Introduction to the "Farm"

So what is the chacara, you're asking? It is a halfway house for recovering drug and alcohol addicts. The official name of the place is the Young People's Recovery Center, but it is more commonly known as the "chacara," a Portuguese word meaning "farm." The chacara is located on 1 1/2 hectares of farmland in Alvorada, one of the poorer and more violent suburbs in greater Porto Alegre. It is a spiritual oasis for men seeking freedom from chemical dependencies. The chacara is run by an independent, non-denominational church. The men follow a disciplined routine that includes early rising, prayer, Bible study, manual labor, and more prayer & Bible study! The time of internation is one year; though many leave before this time, some do stick it out, and their lives are changed forever.

The chacara consists of a reception area, a multi-purpose building that serves as a chapel, kitchen and cafeteria, two dormitories that can house up to 25 men, storage units, a pond, and several plantation areas where various vegetables are grown for consumption. Right now our church is currently helping the chacara build a new dormitory - an exciting project that I'll elaborate on in posts forthcoming.

How did we get involved with the chacara? It's a God story. Eight years ago, when I came to Porto Alegre to do Let's Start Talking, I met a man named Paulo Renato Barbosa. He and I became friends, and Paulo was eventually baptized and began attending church. But he was hiding a problem - an addiction to alcohol that he had struggled with for nearly 20 years. In 2001, he decided to check himself into the chacara, and God changed his life. When I moved to POA in June of 2002, I got in contact with Paulo and rekindled our friendship. We invited him to come work for our church in May of 2004, and he has been with us ever since. Through his relationships with our congregation, we began visiting the chacara and taking donations to the men. Our involvement has increased dramatically in recent months, as I'll share later.

Here is a photo of the men currently housed at the chacara. In my next post, I'll tell you why working with these men has become one of the highlights of my week!