Eighty-one-year-old Maria Geny Barbosa (photo) was born in the city of Ubá, and has for many years lived in nearby Juiz de Fora. She is a unique person, simple and humble, capable of touching our hearts with her smile, her warm embrace and her trademark greeting: “How are you doing, kid? Do you have anything good for us?” Dona Geny is one of those workers of Jesus who will never be forgotten for those who’ve been with her. Meeting Dona Geny feels like being blessed by hands of light that can only do good. I met her 14 years ago and have never left her – I would miss her simple and direct words, bearing some much wisdom, the teachings we carry for life.

She invited us to her house during a rainy afternoon in Juiz de Fora. What an amazing life story! She comes from a very poor background, struggling to bring up her 12 children. Her mediumship became evident after she lost one of her children, drowned at the age of one year and five months.

Profoundly disturbed by the death of her son, she was assisted by a local medium Mateus Fernandes Fraga, who gave healing and spiritual assistance in a nearby town. Let us hear the story in her own words: “It was already night and my son didn’t turn up. The first stars were already visible in the sky. I went out looking for her and heard a voice: go back, your son is in the water. I got very scared and went mad. They found my son. I grabbed him. A lady tried to take him from me to prepare him for the funeral. He was dead. There were ten men in the room, but with my anger and strength I threw them all on the floor.” 

And what happened after that?

I had an old camp bed in my house, a present from my mother. I lied on it and for ten days I remained (in spirit) detached from my body. I left my body, but no one knew anything about Spiritism. Every morning a local farmer came to prepare my funeral. But then she checked my vital signs, she saw I had a pulse and went back home. At the end of the tenth day, I woke up, put my hands on the wall, looked at my husband but didn’t recognise him. I looked at my children and couldn’t recognise them. I got up and ran way shouting so loud that I scared my neighbours.  

What measures did your husband and neighbours take?

I became completely insane, mad. Even my mother left me. But a group of people came to my house once, about six people, and invited me for a walk. My reaction was to pick up a broom and attack them. My husband grabbed the broom and stopped me from killing one of them. I told them I couldn’t go for a walk with them because I had stopped brushing my hair and wearing clothes. They told me it didn’t matter. That group was doing something like the Gospel in the home. They told me they were there to help me and that I was very pretty. 

What was your reaction?

I decided to go with them to that farm where Mr Mateus did his healing. He told my husband I would need to come back or else I would be a victim of the obsession – or spirit attachment – once again. I told him: “You don’t have a clue about anything. If you did, you would have cured me.” Seu Mateus just looked at me and smiled. 

And were you captivated by his smile?

Eventually I became to regain conscience. I was illiterate, couldn’t read or write, but Seu Mateus told me it didn’t matter and asked us to describe everything I saw. Then I told him at on the roof of that room there were many ill spirits – some without limbs, tied up, some with disfigured faces, so much pain… He told me the situation would improve, that Padre Antônio Vieira (NT: a Jesuit priest who took the Gospel of Christ in the early years of the Brazilian colonisation) would come to catechize them. 

Do you remember the first time you provided assistance to someone using your mediumship?

One day a man came to me, wearing a linen suit – something very unusual at the time. That was my fourth day of work in the Spiritist Centre. But at the time I didn’t know a spirit could leave his body. I sat on the chair and stayed there for about half an hour. Or my body stayed there, because I went in spirit to a big city. There was a big, wide pavement and I got into this bubble that took me up. I later realised that was a lift. There was a blue plaque and a number in red, 222. I got in, went to a room where I found a woman tied up to a bed with her sheets. Two ladies were by her bed, looking after her. They were praying. There was house on top of house. Later I would understand that was a building, something I’d never seen. The man in the suit started to panic. Seu Mateus then talked to him: “What is this about? What are you to do with all that?” He said: “Yes, I live in Rio de Janeiro and 222 is the number of my flat. My wife is tied to her bed because she gave birth ant the haemorrhage wouldn’t stop. The doctor advised us to leave her immobilised to reduce the risk. She’s been like that for 12 days now. She can’t do any physical activity. The women looking after her are my wife and mother-in-law.” Four days later we got a telegram from the man saying his wife was much better and had already left the bed. Eighteen days later she came to the farm where the Spiritist Centre was. She was cured. That was my first job there. I was 23-years-old and knew nothing about Spiritism. 

Tell us about the visit Mr Mateus Fraga paid to the great medium, Chico Xavier.

One day he went with his wife to see Chico Xavier in the city of Pedro Leopoldo. And Chico told him: “You have a very good medium working with you.” Mr Mateus Fraga studied Spiritism, I simply couldn’t. All I did was using my mediumship to help others. 

Did you go to see Chico Xavier?

Yes, I went to see him three times, after he moved to the city of Uberaba, also in the state of Minas Gerais. My first visit was to seek advise from him about my mediumship. In my second visit, I was asked to join their assistance work. Chico put three books on the table in front of each medium, for them to read. But I couldn’t read or write. I told him and he replied: “Don’t worry about it, dear sister, there are many spirits with us to read for you.” The spirits of Scheila, André Luiz and Dr Bezerra de Menezes, among others, were there by his side. And they read on my behalf. During my third visit, I joined him and the great Spiritist speaker, Divaldo Franco, for an afternoon of studies on the shadows of his famous avocado tree. Divaldo delivered an amazing, touching speech, and Chico just looked at me, smiled and waved his hands. 

How was your personal life then?

