Our guest today, Rosângela Alves Botelho (photo), became a Spiritist six years ago. She is linked to the Represa Spiritist Centre, in her hometown of Belém, in the Brazilian state of Pará. She had polio when she was one-year-old and is a wheelchair user. For the past 34 years, she has travelled to the specialist hospital, Sarah Kubitschek, in Brasília for treatment, as she explains in the following interview.

Tell us about your life in Belém, your childhood and youth.

I had polio during my first year of life. It was so serious that my mother thought I wouldn’t survive. My mother looked after me with traditional medication. I only went to school when I was 11. I went straight into year 3. At the time, I used crutches to move around. But I kept falling down and, in order to go to school, I began using a wheelchair. When I was a teenager, I started giving private lessons to other school pupils so I could earn my own money. At the age of 25, I got a job as a phone operator. I had the job for many years and was really happy about that.

How do you take your constant struggle with health issues?

At the age of 24, I began doing regular treatments at the Sarah Kubitschek hospital in Brasilia. My physical health began to improve, but I made so much effort with my arms to take public transport that I ended up developing arthritis. I had to accept that I would be in a wheelchair, but I didn’t give up.

I lived with my parents, only the three of us. We are ten brothers and sisters but I was the one who helped them until the end of their lives. They used to tell me to go out and have fun but I used to tell my mother: I will only split up from you and Dad with death. I cannot thank them enough for all that they have taught me. I live alone, I look after myself and my things and that’s all thanks to them.

I have always been a fighter, someone determined to carry on and I have been involved in all the efforts around me to help people in a similar situation. I enjoy getting involved and I enjoy helping others. My father had Alzheimer and diabetes. When he died, my mother felt very sad and eventually she had a fatal heart problem. It was all very difficult, because of my situation. But if I had the chance to do it all again, I would do it, for my father and my mother!

How do you feel with your life now?

I know that my life has been very hard, but it has taught me so much! I have been through so much pain, but I feel stronger now. After finding my spiritual side, I have found the strength to overcome all the suffering I had to go through. I have been able to go through all this process knowing that my parents are in a better position than me from a spiritual perspective. I have always felt that when I cry that affects them. They become unhappy and get restless. So I try to avoid it. 

Tell us about the message you have received from your father in the spiritual world.

It was an amazing experience. I never thought I would receive a message from the spiritual world. The letter was written in June 2019 by a medium from Rio de Janeiro, Fernando Ben, who had come to Belém. My mother was at the meeting. The letter was addressed to me and two of my sisters, one of whom lives in the United States. The other siblings were disappointed when they saw that the letter wasn’t addressed to them. But I explained that their time hadn’t come yet.

What does the letter say?

“Sometimes we only realise what we really feel when we begin living this unique experience on this side of life. How else would we be able to understand the magnitude of this world, which is also part of nature and part of the creation? I send my thoughts now to Inês, who is here with me, but I would like to send a warm hug to Alessandra and ask her to never stop gathering spiritual information.

Time flies! And then, when we least expect, it will tap on our shoulders and invite us into this new reality.

Live intensely and profoundly… smile endlessly and without fear and help Bruno, Brena and Bianca grow with the renewed faith, confidence and joy of living.

I can’t think of anything more precious to say at this particular time.

I keep Denise in my heart. With a bit of courage and strength in her daily struggles, she will realise that there is no problem that cannot be solved one way or another. She must, therefore, remain calm and keep her hopes alight.

I would also like to reassure Rosângela and say that from here we see all her struggles, all her efforts to help create a better society.

I also send a warm hug to Reinaldo, with lots of love from the bottom of my heart. And thus, little by little, we will be able to create the light I want so much to see around all of you, whom I love so much.

Death, my loves, is just a song that has been played with a single harmony. But the time will come when it will be played in a subtler and more beautiful manner. That will reveal its true nature.

Inês and I would like to leave a seed of hope and strength for all of you regarding this future condition, which will inevitably touch all of us. I wish you all the best." (Alair Botelho)

What is your final message to our readers?

Never cease believing that God exists. It is a wonderful God, who has given me spiritual strength in the most difficult and painful moments of my life. We need to become spiritually stronger, as we can’t falter before the challenges we face in life. With God we are able to overcome everything!