ADRA to Launch First Extreme Adventure Trip in Brazil
From an Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Press Release:
SILVER SPRING, MD, July 3, 2018 – The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has collaborated with six Adventist universities, including Andrews University, Kettering College, La Sierra University, Loma Linda University, Oakwood University, and Walla Walla University, to kick–off its first–ever ADRA Connections Extreme program. ADRA Connections is ADRA’s global volunteer program that allows service–minded individuals to experience the mission of ADRA first hand and make a difference.
This year, ADRA Connections and more than 80 student volunteers from across North America, will travel to the Amazon to help finish the Adventist Technical School of Massauri, or ETAM, in Brazil. ETAM is a technical school comprised of 20 buildings. An additional 100 student volunteers from the Centro Universitario Adventista de Sao Paulo in Brazil will also help to collaborate on the building project. The school, inaugurated in 2016, is the first of its kind for the community to be built and will be completed in July with the help of the student volunteers and ADRA.
Student volunteers will help complete classrooms, a dormitory, a cafeteria, missionary houses, and a library. An inauguration ceremony will be held toward the end of the trip honoring the official opening of the school. Forty–four ETAM students, ages 5–14, will soon receive their education for the first time in concrete buildings.
“Through ADRA Connections Extreme, the student volunteers will learn about ADRA and will explore the world like never before,” says Adam Wamack, ADRA Connections manager. “In Brazil, they will work on projects that involve painting and furniture assembling. There will also be no Wi-Fi connectivity and students will sleep on hammocks on the boat during their stay, so it will be interesting to see how students cope.” Wamack added that more trips will be offered in the near future and will be opened to anyone.
ADRA is active in over 130 countries to bring long-term development programs and immediate emergency response to communities through a network of global offices.
