Born in a Spiritist family in the city of Sorocaba, where he still lives, Osmar Marthi Filho (photo) has a degree in Portuguese Language and Literature. He is a volunteer worker at the Sister Francisca Spiritist and Philanthropic Society, known by its Portuguese acronym SEFIF, where he gives talks and looks after the information and communication sector.
Tell us first a bit about the city of Sorocaba, your hometown.
Sorocaba has about 650,000 inhabitants. It lies in the southeast of the state of São Paulo. Its economy is well diversified and includes big factories, such as the Toyota carmakers, and some of its suppliers, as well as trade and services, especially in the medical field. The city also hosts a number of private and public universities.
When and in which circumstances the Sister Francisca Society was founded? Who are its founders? Is it the first Spiritist Centre in the city?
The Sister Francisca Spiritist and Philanthropic Society, or SEFIF, is the result of the hard work of its founder, our dear Avelina Garcia Guerreiro. She was born in Spain, but moved to Sorocaba with her family at the age of 5. When she was in her early 30s she began seeing through her mediumship her mother-in-law, who had just passed away. She was affectionately called Sister Francisca. She warned Avelina to get prepared, as both would work a lot together, helping many people. Avelina, who already knew Spiritism, began studying harder and practiced her mediumship at the Faith and God Spiritist Centre, one of the oldest in town. Eventually its founder, Luis Brenga, suggested that she developed mediumship in her house, helping all the people who sought her help. On May 5th 1955, the organisation was officially opened. It was based in Avelina’s house until 1970, when it inaugurated its own building with a talk by our dear Divaldo Pereira Franco. The Society is still in the same street, Tamandaré, but now in an extended, improved, three-storey building. Our website is Sefif.
What are the organisation’s main goals and activities?
It is aimed at helping disseminating Spiritism through study groups, with some 200 people currently studying the Teachings every week in several rooms of our building. Another trademark of our organisation is the Gospel studies for children, young men and parents.
How do you manage the human resources involved in the voluntary work, as you have activities on every day of the week?
We have now about 350 volunteers, including those working in the Gospel studies for children young men, speakers and lecturers and those involved in our arts and crafts projects and help produce clothes for the pregnant women we support.
What is the most remarkable memory of all these years at the Society?
I began attending this organisation when I was a child, 45 years ago. I went through the Gospel classes, the youth classes etc. I would llike to highlight the educational work with the children but also the harmony, organisation and fraternal discipline that I found at SEFIF. The testimonies of so many people assisted and helped by the Society are really powerful. And that, I believe, is a very important aspect of what we do here.
What would you like to highlight from your experience studying and teaching Spiritism?
I have visited many Spiritist Groups in 30 years giving talks and lectures in Sorocaba, neighbouring cities and others further away, as well as in the programmes I present on the Spiritist Radio Network, Boa Nova. And my experience has made me see clearly how much we need the Teachings, now more than ever, to get to know ourselves, to improve ourselves and help improve the world where we live. Spiritism shows us who we are, what we are doing here but, more than that, invites us to love, to love like Jesus loved us. It is touching to realise how people change when they find Spiritism and get to know it in depth.
Which aspect of Spiritism has the biggest impact on you and the public involved in the activities of SEFIF?
The search for moral transformation, through the knowledge of Spiritism, through helping others and through the practice of fraternity.
Se algo pudesse dizer aos leitores sobre a importância do Espiritismo em nossa vida e da instituição no contexto social local, em que frase de resumiria tudo isso?
Numa frase de Emmanuel, que D. Avelina sempre nos lembrava: Espiritismo é cabeça, coração e mãos. Ou seja, conhecimento da Doutrina, sentimento dela mas sobretudo nossas atitudes transformadas por ela.
Suas palavras finais.
Caros leitores, amigos, ouvintes, participantes das Casas Espíritas, simpatizantes da Doutrina, a hora que atravessamos no Brasil e no mundo é grave, de grandes mudanças ético-morais, e nós, espíritas, precisamos perseverar em nossa fé, dar testemunho da vivência espírita, sendo extremamente éticos, honestos, tolerantes, fraternos, compreensivos, mas também firmes em nosso propósito de construir o Homem novo em nossa intimidade. Importante que continuemos! que continuemos firmes em nossa proposta de construir o Reino de Deus em nós!
