Najda Maria de Oliveira Santos:

“It is a huge challenge to reach out fellow Spiritists in Brazil’s second largest state”

The president of the Spiritist Union of Para talks about the Spiritist Movement in the region and the challenges that stem from the huge size of the state, in Brazil’s Amazon region
 
 

	Najda Maria de Oliveira Santos (photo), born and bred in Pará state, has been a Spiritist since 1975. She became president of the state’s Spiritist Union in 2006. She has degrees in Education and Business Administration and has now retired from the local state bank, Banco da Amazonia. She helped found three Spiritist Centres along the years in Pará. In
this interview, she talks about her experience ahead of the Spiritist Movement in such a unique region.

Begin by telling a bit more about Pará.

It is Brazil’s second largest state. It borders Suriname in the north and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. It continues to be a major producer of nuts –Para nuts, as Brazil nuts are known in the country – but the main economic activities are logging, cattle ranching and mining. It has huge reserves of iron ore, bauxite and copper. There are 144 municipalities in the state. The capital, Belem, is known as “The Metropolis of the Amazon,” with a population in its metropolitan area of some 2 million people.

When was the Spiritist Union of Pará founded? How did Spiritism begin in the state?

In December 1905, a Navy officer called Francisco de Paula Menezes arrived in Belém from Rio de Janeiro. He made contact with local Spiritists and became a developed a close friendship with an Army officer, Francisco Solerno Moreira. Paula Menezes had taken part in the Spiritist Congress of October 3^rd 1904, which marked the 100^th anniversary of Allan Kardec’s birth. Influenced by the recommendations of the congress, he set out to create an organisation that encompassed all the existing Spiritist Groups in the capital. Solerno embraced the idea and they began an intensive programme, visiting all Groups and trying to get their support. They obtained the necessary support in a very short time. On May 20^th 1906, the Spiritist Union of Para was founded. There are now 210 Groups in the state, but not all are members of the Union.

What are the main challenges of looking after the Spiritist Movement in a state with so unique conditions?

The challenge is to reach out the Spiritist Centres outside the capital. The access is very restricted in many cases. Some areas can only be reached by plane. Others by river, with different types of boats – bigger, smaller, faster, slower. The journey can take from 5 hours to 4 days. To carry out training programmes and bring volunteer workers to the capital is a huge challenge. And that challenge gives everyone the extra motivation we need. We also have Regional Spiritist Councils, who gather many municipalities and do a great work in trying to disseminate the Teachings. They need to be very creative under the circumstances. The headquarters of some of the Councils are up to 12 hours away other municipalities, by boat or bus. In some cases, you need to travel 1,000km in bad roads to reach the next Spiritist Centre.

The capital, with a privileged geographical position and airport, has good access to other parts of the country. How is the integration between workers in Belem and the interior?

The volunteers who make the link with the interior need plenty of time in their hands. Many are retired. We gather all the presidents of Regional Councils in Belem once a year to prepare our annual strategy. Fellow Spiritists from neighbouring states help us. And we often invite Spiritists from other parts of Brazil to come to Para to take part in conferences, talks and lectures. They come to the capital and often travel to other areas in the state.

What particular event or experience would like to highlight from all your experience in the Spiritist Movement?

The EIMEP – Portuguese acronym for Intensive Meeting of the Spiritist Movement of Para. It is in its 35^th edition and is considered a congress, as it gathers up to 1,000 people who come for four days during the carnival holidays and go to a retreat. We have children, young people, adults, the elderly, all gathered in a big school taking part in a number of activities.

Is there any particular aspect of the Spiritist Movement in Para that you would like to mention here?

I would like to mention an event we had in Redencao, in the south of the state, in December 2012. A group of volunteers travelled to the town where, during two days, they took part in a gathering of Spiritist from seven local municipalities. The journey south from Belem was fine: 20 hours on a bus in a very bad road, full of potholes; a 1h30 plane journey to follow; and finally 10 hours on a minibus until arriving in Redencao. They worked in different groups according to their age group. But the return journey was a drag. They needed to reach the nearest airport in Maraba by 2100 to catch a plane to Belem. That journey should take 8 hours in a hired minibus. Well, that minibus broke down. Another one was sent to take them and broke down further down. The road was awful. They could only get to the airport on a third minibus. They got there exhausted, but in high spirits, finding the whole experience very entertaining.