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My name is Paulo Roberto Barbosa. I am 47 years old, born in Niteroy, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the 22nd of January, 1953. Son of Claudio and Alvanir and brother to Vilma Lucia. I married Zelma Duarte on February 18, 1978 with whom I had two children; Etiene and Bruno. On July 21, 1974 I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. In 1993 my wife passed away as result of miocardiapathia dilatant. She was only 35 years old. Since then I live with my children, whom I love dearly and they do everything for me since I became blind.
Loss of sight
Suffering of retina detachment
After a short surgical intervention for relief from a
cataract that had developed and due to a retina detachment
on March 5, 1990, 11 years ago, I became blind. Several
ophtomological treatments and other procedures were tried
but to no avail. Nothing further was available in
Brazil, it was suggested then to pursue some other
procedures at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Institute in
Boston. Due to the high cost for the procedures it took me
some time to raise the necessary funds. Upon arriving at
the Institute in Boston, it was detected that the laser
incisions done in Brazil were excessive and nothing else
would be possible short of a cornea transplant. The
Brazilian community in Boston helped out a lot but after 4
month and 3 surgeries, I returned to Brazil and started a
new life as a blind man.
Historical of my education
Upon completion of my basic education and, having a passion
for the exact sciences, I went on to a Bachelor's degree
in Accounting. Once out in the corporate world I rose
very quickly. At 21 years old I was already a departmental
supervisor at a large company in Rio de Janeiro. I had a
very good rate of success but after the second year I
realized that it was not for me, not my vocation in
life.
My interest had turned toward the Ministry, a religious
life. I dove into the subject. I dropped my circle of
friends, my job, my apartment and went on to get a degree
in theology, which I received in 1981. This was soon
followed by post graduate study at a Ministry School run of
intercultural missions, I was invited to pursue further
study in Singapore at the Haggai Institute where I
received a diploma of Advanced Leadership Training.
Amongst the students were three Secretaries of State and
one King (Nigeria).
A very enlightened decision
I was a very introverted boy, I would keep every thing
inside me. I had no friends, no girl friends, I had no
pleasure in life. Even though I was born to a Catholic
family, received my first communion and attended Sunday
mass on occasion, I had no private thoughts with God. My
existence was empty and lifeless, I had no expectations or
future plans, no goals. The only pastimes were movies and
soccer games association people in general. Whenever I
would see a gathering I would assume they were the
God fearing people, the churchgoers. Normally I would
yell obscenities at them. One day my sister came home with
the news that she had been going to a Christian Church, I
took it poorly, this being my own sister. What could I do?
Two years passed and all along my sister came home with news
about her congregation. One day she came in and said that
they had been the recipients of a visit from a pastor
from Belo Horizonte, some one really special and that
she needed to have some visitors to accompany her to the
service. She had already a few friends but they were a no
show. She begged me to go with her but I refused, giving
her all possible excuses. Just before she left for church I
took off.
I tried the movie houses but nothing interesting was
showing and nothing was going on in town. Bored, I returned
home. When I arrived, I realized that she had left for
church and the coast was clear, so I went in. On the table
by the entrance she left me a note saying "Jesus is waiting
for you, come on over". I got upset and threw that piece
of paper out. In the kitchen it was another note saying
the same, several other notes with the very same message
through out the house, but this time it got me thinking
that if she couldn't bring any one they may expel her, and
I didn't want that to happen. After a few of those notes I
broke down and I went to her church.
When I got there, I stood on the doorsteps and saw about a
thousand people with their hands up and singing. They seemed
happy. Several of them invited me in but I refused them
all until a nice looking girl came over to me and first
introduced herself and then asked me why I refused to
enter. Before hearing much explanation, she grabbed me by
the arm and took me in. She first showed me around and in
the auspices of finding my sister she took me to a room full
of other people and said "Here is another soul to be
saved!" and pushed me in. The people in the room
congratulated me even though I was saying that my thing
was soccer and movies, they replied that this was fine and
when I was doing these things to come on over. This was
nice. The following day I returned, and I have been going
back for the last 27 years. It was the best thing I have
done in my life.
