12 minute read
Transforming Power
By Adriana Calabró Photos: Chico Audi and Amigos do Bem Collection
TRANSFORMING
POWER
WITH A SOLID AND WELL INTENTIONED BACKGROUND, ALCIONE ALBANESI SETS A PATH OF FORCE, RESILIENCE, AND ACHIEVEMENT WITH THE AMIGOS DO BEM INSTITUTION. SHAPING LIVES AND BUILDING THAT WHICH SEEMS TO BE IMPOSSIBLE ARE HER SPECIALTIES
Anyone who listens to Alcione Albanese speak, in a professional environment about her work with the Amigos do Bem project, soon realizes she is a woman of outgoing energy, vibrant in her ideas and words, utterly committed to her role as president of the institution. However, when seeing her in action, holding hands with children in the far corners of the Northeast, on the front line fighting against hunger and poverty, one comes to understand that her role as a citizen and her vision of solidarity go far beyond her position or title. It is pure moving power. This force one observes in Alcione did not come about by chance. She learned how to appreciate volunteer work and dedicate her inexhaustible energy to those in need, like Dona Guiomar, her family’s matriarch. “My mom is an inspiration to me. I always say ‘you are taught to be good’ and it was exactly like that for me. Ever since I was young, I accompanied my mother’s social work,” she says. “During vacation, I looked after children who lived in the daycares she built.” Guiomar’s legacy continues in future generations, for her grandchildren have been committed and accompanied Alcione to the Northeast, since their first trip. “I came from a middle class family, who achieved everything through a lot of hard work. My father was a constructor, and my mother was born in the countryside of Presidente Prudente. We went to a private school, but I believe the most important lesson was taught by them, our principles and values,” clarifies Alcione.
But what is Amigos do Bem? Maybe the best answer is an image of one of the many interventions that took place in the city’s supermarkets before the pandemic. A legion of unified smiling volunteers, people of different ages, social classes, and regions of São Paulo. All aligned by cash registers, engaged in conversation with everyone, proudly talking about the work accomplished in the Northeastern backlands and how millions are still benefiting from the donations received. The speech captivated many customers, who included in their cart more items to be donated and sent to those in need. The incredible task force filled the project’s trucks with food, which then headed for the Northeast. In times of social distancing, the new reality required Amigos do Bem to change raising strategies and turn to the internet and social media. However, that initial image, the “face to face” interaction at the supermarket tells a lot about the spirit of the project idealized by Alcione and now serves as a foundation to solidify their online actions. Afterall, she and her team believe that it is through human connections and engaging action that bridges are built between such different realities. That of the urban reality with supermarkets fully stocked and monthly grocery shopping, and that of the backlands, with so many living below the poverty line.
It is worth mentioning that even though Alcione now works full time dedicated to her vocation with Amigos do Bem, obtaining remarkable results in terms of social transformation, she once had to reconcile all of her charitable actions with a busy corporate lifestyle. She was a lamp factory owner for many years and set an example for her executive partners, who also joined the project. Ever since she was a teenager, she had a vocation for business and made a mark in the corporate market, being one of the pioneers at establishing relationships with China. Today, her gift of negotiation continues, but her verve is directed at multiplying investments in other sectors, in life and hope.
A Look at Reality
The work at the Amigos do Bem institution started 27 years ago in a spontaneous way. In 1993, Alcione Albanesi and twenty friends left for a trip to the Northeastern backlands, where they saw the sad reality before them. Families going without food, water, or any possibility of work. “We found an entirely different country than the one we lived in, and for years we took them resources to diminish their suffering,” she says. As of 2002, the projects took shape, and a group led by her decision to transform lives in a more solid way, always learning as a community from their successes and mistakes. “We made ourselves acquainted with their language through emotion, through love, and above all, close interaction with the families. Outreaches were created from the daily contact with these people.” Through time in action, it became clear that basic work needed to be done first, that required taking food and water to ensure people’s survival, followed by medical assistance and building houses so people could live with dignity. “Many people say that if you ‘give a man a fish you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime but I always reply, ‘one cannot fish in a dried up river.’” Poverty and misery are so profound and secular in this region, that we must provide basic resources so people can survive and then develop,” explains the founder.
The Numbers Brazil Wants to See
Everyone wants to see leadership that praises governance, transparency, good communication, besides being recognized for its aptitude to raise funds. For the Instituto Doar, these are the requirements to award the year’s best NGOs, and in 2020, Amigos do Bem was elected the best organization in that sector. Numbers show that this achievement is not merely symbolic, but proven. They cared for 75 thousand people every month last year, in 140 small towns in Alagoas, Pernambuco, and Ceará, and 10 thousand children and teens in the four Centros de Transformação (Transformation Centers), relying on 180 thousand meals served every month. There were more than 10,300 volunteers in action, both in fundraising and working on site. There is more. If the initial concern was “teaching a man to fish,” more than 1,100 jobs were generated in agriculture, cashew factories, sewing and crafts workshops, and honey factories. Not to mention educators and those in administrative posts who are making this great wheel of solidarity turn. Clean water and housing were not lacking: 123 cisterns were installed, 50 wells drilled, and more than 540 houses were built. In terms of health and college education, the results were also impressive. These are just as remarkable as one’s desire to cross hundreds of kilometers to help others: more than 187 thousand medical and dental care in the last year, and more than 500 college scholarships. “We are happy with the recognition, but our greatest reward is to see the lives of millions transformed. Our motto is ‘if I cannot do everything I must, I must, at least, do what I can,” comments Alcione concerning the award.
