and using cocaine.
He felt in control. He even married and started a family, but increasingly, his money and time were spent on drugs.
His mother began to suspect drug abuse, and she put Roberto in a rehabilitation center. He emerged a new man—until he discovered crack cocaine, a highly addictive and dangerous narcotic. His mother paid for a second treatment plan, then a third, and a fourth.
Nothing was working for Roberto, and he continued to feed his addiction, even as his body deteriorated. That night on the bed, as he felt himself fading, Roberto weighed 120 pounds.
“I thought I was going to die,” he said.
His mother decided to try one more treatment plan that she had heard about from a friend: an ADRA center named Pro Vida (“pro-life”). She loaded Roberto in her car and drove to the remote state of Bahia in Northeast Brazil.
Pro Vida is one of four ADRA projects in Brazil designed to promote recovery from addiction. Pro Vida alone has helped more than 800 people since 2001.
“I didn’t think it was going to work,” Roberto said. “I had already been to four different treatments, some of them among the best one can find.”
Pro Vida was different. It was more than just plans and processes, which had all failed him before. It was community, it was friendship, and it was spirituality. Never had Roberto received spiritual care like he did at Pro Vida.
The skilled and loving staff offered prayer and Bible lessons in addition to detox and lifestyle changes.
“Pro Vida saved my life,” he said. It’s a message that Roberto is now spreading all over Brazil, to children and adults alike. He is especially active at public schools in his native state, where he shares his experiences with students and urges them to avoid drugs.
Roberto has been reunited with his overjoyed wife and children, as well as his mother, who never stopped praying for him. He is using the lessons he learned from ADRA’s program to stay healthy and strong and provide a good example for his children.
Veronica’s Story
Timor-Leste
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Veronica’s Story
Veronica lives with her husband and three children in Dilor, a small village in Timor-Leste. Every day, she makes at least two exhausting trips to the river and back to provide water for her family. The river water is dirty and often causes diarrhea and other illnesses, especially for her children. “I was exhausted and felt terrible that I didn’t have money to buy medicine for my children,” Veronica shared with ADRA.
ADRA has been drilling wells in Timor-Leste, providing accessible and safe water for families.
The water Veronica carries every day, despite being contaminated, is precious to the family, and every drop matters. Veronica explains that as a result of its scarcity, her family would never wash their hands before eating or after going to the toilet. This lack of sanitary behavior also plays an undeniable role in the spread of diseases.
After drilling the well, ADRA installed a water station with hand pumps in Dilor, near Veronica’s home. It now takes her minutes to fetch water for her family. ADRA also provided hygiene and sanitation training to the villagers and at the school.
Now with clean water available, the cases of diarrhea have lowered dramatically, and children are no longer missing school due to illness. With the community’s acquired knowledge on sanitation, the health behaviors have changed, directly affecting the health and well-being of families.
The water station has been life-changing for Veronica and her family. She says, “Our family is very thankful for ADRA’s work, and we already enjoy its benefits. Our quality of life has improved, and the water tastes good. I hope we continue to be healthy and not get sick anymore.”
ADRA has drilled approximately 15 wells around Timor-Leste and installed numerous hand pump water stations so that villagers have abundant water in close proximity. Your donations help ADRA continue its clean water and sanitation projects in Timor-Leste, allowing communities to live healthier and happier lives.
Tin Mar Hwe’s Story
Myanmar
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Tin Mar Hwe’s Story
Every day, Tin Mar Hwe, the headmistress of a school in Than Bo, Myanmar, worries about having enough clean water for her students. She depends on parent volunteers to make eight trips a day to nearby ponds to collect enough water to last the children through the day. Access to clean water is critical for survival, education, and upward mobility. But in some areas, it comes at a high cost.
ADRA’s water specialists provide safe and clean drinking water for schools in places like Than Bo, Myanmar.
Each trip to the pond takes 30 minutes, so parent volunteers miss a half day’s work in the fields whenever they help at the school. Tin Mar Hwe worries most during the harvest season because parents cannot afford to take time off and the children must wait until lunch to get water. Even when there is enough water, it is not filtered well enough to keep the students from getting sick and missing school.
ADRA’s water specialists built a rainwater collection system with storage tanks and taps at Tin Mar Hwe’s school. Now her students can have water whenever they like, and their parents are free to do the work they need to make a living. With access to clean water, Tin Mar Hwe is confident that her students will be able to have a consistent education, a healthier life, and a more promising future.
The rainwater collection system is just one of ADRA’s water sanitation projects in Myanmar. Thanks to donations from around the world, ADRA has had the resources to install three borehole wells as well as a solar-powered pump and water tank in other Myanmar villages.
INFORMAÇÕES ÚTEIS
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Projetos
Projeto: “ADRA em Ação”
Início: set 2007
Intervenção:
- Entrega de cabazes mensais
- Oferta de roupas e calçado
- Recolha de alimentos em hipermercados
- Atividades de recolha de fundos e bens -
Notícias
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Eventos
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Parcerias
Junta de Freguesia de Alpendurada
Banco Alimentar contra a Fome
Banco local de Voluntariado de Marco de Canaveses
Rede Social de Marco de Canaveses
Pontualmente: Empresas locais, doadores privados
CONTACTOS
Delegada | Rosa Antunes da Silva
Delegado | Outro Nome Apelido
Rua de Alpendurada, 4575
4410-004 Alpendurada
+351 97 936 13 24