Upon completion of my theological degree and my missionary
work, I served as Pastor at churches in the States of Minas
Gerais and Rio de Janeiro,{both in Brazil}. I was ordained
to the Ministry at Lagoinha Baptist Church in the city of
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, under the auspices
of Dr. Marcio Valadao, a person of great respect at a
national level.
Later, I was transferred to a small town called Matosinhos,
where I helped develop a parish from a meager 3 people
to a 66 person membership. Unfortunately, my son
developed an allergy to charcoal produced at a local
foundry and I had to be transferred to Copacabana, Rio de
Janeiro, where for the next 7 years I ran the local church.
I also helped in the development of a new parish in the
nearby suburb of Leblon. At this point I decided it was time
for my follow up studies in Singapore. I left behind a
congregation of some 200 members.
During my ministry work I also taught theology at a local
college for 10 years as well as being a translator for the
God Assembly publishing house for 3 years. With the loss of
my vision in 1990 I temporarily stopped my activities and
resumed them four years later with the help of DOSVOX,
being shown elsewhere in the Home Page.
Onto my work at Pastoral Ministry. I devoted myself,
with utmost dedication, to the cross-cultural missionary
work. After completing my undergraduate studies I took an
internship as executive secretary for the WEC, reporting
directly to Robert Harvey, from Australia, leader of Latin
American Studies of WEK. The work experience and the day
to day camaraderie among the missionaries fortified my faith
and growth in the Ministry, as a byproduct I got to learn
English, Spanish and some Italian. It was a happy and
stimulating time for my ministerial growth. I also
worked with "The Mobilization Project" in its
administration as well as in the invitation to bring the
Doulos vessel to Brazil. Because of my previous work I was
invited to lead the Brazilian Missionary Information
Center where the magazine "Koinonia Mission" is
published for 28 countries including Brazil. During my
leadership of this center I worked on my ever-popular book
named "Getting Awareness for the Missions". This book is
sold out and is used as teaching material in several
Seminaries for Mission studies. Based on my work at the
center I was invited to become a member of several
Ministry Congresses in several countries. I was also invited
to be the editor-in-chief for the Brazilian edition of
the largest Christian Publishing House of England. I was
also a member of the Brazilian Cross-cultural Missions
Association, who governs the large mission entities in
Brazil
DOSVOX - New Hope
After the loss of my sight, I stopped all my work as a
Pastor and missionary. I felt useless and with an unknown
future. After returning the second time from the USA, I
heard on the radio an interview with another vision
challenged person about a project in the Federal
University of Rio de Janeiro that would allow blind people
to read and write using a personal computer. I became
hopeful but with some concern that such a project would
be too much for my already exhausted financial resources. I
worked very hard in obtaining all the necessary
information to reach the project group and get the details
of this project. It was the DOSVOX. The information I
received gave me hope once again. The voice of Luis Candido
was to me a guiding light and he even sent me a kit of
DOSVOX. I didn't own a computer at the time but it was
easy enough to attain one.
Once installed and I heard from the computer "DOSVOX, may I
help you?" I almost cried of happiness. From that day on, my
life regained the forces that it once had. I could
write letters, read articles, recover information stored
in my computer, my friend's phone numbers, play games. Once
again I was able to do as I please. I am not able to use
the Braille method through to today. I was eager to
learn everything that the computer could offer me.
The DOSVOX project leader Antonio, Marcelo, a blind
student, and a programmer in the project, Renato in the
help desk and, of course, the late Luis Candido have helped
me a lot throughout my learning curve. Today I have
mastered the computer and I can send and retrieve any
file that I wish, not only in the electronic format but as
well in the normal postal office way. I am back! Now, I can
resume my work in the Pastoral Ministry and missionary.
Today, the visually challenged individual can do pretty
much every thing that a sighted person can. The
distinctions have blurred away.
*If you wish to know more
about the DOSVOX project try your local library or
the web at: http://intervox.nce.ufrj.br/