I was born at spiritist family. I have got used to take part at mediumship meetings since my childhood. Please bear in mid at that time we didn’t study mediumship as we do it today.  
 

O Consolador: What roles have you performed in the Spiritist movement? 

I took part at the Spiritist Education for Children at the spiritist centre Centro Espírita Vicente de Paulo, here in Bauru. When I was 10 years old we moved to Mato Grosso, where I lived until I was 15. When I was 16 we moved to Corumbá (MS), where I kept studying at Secondary School, but not Spiritist Education. I then managed to get into Banco do Brasil. Because it is public-owned Banco do Brasil must recruit workers by a Concurso Público (public draft process) and carry on strict norms of business. I started working at the bank in August 1962 in Piauí. I then started to take part at spiritist meetings in the city, but there were not well organised since the doctrine wasn’t well accepted in the region.  

O Consolador: What is Spiritism for you? How important is it to your life? 

Spiritism represents my safety. I became more confident in life with the knowledge acquired, since I was able to find the answers to my issues and the strength to overcome them. 

O Consolador: You are now the President of the centre Centro Espírita Amor e Caridade. Can you please tell us about it? 

I was part of the Management team for many years taking different roles. I took the role of Presidency at the last election. We have a good management structure, but we have a lot of costs involved. Therefore, the Government helps us somehow. We are, though, searching for funds to maintain our activities. We get a lot of support from the society in general. 

O Consolador: What are the biggest challenges the spiritist leader has to face, on your opinion? 

The challenges are: motivating the public to take part on the study groups, courses, lecturers, seminars etc., make sure charity and professionalism are apart, planning, etc. 

O Consolador: CEAC is considered to be a national reference, due to all community work done for the city and region of Bauru. Can you please tell us more about the activities you are involved? How many volunteers and employees do you have? 

We have 6 nucleus of work at the suburbs: Nova Esperança (Project Hope), Fortunato Rocha Lima (Project Sunflower), Jardim Ferraz (Project Children in action), Parque das Nações (Project to Grow), Vila São Paulo (Project Bee Colony) and Ferradura Mirim (Project Harvest to Light). Here we created a structure focused on helping children, youth and families in need. This focuses the education and inclusion of them into the workplace. We also have two nurseries located at: Vila Nova Esperança, where 160 children from the age of 4 months to 5 years and 11 months go; and Parque das Nações, with 60 children from the age of 3 to 5 years and 11 months. We also have a night hostel and since March 2008 a house for homeless people. 

The Project Gestar works with pregnant women and teaches them to look after the baby, to know about hygienic, breast feeding, etc. They usually get a layette by the end of the course free of charge. The group Irmão Sheila has 400 volunteers working with hospitals. They help sick brothers by telling them stories, giving them food, changing nappies, bathing them etc. They do everything possible to make their stay at the hospital easier.  

We also have the Project Comini where we work with individuals who are in jail, by minimising the discrimination that relatives might suffer. There are several other activities developed by volunteers. We now have 149 employees and around 900 volunteers. 

O Consolador: How is the project Albergue Noturno (Night Hostel) going? 

The hostel works in a very old building where the CEAC headquarters are located. We purchased part of a site next to the bus station. The other part of the site was donated to us by the Government. We will have a total area of 2.000 m2, where a building will be built to host the Albergue Noturno (Night Hostel). We did a massive campaign in the city and managed to get support from CIESP, FIESP, Assim, Assinar, Crime, Sinduscon, Sincopetro, City Councillors, the Mayor and the Military Police. 

O Consolador: Has the community of Bauru helped with the projects managed by CEAC? 

The community has helped with donations in general. We have contacted the politics and entrepreneurs as well to get more donations. 

O Consolador: Can you please share with the readers some of the experiences you had throughout all these years working with Spiritism? 

There was once due to lack of knowledge. In 1962 I took part at a mediumship group in Piauí, with no knowledge or competence. One person, who was observing the mediumship meeting, got involved with one spirit and became out of control. He took a chair by the hand and threatened to throw it at the ones who were sitting at the table. We didn’t know what to do. Since the room was located close to the street level, we thought we could open the door and throw the individual to the street. Luckily, we decided not to do that. We decided to pray. He then calmed down and we learned a new lesson. 

In regards to happy moments, there were so many it’s quite hard to highlight one. Every time I meet someone who learned from us and found work due to Assistance Service provided by the centre it proves to me all efforts were worth it. There are countless colleagues who come to the centre depressed, looking for help, who find the strength and enthusiasm to leave due to the orientations received. 

O Consolador: What about the young people that are part of the Spiritist Education for Youth at CEAC? Are they active? 

We are working towards motivating the youth in a more dynamic way. We have a reasonable number of young people in the centre, but we are searching for new ways to involve them. 

O Consolador: We understand the Spiritist Doctrine demands constantly, therefore we are aware of the modern world challenges. How do you manage to conciliate the studies and volunteer activities you coordinate with your professional life, family, friends and other tasks? 

Time is precious. We have every day 1.440 minutes. If they are well managed, we can get involved with professional, social, religious, family activities. We would still have some minutes available after that. We sometimes get tired and think this is too much. Therefore, we forget that our life is based on being useful. This gives us, in return, the peace and the happiness we all aim for. 

O Consolador: Can you please give us your final words? 

I would like to thank the opportunity I had to talk about CEAC’s activities. At this moment in time, when we celebrate 90 years of existence, we would like to remind us of the ones who came before our time. We would also like to pray for the ones who work anonymously to maintain the work developed at our spiritist centre.