abba– associação brasileira beneficente aslan1) – is a christian community which associates local churches in the task of rescuing at-risk youth with the goal of placing each one in a christian home.
since 1992 the team of missionary volunteers that is abba have carried on a search and rescue operation on the violent streets of são paulo , brazil using the street kid tragedy as a door of opportunity to reach poor families with the love of god and the transforming power of the gospel of jesus christ.
through contact on the street, relationship with local judicial authorities and referrals from other programs for children, the abba team finds pre-teen boys and girls and makes friends with them. usually a camp outside the city earns us the right to suggest to the child that he or she comes to one of our houses (either the casa elohim for boys or the casa nova esperança for girls) and start a new life.
a team of volunteers coordinated by the visition director finds each child’s relatives and begins regular visits to the child’s home seeking to discover the reasons for family breakdown. the primary goal of abba’s work after personal transformation is to support needy families in any way we can. children should not grow up in institutions unless this is absolutely necessary. we work with small groups of children in order to be intensive and intentional about reaching the whole family. a yearly family camp for all the families involved is an important part of this.
when the possibility of returning home has been eliminated, we search for adoptive families who will take on the challenge of raising these boys to adulthood. we prefer local brazilian families, but look for the best family for each one no matter where they are from since foreign families residing in brazil have the opportunity of adopting as brazilians.
if no adoptive family is available we create other family options including permanent foster care, boarding school or the “republica remanescente” which is abba’s house for teen-aged boys.
abba’s leadership is formed of christian leaders from various denominational backgrounds who have a heart for the abandoned and represent their churches in the effort to regenerate them and reintegrate them into their families and society.
all abba team members are supported by missionary support from private donations. salaried workers include one cook in each house and an administrative assistant.
abba receives no public funds but depends completely on interested churches, businesses and individuals to donate needed items and funds to keep our doors open to the needy children of são paulo.

1) aslan is a character from the chronicles of narnia by cs lewis a children’s tale about a talking lion who represents christ.