My life was a struggle. My children's beds were made of transport boxes with a hay mattress. My clothes were made of rags. I didn’t have money to buy proper clothes and go to Sunday mass. When I went to Mr Mateus’ Spiritist Centre, I began working at 6pm and left at 5 in the morning. When I got back home, my husband was getting out to work and I had to look after the house and the children. In those days, I had no idea about contraceptives, which means I had a new baby every year and eight months, approximately. Twelve children in total… I didn't know what having a period was. I had never been to a doctor. 

And where did you go to have your children, if you’d never seen a doctor? Did you get help from anyone?

I use to give birth to them in the field. My husband helped me, I never had a midwife with me. I used to breastfeed each son for about a year. After having some of my children, I decided to begin helping other women in labour. Eventually, I assisted the delivery of sixty or more children in the region. 

Even with an expanding family, did you carry on with your work as a medium in the farm?

Yes, I never stopped. A man, who lived in Tocantins, near Ubá, my hometown, came to me one day asking for help for a family member who was seriously ill. I told him: “You may go back home now, as he has already died. They have begun preparing the room for his funeral.” I didn't know then that you couldn’t be so direct, as people left under distress and could have an accident as they drove back home. Another man came to us one day, from Ubá, and said he was devastated. His wife had left him and taken their three children with her. They wanted them back, the children and the wife. Then I had a vision; I saw a place with red lights flashing. A private eye was outside, and naked people were inside, dancing, drinking and laughing. We asked him if he went to nightclubs. He said he did and that was the reason why his marriage was in a serious crisis. His wife had hired a private eye, who confirmed her suspicions. So, the visions I had, confirmed by the people who came for help, gave me the strength to carry on. People arrived with serious health problems. I remember someone who came in with serious stomach problems. The Spiritual World assisted her; she had the healing, threw up some strange stuff and soon got better. 

How about your children? Who looked after them?

One day I thought I had to do something for them. It hurt me to see them going through so much hardship. Then I decided they would have to get some education. It’s the least I could do. So I put them in school, made uniforms for them from sacks and rags. They came back from school at noon and went to work in the field. And I often thought: “Oh, God, I have all these children and nothing to leave for them. At least I’ll leave them with basic education.” 

How about your husband, did he agree with you?

My husband asked how come the children didn't even have a decent uniform to go to school. He found it all very difficult. I decided to make charcoal to sell and make some money. I dig a hole in the ground and managed to get ten sacks per week, which I then sold and used the money to buy some things. I used to buy some spaghetti and keep it for when my mother came to visit us, to have something special to offer. 

How did you come to Juiz de Fora?

One of my children, Walter, found a job in Juiz de Fora, pressing buttons in a lift. The other children came over, one by one, and I eventually joined them. I was 39 when I had my first doctor appointment. I found many good people in the city. But I never charged for my work as a medium, even though so often I was short of money and needed to buy clothes and school books, pens etc. for the children.  

And you never gave up on the dream of educating your children…

No, I began selling all I had to buy notebooks, pencils, and books. I would say Jesus opened the doors to me in this city. One day my son Antônio told me he couldn’t go to school because he didn't have the right book. The teacher had warned him that he wouldn’t be allowed in the classroom without the book. I picked up a copper basin I had to bathe my children and sold it at a nearby shop. With the money, I bought the book, more notebooks and pencils, for all the children. I used to tell my children: “All your mother has to offer is the opportunity for you to get some education.” 

But little by little your life improved…

Yes, my children were going to school and working, I also found a job. All my children went to university in the evening and worked during the day. They all graduated from university and were able to support their own families. My daughter Célia was six when she went to school for the first time, and I remember being so happy. She is now in charge of a nursery that looks after more than 90 children of low-income parents. The children stay all day in the nursery, where they get five meals a day and lots of affection. We built this nursery with the help of many friends. Eventually I managed to buy my own house here in Juiz de Fora.  

After moving to Juiz de Fora, did you carry helping others with your mediumship?

Yes, I met new people here and began working with them. Then the opportunity came up to buy a plot of land in the Santa Cruz area of the city. With the help of other friends, we managed to buy the plot and build the Spiritist Centre, which now has public meetings two to three times a week, study groups, including special groups for children and young people. I don’t know any other Spiritist Centre, just this one and the work we carry out here. 

D. Geny, are you a happy woman?

I am very happy at work. I don’t mind if I have to leave our Spiritist Centre late in the evening, to assist all of those who come to us. The nursery was another dream come true. And I have another dream, which is to open a home for the elderly. I might be able to do it, but Jesus knows I do what I can. I’ve had a very difficult life, but I am happy. I have accomplished what I was meant to do. My husband and three of my children have already left for the Spiritual World; all the others are still with me. My grandchildren bring me so much joy and we get together and celebrate whenever we can. 

We know you have close links with the spirits of Chico Xavier, Ruy Barbosa (NT: Brazilian politician, lawyer and intellectual from the end of the XIX century) and Padre Antônio Vieira. Tell us about them.

I love and respect the spirits of Chico Xavier and Ruy Barbosa. Ruy Barbosa is the lawyer of the poor, Chico Xavier, the message of light that shines over us all. Mateus Fraga told me once in the farm that, should I ever have my own Spiritist Centre, I had to name it after Padre Antônio Vieira. And so I did. He is helping us with assist all of those who come to us. We opened our Spiritist Centre on August 29^th, 1985, Dr Bezerra de Menezes´ birthday. And every year we pay special homage to Dr Bezerra, another important benefactor. 

It´s a pity, my dear sister, to come to the end of this interview. Leave us a final message.

I advise each and every one to look for their spiritual side. There is so much pain and suffering on Earth. The Spirits of Light need workers who are able to heal, to change sadness into happiness, pain into healing, unhappiness into permanent joy. Begin to study, to work and to follow the teachings of our Great Master, Jesus.