ABBA reaches out to children, adolescents and young adults who suffer from poverty and the violation of rights. We create and coordinate prevention, intervention, protection and formation projects so that their relationships are strengthened and restored, their diverse needs are met, with the freedom to grow and develop with dignity and responsibility. For a complete presentation, access our portfolio.

Mission

Reach out to children, adolescents and young adults at risk and social vulnerability in order to strengthen and restore their relationships.

Vision

To be part of a national movement, creating and coordinating projects in the areas of prevention, intervention, protection, and formation, in the context of risk and social vulnerability, so that every child, adolescent, and young adult in our country can fully develop in all dimensions of life, through a family life that meets their material, mental, emotional, social, moral needs and by walking in closeness and faithfulness to Jesus.

Menino
Menino

Menino
Central foundation of ABBA's identity. The Christian faith, as we find it in biblical texts, permeates who we are and what we do. The gospel determines our decisions and expresses itself in our words, actions, and in the totality of our existence as an organization and as individuals.
We value the relationships already established and seek to expand our support network. Individuals, institutions, local churches, church denominations, agencies, and mission funds make up a network of interdependence in carrying out our work.
We seek to create a common life – a community – that includes all our missionaries, staff, volunteers, and the people assisted by our projects.
We believe that the family unit is the best environment for the full development of human beings. The families of our missionaries, staff, volunteers and people assisted in our projects deserve priority attention. We look at them with grace in the face of the different situations in which they live.
The dignity of each individual is inherent to their existence. We believe in the creation of human beings in the image and likeness of God, granting rights and responsibilities to each one, according to their abilities and capacities.
We believe that full human development depends on certain material, mental, emotional, social, and moral conditions. (Social) justice is essential when different groups in society lack these conditions.

Our Story

Based on work with children, adolescents, and young adults who lived on the streets of downtown São Paulo, a group of friends committed to the lives and human rights of children, adolescents, and young adults in a similar situation. From this commitment to Christian and voluntary initiative, ABBA was born, in 1993, in the city of São Paulo. At that moment, the foundation of ABBA's work was established, the conviction that our work offers children, adolescents, and young adults at risk and social vulnerability the paternal care of God. With Aramaic origin, the word “ABBA” means “Father”. It appears in three biblical texts (Gospel of Mark, chapter 14, verse 36; Letter of Paul to the Romans, chapter 8, verse 15; Letter of Paul to the Galatians, chapter 4, verse 6), always followed by the word “Father” ( “ABBA, Father”). In these three occurrences, the word is used as a reference to God as a father, especially in a situation of great need, as a request for the care and comfort that only a father or mother is capable of giving. From this Christian concept, based on the experience of family care, we believe in the restoration of broken relationships, which will guarantee the supply of material, mental, emotional, social, moral, and spiritual needs of these children, adolescents, and young adults.

In our name, we also have the word, Aslan. It is the divine figure in the famous story of The Chronicles of Narnia, written by C. S. Lewis. Aslan, a lion, sings a beautiful melody, and a new world, full of colors and fantastic animals appears: the kingdom of Narnia. Although beautiful, fertile, and harmonious, the kingdom of Narnia, like our world, is fragile and susceptible to the selfish desires of its inhabitants.

In the best-known part of the story, the first to have a film production, Aslan rescues the dignity of four brothers, previously alienated from their real identity, empowering them to be the kings and queens of Narnia, making it a beautiful, fertile, and harmonious kingdom again. Likewise, ABBA's work aims to contribute to building a world closer to what was planned by God. To this end, we reach children, adolescents, and young adults in situations that prevent them from being who they really are and from doing what they should do. We work to protect their rights based on their dignity as human beings, so that these Brazilian children, adolescents, and young adults can contribute, as kings and queens, to building a better world.

Over the years, ABBA's work has taken on new forms but always maintains the same foundation. The involvement with those who lived on the streets led us to the creation of street approach projects, shelters, and the Family Shelter project. The search to prevent this street experience led to the creation of community centers on the outskirts of the city; the attempt to provide better living conditions for those who lived there led us to create a professional training project. Today, these are ABBA's four areas of action: prevention, intervention, protection, and formation. As steps are taken and changes take place, ABBA seems to get closer to its vision: to see every child, adolescent, and young adult in our country capable of fully developing in all dimensions of life, based on God's paternal care.