President Marli Ribiero has run Abrac almost single handedly for a long time now. Today, she has been able to hire cooks for the kitchen, as well as security and drivers to leave the children to school. She also has a selection of older girls who have become monitors and work at Abrac during the day and in the evenings when they are not studying or working outside.
President Marli Ribiero and her son, Matheus,
Marli has been President of Abrac for 15 years now, and has worked tirelessly to turn Abrac into what it is today, an outreach project and shelter that has a positive impact on hundreds of lives, as well as caring for 30 permenent lives 24 hours a day.
When she first came to the Presidency, Abrac was a small shelter caring for a few boys. Today Abrac cares for 30 boys and girls and supports many different families in the community.
As evidence of her amazing work over the years, Abrac now has two large houses for both boys and girls, as well as a football pitch and play area.
Keep her in your thoughts and prayers!
Virginia was the first girl to ever live in Abrac. She did so until the age of 16, when she went to live in Norway for 3 years to finish her studies, and work as an Au Pair. Doing so enabled her to learn both the Norwegian and English languages, invaluable for visiting groups. She also saved enough money to study Psychology in Brazil. She currently has over two years left to study in the evening and she works at Abrac during the day.
She currentl;y has her own house with her brothers, Alex and Diego, and the three have remained very active in the work of Abrac.
Adriana grew up with her parents, Pastor Armindo and Elienai Pessoa, firstly in a church in Sao Paulo, before moving with them as a little girl to Recife in the north of Brazil. In Recife she lived with her parents as they helped tun Rama, a boy's orphanage. In recent years, Rama joined with a female orphanage, Vale...and they became one on the same site. Today, Vale-Rama is a thriving community project that assists in the lives of countless numbers of people in the community of Dois Unidos, Recife.
Adriana returned to Sao Paulo as an 18 year old, having grown up seein her parent's work. She is currently doing an apprenticeship as a hairdresser in the city, but lives in Abrac, helpin on a daily basis with the very young children particularly.
Fernanda Cristina also grew up in Abrac itself. She now has an inbuilt desire to serve where she is, by passing on her experience to other young people within Abrac. She is very assertive and commands the respect of so many of the young people within the family.
She is mostly active in the evenings, helping prepare the house for the next day before the security for the evening arrives.
She is also currently working at a hairdressers with a view to attaining the correct training to ensure emplyment in the future.
We will be adding more stories and people, such as the drivers, cooks and securioty in the future, as well as our Norwegian friends who continue to be such a benefit to the work at Abrac