Afuá Centre in Brazil

Watch a Living Truth three-part television special on this project.

The Marajó Islands sit in the vast mouth of the Amazon River in the State of Amapa in northeastern Brazil. The people who live on these isolatated islands subsist as fishermen, hunters and boat builders. Poverty is widespread, sanitation facilities are rare and half of the population cannot read or write. Children and adolescents are victims of sexual abuse, drugs, domestic violence, incest and other disastrous outcomes of the social inequities found in the region.

Partners International is responding to the needs of about 11,000 people who live in the community of Afuá. In partnership with the Evangelical Mission for Assistance to Fishermen (EMAF), we are helping locally-funded missionaries to develop a base of ministry to reach this entire area. From the Afuá Base Camp teams of volunteers will be mobilized to share the Gospel, teach vocational courses, teach agricultural techniques and provide health care to families in the region.

Using this new building in Afuá, EMAF missionaries will be able to bring the light of Jesus Christ to the community in three significant ways.

Offer community programs for children and youth

The building in Afuá will serve as a community centre for children and teenagers. The centre will provide a safe place for children and young people where tutors will help them learn and succeed at school. EMAF staff will provide vocational training, health and hygiene classes and life skills that help young people make wise and safe decisions. Christian teachers and counsellors will provide Bible classes and personal support for children facing challenges such as domestic violence and substance abuse.

Provide health care

EMAF will operate two large boats out of the Afuá that can transport teams of health care professionals to island communities. The boats serve as floating clinics to provide treatment and preventative health care that villagers would otherwise not be able to access.

Plant churches in unreached villages

Teams of evangelists will work out of the base at Afuá to visit communities, set up preaching points and ultimately plant churches in 10 unreached villages. Evangelists work hand in hand with health care providers to build relationships and show the love of Jesus in practical ways.

Here's my gift for Brazil.

Please use my gift to help build the Afuá Centre. (no decimals, please).