The woman who renovates houses for free after having built her own home

“I know how much this project transforms lives”. It was with this awareness of what it is like to live in a simple and shabby house that Fernanda Silmara Silva dos Santos decided to create the project ReforAmar🇧🇷 Entirely voluntary, the program renovates homes and community spaces with lots of love and care.

About to get a diploma in Civil Engineering, technique in environmental control and a technologist in building construction, Fernanda created the project for “renovations in the homes of needy families, nursing homes and orphanages”, as described in the official Instagram of ReforAmar. More than an action full of solidarity, the proposal has an even greater weight for the young woman, for having lived in a house with structural problems that are difficult to deal with – and she had to rely on the goodwill of family members to be able to rebuild it.

“It all started in my childhood. He lived in a mud and white brick house. I grew up and didn’t invite anyone to my house because I was ashamed. But there was one time I called some friends. They came and said that my house stinks. This affected my self-esteem a lot”, says Fernanda.

Directly from Natal, in Rio Grande do Norte, the technologist explains that, throughout childhood and adolescence, the house in the Alecrim neighborhood was getting better and better, but never completely ready. Until Fernanda’s mother decided to move to the Felipe Camarão neighborhood, closer to where she worked.

“I just didn’t adapt. The place was dangerous and I arrived late from school, from the preparatory course. So, I asked my mother to come back, because there was a back room that was tidy. And since everyone is family here on the street, she let him. The little room at the back was ok – it had some infiltrations, but as I lived before, with white rammed earth bricks that had that horrible smell, it was fine. But, at the front, to get to the little back room, there was the part that was all ugly”, details Fernanda.

She explains that the reason for the precariousness of the property was because a work had been started there when Fernanda and her mother still lived in the house. Some white brick walls had been torn down for new ones to be built in conventional brick. But the fact that the renovation had been interrupted meant that, when Fernanda returned, she found the place full of weeds and even some animals.

But family support was about to transform the whole situation. “With that, I still didn’t feel comfortable calling my friends. My uncle, seeing my situation, said he would help me build the house. All I had to do was buy the materials,” said the student.

With a scholarship won while studying at the Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Norte, the technologist was able to buy the tools needed to renovate the place. During the week, her uncle and brother were responsible for the work and on weekends, Fernanda joined in the scheme and also got her hands dirty.

It was with this support from her uncle and brother that the technologist decided to create the ReforAmar project, in which homes of needy people are voluntarily renovated. “It was that desire for more people to have their lives transformed like I did. And, at the age of 15, I had already started doing volunteer work and I knew how good it was. I went to hospitals dressed as clowns, but I always thought of something in my field because the impact my uncle had on my life was… my God. My self-esteem has changed a lot, I am no longer ashamed to call my friends, even if they have a better house than mine”.

Fernanda still talks about how feeling that she has a special place to go back to at the end of the day was essential for her to create this movement to help others. “Even if it’s not the most wonderful house in the world, but for me it’s my home. And that’s what I want to pass on to people: that they feel at home. Not simply living in a house and not liking it. A lot of people don’t know what that is, arriving from a turbulent day and still not feeling comfortable. You still have to think about ‘oh, it started to rain, you have to put a bucket there’ and start that work inside the house and never rest. Always be in that anguish, with shame”.

But Fernanda also reveals that she was afraid of not having people embark on this mission with her. But she ended up totally surprised. “I was even afraid of doing this project and not having people to help. But no, I see that a lot of people want to help, they just don’t know where to start. And ReforAmar is a door for her to start doing good”.

In order to benefit from the project, Fernanda explains that it is necessary to go through eight phases. The first is the choice, in which people indicate the possible property to be renovated, tell the story of the family that lives there and send photos of the residence. With the glaring need of those who live in the place and the evaluation to see if ReforAmar has the structure to renovate the house, she is chosen to receive the help of professionals. The second step is to do all the measurement of the environment that will undergo the transformation and the initial plans. The third phase is the production of the electronic model by volunteer architects and designers, so that the family can see how the change will look and also give their opinion about it.

After approval by the owner of the house, the budget for the work is prepared and posted on Instagram, along with the story and a preview of how the place will look. The action on the social network is so that followers can make cash donations and volunteers in the middle can offer themselves for work.

When it is not possible to renovate the entire house, Fernanda sits down to talk to the owners of the place to understand what are the priorities to be followed in the transformation – and, once again, the person’s opinion is essential. “We think a lot about the comfort of the contemplated, to make his house become a home. He feels comfortable, he is not ashamed of her and his self-esteem improves”, she emphasizes.

The services offered by the ReforAmar project range from lifting and tearing down walls, removing old plaster and installing new ones, to getting used or new furniture – when there is money left over. And the idea is always to be able to put all this into practice on a voluntary basis.

“For painting and applying spackle, these easier activities that can be taught in one day, volunteers from different areas are involved. It has volunteers from nutrition, physical education, pharmacy, from all areas. But when it’s a masonry service, wall climbing, plastering, installing ceramics, electrical installation, where you have to have a specialized person, we try to get it voluntarily or give a discount. When it is not possible, we have to hire and then we put the value of the service in the budget”, details Fernanda.

Currently, the great difficulty of the project is the collection, as there are no fixed partnerships linked to the program. Donations from large companies end up happening only during specific actions and then they end.

But the perseverance continues. The first renovated house was built by her and four friends who believed in the project and even proposed to share the expenses of the first work with her. They changed the facade of the residence and used it in promotional material on social networks. Currently, there are already seven works carried out.

With a year of the project complete, Fernanda’s celebration is very significant. That’s because in this seventh edition, the reform was complete. With the help of volunteers and donations, ReforAmar achieved everything from transforming the house itself, to new furniture and food for the needy family.

Want to contribute to the project?

As Fernanda previously explained, ReforAmar can be encouraged in different ways. In addition to the possibility of being a volunteer in the buildings if you are from Natal, the most practical way to help is through cash donations. These are the data to assist in the project:

Fernanda Silmara Silva dos Santos
Federal Savings Bank
Account: 31594-7 / Agency: 0034
Operation: Savings