Pontes, Sister Dulce Lopes (1914—)

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Pontes, Sister Dulce Lopes (1914—)

Brazilian nun. Name variations: Sister Dulce; Maria Rita Lopes Pontes. Born Maria Rita Lopes Pontes in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, on May 26, 1914; daughter of Augusto Lopes Pontes (a professor) and Dulce Souza Brito Lopes Pontes; graduated from the Bahia Normal School.

Sister Dulce Lopes Pontes was born in 1914 and raised in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, where, even as a youngster, she sought to help the poor children she saw in great numbers on the city's streets. Although the religious life beckoned to her early, she followed her parents' wishes and trained to become a teacher. After graduating form Bahia Normal School, she joined the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, an order devoted to service to the poor.

In 1952, Pontes was walking in the poor section of Salvador de Bahia when she was confronted by a young boy suffering from advanced tuberculosis; he was imploring all who would listen to not leave him alone to die. In a desperate attempt to find shelter, she asked a passerby to help break into a condemned house nearby. Leaving the boy inside, she then went out to beg for food and clothes for him. She nursed the boy in this manner for days, returning to the convent only at night to sleep. Meanwhile, the illegal residence soon attracted more sick and dying people from the Alagados section of the city where close to 80,000 lived in squalor. Pontes turned no one away, and as the house filled to capacity, she broke into a second condemned house, then a third, cleaning and outfitting them as best she could and feeding her patients from money she solicited each day. Soon she had 60 patients—men, women, and children—in five houses, all of them sick with tuberculosis, cancer, anemia, infection, and malnutrition, and many near death.

When the health department closed her houses, Pontes moved her patients to the shelter under a viaduct leading to the Bahian Church of Senhor do Bonfim, one of the city's tourist attractions. She faced two subsequent evictions, however, after which she set up her migratory hospital in a deserted market building, then in some crude shelters in the alley next to her convent. Finally, after consulting with her mother superior, and with help from the sisters in her order, Pontes was able to transform a large chicken coop on the convent property into a facility. In addition to the sick, she also admitted refugee transients to her hospital, mostly farmers who had lost their crops to drought and had been dispossessed.

Pontes eventually came to the attention of William Brokaw, an American businessman living in Bahia, who, though a Protestant, became the nun's ardent benefactor. Soliciting the American business and diplomatic communities in Brazil, as well several philanthropic organizations in the United States, she raised enough money to build the Albergue Santo Antonio (Shelter of Saint Anthony), which was erected on donated land in back of the convent and opened its door in February 1960. Within a year, the 150-bed facility provided care to over 35,000 patients, and within two years it had become a bona fide hospital with a licensed physician in charge. The doctor, Frank Raifa of Chicago, who left a lucrative practice to donate his services, was joined by several Brazilian doctors who volunteered part time. The hospital became known in the community as a place where no sick person would be turned away.

In 1960, Pontes turned her attention to Salvador de Bahia's 20,000 juvenile delinquents, or "sand captains," as they were called, because of their habit of robbing visitors to the fashionable beaches of Bahia. Obtaining a piece of land facing the convent, Pontes had several wooden sheds built and slowly filled them. Although Sister Dulce could do little for the boys but provide food, clothing, and the rudiments of an education, they blossomed under her care and soon began to help themselves. They collected wastepaper and baled it for sale to the local paper mill, and planted a vegetable garden to grow food. On some donated land, they started to do more extensive farming, receiving instruction from an American agriculturist who donated his time. As they became more independent, they developed a sense of self-esteem and dignity.

Pontes' influence continued to spread into the slums of Alagados. She sponsored two medical centers and organized a food distribution hub which was backed by the U.S. "Food for Peace" program. Also with aid from the States, she set up milk stations throughout the area to provide for some 2,500 children.

In October 1962, the tiny nun from Salvador de Bahia visited the United States, arriving, it was said, "with a big shopping list and unlimited confidence in her North American Friends." Pontes visited the Washington Food for Peace officials, and addressed the Detroit convention of the National Council on Catholic Women. She also visited Los Angeles, California, which had adopted Salvador de Bahia as a sister city under the People-to-People program. Back home following her visit, Pontes returned to her work, rising at 4:30 AM and spending her days making the rounds of her facilities and traveling the city raising money. "The other nuns retire at 9 PM," she once explained about her hours. "I have to have a different schedule because of my duties. I usually go to bed at 12 PM or 1 AM."