podcast

Hi, everybody. Welcome again. Today we get to do something a little bit different. We have been focusing mostly on theory up until now. We've been talking about theories and strategies and what it might look like to apply those. But today we're actually going to get into practice. We're going to move from theory to practice. We are going to have an interview with someone who has put specifically this strategy that we have been focusing on, this foundational strategy of finding your why, into real-life situations, in a natural environment, who's going to help us to see what this looks like when you apply it in your everyday life. So I wanted to do this because as a podcast, it's really impossible for me to give specific and exhaustive orientation on an individual basis to the people who are listening to this podcast, on how they can implement this strategy of finding your why, but what I can do is I can offer examples. I can offer examples of people who have done this.
Alfred Bandura, who was a very famous psychologist, a Canadian American psychologist, taught at Stanford. He studied and researched a lot about what he called self-efficacy, which is an individual's belief in their own power to effect change, their capacity to change things, whether it's in their own lives or in the world around them. He talked about one really crucial tool for being able to increase your own belief in your ability to make some kind of change: having models, people who can demonstrate that particular skill or goal you are aiming for. When people model for you, offering what he calls vicarious experiences, it can strengthen your own belief that you can also make this kind of change. So it's with this in mind that I am offering this example today of someone who can model the strategy of finding your why.
I wanted to start by first asking if you could tell us a little bit about your personal story, your life, your childhood, just to give us some context.
Adriana: I would like to start by asking if you could tell us a little bit about your personal story, your life, your childhood, just to give us some context.
Ana: Yes. My name is Ana Regina Reis Cardoso, and my childhood from the age of 10 was a learning experience for my life because I had... my mother got sick, I had to take care of her, faced many battles and difficulties, and relied on a lot of help from people. I had an alcoholic father who didn't live life the way he should have. And then I started growing up and understanding the need to do something for someone else.
Adriana: Can you talk a bit more about that, about the help you received, the way people helped your family?
Ana: Yes, starting with food, my mother was diabetic and needed a special diet and insulin. So, many people would bring us vegetables, fruits, and medicines every month. They would also come by to chat with my mother and keep her company.
Adriana: So, your father wasn't around.
Ana: No, my father wasn't.
Adriana: He didn't you take care of your mother?
Ana: No, he was never around. It was just me and my mom. And then I started taking care of my mom because her diabetes got worse, she lost her vision, stopped walking, and... She had both legs amputated due to diabetes. That was the worst phase of my life, which I had to overcome a lot. There were days when I had just a piece of chicken, and it was for my mom. I had nothing. Then I got help, André's mom helped us a lot, a lot, a lot. And that's how I managed... not to fall into depression or do something foolish with my life, but instead, I thought, one day what I went through, I will do for someone else. And today, thank God, I am doing it. My mom passed away at 89 years old, she almost reached 90, but she was lucid, a lucid person, just lost her vision and movement. She couldn't hold anything in her hand because she had multiple sclerosis, which nowadays has treatment, but back then it didn't. So I fed her with a bottle, fed her food by hand, and this went on for years.
Adriana: So, you dedicated yourself to your mother?
Ana: Completely to my mother. I stopped studying, I only completed up to the eighth grade, I couldn't study anymore. When my mother passed away, I said, now I'm going to go out and do something for someone. I got a job as a caregiver and took care of a wheelchair-bound lady who had had a stroke. I took care of her for 17 years. I retired from that job, and this knee problem I have is because of it, as she weighed almost 100 kilos and I had to almost lift her, put her in bed, and in the wheelchair.
Adriana: Then, you mentioned that after you retired, your goal was to continue helping those in need.
Ana: Yes, I retired because of this knee problem, and then I started doing this volunteer work, giving free crochet classes, helping people. People were undergoing psychological treatment, and the psychologist would send them to me to learn crochet so they could have some activity in their lives. Many overcame their depression because of this, and today they only have gratitude for me because now they have a source of income. The Morro das Pedras Community Association is a place where there are classes, dance classes for the elderly, gymnastics, and games.
Adriana: So, it was there that you taught free crochet classes to people with anxiety.
