"I can't make ends meet!": a mother of 4 children launches a desperate appeal and receives many donations

by Alison Forde

July 25, 2021

"I can't make ends meet!": a mother of 4 children launches a desperate appeal and receives many donations
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Helping others is a dignified choice that we should all consider. A single gesture, which may seem tiny to us, may be immense to someone else and mean something far greater. By combining many small gestures we can create a bigger one, which can change (and sometimes even save) the life of the people it is intended for. When more people come together to do good, wonderful things can happen. Sometimes we take for granted how important unity is in helping someone in difficulty, especially when it comes to people who are in less well-off than us. A little more consideration towards others is enough to start taking a small step towards the realization of a humanly better world.

via Diario do Sertao Portal de Noticias e TV

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 Diário do Sertão Portal de Notícias e TV/Youtube

Diário do Sertão Portal de Notícias e TV/Youtube

Adriana Alves story is a beautiful story of unity and humanity. The woman is from Cajazeiras, a municipality located in the state of Paraìba, in Brazil. Today a large part of the Brazilian population is forced to live through a harsh reality. There are families like Adriana's who barely manage to support themselves and obtain the basic necessities in life.

Adriana is the mother of four young children, but only three of them live with her (her fourth child lives with her grandmother), the youngest is 5 months old while the oldest is 9 years old. Her husband collects reusable and recyclable materials. Adriana's family is forced to live in a shack in which there is not even basic furniture. It's a house infested with mice andthe family sleep on mattresses placed on the floor, which could entail a great risk of contracting infectious diseases.

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 Diário do Sertão Portal de Notícias e TV/Youtube

Diário do Sertão Portal de Notícias e TV/Youtube

Their only source of income received amounts to only 250 Brazilian reals, which are donated to them by Bolsa Familia, a financial aid program for poor families in Brazil. As a result, just putting a hot meal on the table to feed the children becomes difficult. All Adriana and her husband could offer them was white rice and a half packet of couscous.

To better understand the conditions in which Adriana's family lived is the fact that, in order to quench their thirst, they did not even have clean water available. All family the members were forced to drink unclean tap water, which is why one of the children was hospitalized. Living in these conditions, for Adriana, even thinking of being able to guarantee a future with solid foundations for her children represented a utopia.

The bills kept coming and, given their very low income, the family could not help but let the bills accumulate. It was necessary to be able to keep what little money they received to buy food. At this point, the situation began to be more and more unsustainable. BEing anxious about the conditions her family were living in (and probably also frightened for the future of her children), Adriana, hoping to be able to enter people's hearts, decided to make an appeal for help.

Adriana's desperate message was broadcast by the  Olho Vivo del portale Diário do Sertão program. Thousands of people saw the woman in tears, with her youngest child in her arms, as she begged for help, afraid that her children might starve. Images of her home were broadcast and viewers became aware of the conditions in which Adriana's family, as victims of poverty, were forced to live. Fortunately, Adriana's appeal paid off: her story had a very strong impact and struck many people from other countries, who immediately mobilized to improve her life and that of her family, to make her the most dignified as possible.

 Diário do Sertão Portal de Notícias e TV/Youtube

Diário do Sertão Portal de Notícias e TV/Youtube

After her first appearance, Adriana's story was broadcast a second time. Her face had lost the sadness and she looked happy and smiling, grateful to all the people who, with extreme empathy and generosity, had contributed to improving their life. In addition to lots of food, Adriana and her family can finally enjoy new beds to sleep and rest on, a stove for cooking, gas cylinders, a wardrobe and even a refrigerator to keep food cool.

Reading between the lines of this moving story we can grasp a very powerful message, which is not at all obvious, which is to do good. With Adriana's story, we can learn how much someone's life can really be changed thanks to humanity, one of the noblest values a living being can ever have.

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