I’m Letícia Alves and I live in the north of Brazil, in Pará.

In 2019 I took part in the Amazon Project, and for 2 weeks a group of volunteers and I dedicated our holidays to living with the people of the lower Amazon, in the city of Óbidos.

Before embarking on this adventure, I wondered if I would be able to give myself completely to this experience, which was set in a reality so different from my own. During the project we visited some riverside communities living on the banks of the Amazon River, and everyone welcomed us with unrivalled love.

We provided health, legal and family support services, but the most important thing was to listen deeply and share the lives, stories and difficulties of those we met. The stories were all very diverse: the lack of drinking water, the child who had a toothbrush for the whole family, or even the son who wanted to kill his mother… The more we listened, the more we understood the meaning of our presence there.

“The urgent challenge
to protect our common home
includes a concern to bring
the whole human family TOGETHER”

LS, 13

And among so many stories, I was able to see how much we can make a difference to people’s lives: how much just listening makes a difference, how much a bottle of drinking water makes all the difference.

The project was more than special. We were able to plant a seed of love in the midst of so much suffering and “building together” made us grow. When Jesus is present among us, everything becomes inspiring, full of light and joy.

It wasn’t something I lived for just 2 weeks and that was it, but it was an experience that really transformed my life, I felt a strong presence of God and that gave me the strength to embrace the sufferings of humanity that surround me in this daily construction of a united world.

My name is Francisco. I was born in Juruti in the Amazon, a town near Óbidos. I was surprised to learn that people from different parts of Brazil were travelling across the country to give of themselves to take care of my people and I wanted to join them.

What struck me most was the happiness among everyone, the volunteers and the local people, who even though they lived with very few material possessions, experienced the greatness of God’s love.

After experiencing the Amazonia project in Óbidos, I returned to Juruti with a new outlook and the desire to continue this mission, but in my own town. Over there, I saw the same needs that I had found in Óbidos. This desire became not just mine, but that of our entire community, which embraced the cause. Together we came up with the idea and gave birth to the Amazonia project in the community of São Pedro with the aim of listening and responding to the “cry” of those who need it most, of those who are often not heard. We chose a community on the mainland, began to monitor their needs and then went in search of professionals who could help as volunteers.

With the collaboration of several people, we brought the life of the Gospel, medical care, psychological care, medicines and dental care to that entire community. Above all, we tried to stop and listen to the difficulties and joys of those we met.

I have one certainty: in order to build a more fraternal and united world, we are called to listen to the cries of those who suffer around us and to act, with the certainty that everything done with love is not small and can change the world!

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