Ana: Yes, there was crochet, embroidery, knitting, but mine was crochet.
Adriana: But then, during the pandemic, the association closed right?
Ana: It closed.
Adriana: So what then?
Ana: Everything stopped. Then I thought, what am I going to do now? Then I thought, well, but I had 80 families to take care of at the time. They received basic food kit supplies.
Adriana: They received this food from the association?
Ana: Yes, from the association, right? Then I commented to my friend, I said, my God, what are we going to do now with these people? Then I thought, I already have an idea, I'll do it in my garage. Then she laughed, like, how, Ana? How? I'll put out a plastic table, a chair, I'll sit there, and the people who follow us in the community association, I'll ask for help. Some rice, some beans.
Adriana: You personally messaged people?
Ana: Personally. And that's where it started.
Adriana: That's where the "Garage of Goodness" started?
Ana: The garage of goodness started. That's why it's called the garage of goodness, right? And then it kept going, kept going. Then I went to the association to talk to André Luiz, who was the president at the time. Ana, this is crazy because no one wants to shop, no one wants to leave the house, how are you going to do this? You're already older, you could even catch something. I said I'm not afraid. As long as I have a kilo of rice and beans, I'll stay there. So, okay, he said, I won't say anything else about it. The next day I put out a chair and a table, my friend stayed with me, and we started receiving. At first, it was just a kilo of each thing, and it grew to the point where people were arriving by car with kits they had assembled themselves and brought to us.
Adriana: All this just by sending text messages?
Ana: Yes, only text messages.
Adriana: And people donated like that?
Ana: Yes, they would bring it to us. Look, I brought this here, brought a basic food basket. And we managed to take care of the families. Yes, thank God. We stayed there for a year and a half.
Adriana: I imagine there was a lot of demand because many people were left without work.
Ana: Yes, without work. Painters, even gardeners. No one, everyone was afraid to let people into their homes to work because the pandemic was bad, right? Then everyone would say, oh, but Mrs. Ana, an elderly person, there and all, taking risks, and I was never afraid of catching it. And thank God I never did. We put up a chain, so people wouldn't come close to us. So, all necessary precautions.
Adriana: And then delivered this food to the needy families.
Ana: Yes, everyone was wearing masks.
Adriana: And did people express that they really needed this?
Ana: Yes, yes, a lot. There were people who came with children who, just by looking, couldn't speak and would start crying. The children were crying, and we had to hold it together to give them strength, right? Yes. Because it was a very difficult time. My house was small, and I had to store everything there. Some days I had to jump over things because there was no way to get through. It turned into a storage room. But it was gratifying.
Adriana: And then, after the pandemic, did you continue looking for projects like that?
Ana: Yes, projects like that... On the first weekend of the month, we collect non-perishable food, and on the second, hygiene and cleaning supplies. Then we assemble kits and call needy families to pick them up. I have 50 families that still receive them. And there's also another project, which is for Christmas, that we do for underprivileged children. They don't have proper sandals or clothes. We collect treats for them. I go on WhatsApp, and everyone donates a candy or a bag of chocolates, and we create a Christmas for the kids. It's something else, you see those kids, they leave happy, hugging you, smiling, and it's very beautiful.
And we sent five trucks to Rio Grande do Sul.
Adriana: Maybe you can explain to those who don't know about the tragedy in Rio Grande do Sul, why you were collecting donations, what happened there.
Ana: Yes, the rain, a lot of rain, and then there are the rivers, the Guaíba River. There's a river near Langeado, they filled up, there was no dredging, it kept raining and raining because it rained a lot, and then it flooded, flooded. Cities were destroyed. There were places like Canoas, Eldorado Sul, and São Leopoldo, it devastated Matias Velho, it was over, houses piled up on the ground.
Adriana: So people had nothing.
Ana: Nothing. They lost everything. So they went to shelters, right? And those shelters needed food to prepare for the people staying there, and they needed hygiene and cleaning supplies.
Adriana: And you also ended up collecting clothes and sandals and things like that, right? Clothes for these people.
Ana: Everything, everything. Bed linens.
Adriana: Contacting... Store managers and things like that?