A Sustainable Cycle
The name of the institution led by Alcione Albanesi is very suggestive, for it really brings together a variety of people, entrepreneurs, volunteers, workers, who all have one single desire in common, to do good. If the project catalyzes such enthusiasm, it is because it offers many pragmatic ways to help, which makes everyone see not only the charity but a whole model of social development that brings solutions in the long run. “We act in all aspects of people’s lives, such as education, jobs and income, and in the basics for survival,” describes Alcione. To even grasp the sheer amount of resources necessary to maintain a project such as this, one must understand that it attains no less than 11 of the 17 objectives in the UN’s social development requirements. Seventy five thousand
people are monitored, from newborns to elders, in an extremely distant and hard to access semi-arid region. “Still we know it is possible to transform. Almost 30 years of work has shown us that, but we rely on others’ solidarity to take opportunities to the backlands, from education for children and teens to jobs for men and women in a cycle of dignity,” completes Alcione, who wishes to increase the project’s selfsustainability even more. Speaking of cycles, some stories perfectly illustrate this continuity. It is Bruna Carvalho’s case, an educator at the Centro de Transformações in Alagoas, supervised closely by Alcione. “When she was 7 years old, she was thirsty and hungry and today she spreads goodness. After receiving a scholarship to study Pedagogy, she shows others how it is possible to dream, transform, and create opportunities for self-development.” At the age of seven, Bruna desperately needed ‘fish’. Today, she is capable of taking many children fishing.
We Don’t Want Only Food
the semi-arid region in the Northeast, but also how much more still needs to be done in other regions helped by the project. “Our children most of the time live in clay houses, in small isolated towns. Unfortunately, we can not provide housing for everyone,” says the leader of the visionary project. But she and the volunteers continue their trail of confidence, believing in the power of the new generation. “The youth are people-oriented. They have a more collaborative and humane outlook, really searching for a greater life purpose. This brings us a lot of hope because we know this social transformation will only be
possible with the help of many. We seek to draw civil society’s and companies’ gaze to the need for change in our country, and consequently, a change in each of us.” According to Alcione, it is through Education that children and teens access infinite possibilities and it is also important that they too surpass the regional characteristics and isolation of the backlands. Knowledge goes beyond the basics in this project, it includes learning English for example. “Just like the internet, a new language expands the youth’s horizons and knowledge,” she explains. “The idea is to always provide resources and opportunities for people to generate their own income.” For Alcione, who internalized Dona Guioma’s values, a human being prefers to give rather than receive. “It is much better to give than to receive. When we donate, we are the privileged ones.” Another point, besides the financial resources, is faith, and Alcione said she learned a lot about faith, strength, and dreams. “If one’s belly is not empty, then one may dream,” says she.
Mother of 75 Thousand
Ever since she gave up the corporate lifestyle to dedicate herself entirely to Amigos do Bem, Alcione Albanesi constructed an even more challenging routine. Half of the month in São Paulo’s capital and the other half in the backlands. To this day, amongst comings and goings, the disparity of both realities still affects her. “It is always a shock when I arrive in São Paulo. I always say I would like to ride a donkey back to the city and notice the discrepancies between the Northeastern backlands and the great urban cities.” This social gap is so blatant in Alcione’s point of view that it has permanently shifted since the first time she had contact with it. “After my first trip to the backlands, I already knew I would never be the same again. I needed to transform my exasperation into action, and that is what we, Amigos do Bem, alongside many volunteers and collaborators seek to do. Our country is amongst the highest GDPs in the world and amongst the most unequal on the planet. We must act to diminish this alarming difference,” she explains. While she admires great and inspiring leaders, like Ghandi and Mother Teresa, Alcione says it is the common folk who do good, and the will to be better and more solidary is a choice. In her case, it was her choice to expand her family. “With my backland family I learned to have more faith, to be more resistant, and to look at my problems differently,” she says. As for her biological children, she is dedicated to them and has well-founded expectations grounded in love and proximity. Even with her busy schedule, she always finds a way to spend quality time with them. “My children teach me that it is possible for us to be together at all times, even when I am away for more than 15 days in the backlands. They show me things are genuine when they come from the inside when we put love in everything we do, and that it is possible to maintain a path of goodness from one generation to the next.” She is a truly engaged and present mom in the lives of her four children in São Paulo and her 75 thousand children in the backlands.
Challenge and Transformation
To tell Alcione’s story we must begin by telling a little bit about the volunteer’s day to day outreaches to the public, afterall, that is exactly who the president of Amigos do Bem is, someone that always believed that “all hands on deck” was the right way to act. With the pandemic, the physical contact and opportunities to share the project’s story in order to gain allies, have drastically diminished. As a result, the donations have been impacted severely. Once again, it was time to act. In 2020, during the first peak of the virus in Brazil, the NGO held an emergency course of action. “With the help of our volunteers and donations of many friends, we were able to provide food for more than 1 million people and assist more than 300 small towns in Alagoas, Caerá, Paraíba, and Pernambuco. We delivered more than 200,000 food baskets, door to door,” says Alcione. At the moment, they continue to raise donations to distribute 100,000 food baskets and assist more than 500 thousand people. All this while maintaining existing projects. These are ambitious goals defined by the unwavering will to affirm solidarity. According to her, donors can be found anywhere, for it is not about the amount, it is the genuine desire to contribute. Alcione believes Brazilians are a giving people and this characteristic has been intensified by the pandemic. “These are small gestures that promote big changes, and together they build a better country,” she says. Finally, we asked this warrior of kindness about her greatest personal dream. She was emphatic. “That poverty and hunger be remembered as historical facts in our country. That children and teens would be able to study and have dignity. That hunger and poverty would not be part of the reality of millions of people in Brazil. This is the mission and vision of Amigos do Bem, and for what we have dedicated our lives to.” Let us all be inspired by this transformative dream.
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