Ana: Everything, yes.
Adriana: But the important thing is that you coordinated all of this, because it's clear that these people wanted to help, these companies wanted to help but needed someone to organize it, right? But you do other projects too, don't you? You brought the notebooks to show some things you do for nursing homes. Can you explain a bit about that work too?
Ana: Yes, the nursing home at Serte, my employer whose mother I took care of for years, whenever she went, I would go with her, and we would stay there all day. And then I went to the room with the elderly to chat, and I saw that they were drawing. There were sheets of paper and lots of pencils, and I thought, this is where I fit in. It seems like things just come to me, do this. And I started drawing. So I would make drawings in the notebook, on A4 paper, and leave them there for them.
Adriana: For them to paint.
Ana: For them to paint.
Adriana: Did you do the drawing and they painted?
Ana: Yes, and they would paint. They painted all the drawings. And why? To move... their fingers, because they were very sedentary, their minds, the colors, to distract.
Adriana: So these were painted by them?
Ana: These I painted, but everything in the notebook I would copy for them but not paint. On A4 paper. I would take it to them to paint, so they could have an idea of what they wanted to paint. And they loved it and painted. Then one day I arrived there, and the coordinator called me and said, look how wonderful Ana, they made a panel with the drawings they painted, their names and the drawings they painted. And it was an activity with them too, because many didn't even receive visits, they would arrive, be left there, and stay. And when I arrived, it was a joy because I would spend the whole day with them.
Adriana: Yes, so this was entirely your idea?
Ana: It was my idea. I went in and saw them there, saw them drawing, many didn't know, they just scribbled... I thought, what can I do? So I got a lot, everything, these notebooks, all these drawings I took to them. I drew everything, these asymmetrical drawings, right? I did it all and took it to them. And then I started asking for A4 paper. Because they had plenty of pencils but little paper. I got those sealed packs for them to draw. Once, I even asked at a stationery store and got 10 packs of A4 paper, then we took them for them to draw.
Adriana: So I see a theme in your life. First, you needed and received a lot of help. Then you had the desire to help others and ended up coordinating the help of many people who also wanted to help but didn't know how.
Ana: Including many people who volunteer with me, they are learning from me. I always say, learn, because the day I can't do it anymore, you'll know how to continue. Because there will always be someone in need, I always think like that. Because I always worked since I was 11 years old. Then with my mother's illness, I stopped. I said, what am I going to do? Because I wasn't much into making friends, going to parties, those things that young people like today. I was a home body, but I said, what am I going to do? And then I got inspired, one thing leads to another, it's impressive. The life lesson I had throughout my childhood with my mother, with my father, was an inspiration, it's like a game, you start putting the puzzle together, one phase, you do this, that ends, with what you did, you learn more things to do more for others, it's really like that. And so, thank God, I didn't fall into depression, of course, sometimes we get nervous, it's natural, it's normal, but I see a lot of people depressed and I was afraid that would happen to me,
Adriana: ...of not feeling useful.
Ana: Yes, but it was a sequence, Adriana, a sequence of things, and I tell you, if another project comes up for me, I'll take it on. Because my life was a school, my childhood was a school for me. I think I learned more in my childhood, with my difficulties with my mother, with my father, than I learned in school. It was a learning experience for my life, for me to pass on to others. Yes. I will tell you that it was a life lesson for me, because it was a sad lesson. What I went through, only I know what I went through, it was a very sad lesson. But a lesson that I said to myself, I will overcome. I told myself, I will overcome this. It won't be my mother's illness, it won't be an absent father in my life, that will make me... because I will lose my mother, I will be alone as it happened, I am alone. But still, I have activities, I have... As you know, everything I mentioned, right? So, it was a sad life lesson, but at the same time, it was rewarding. Because if I had given in to depression, I wouldn't be able to do today what I do for so many people.
Adriana: But all of this is very inspiring. Thank you so much, Ana, for talking with us, for sharing a bit of your life wisdom with us.
Ana: And I hope to be able to help many people.
Adriana: And it goes on, right?
Ana: And it continues. I intend to keep going.
Adriana: Yes.