Brava: Head of the Brava Funeral Association speaks out about the association not functioning

Speaking to Inforpress, Raquel Rodrigues informed that the association has the “remainder” of the quotas received in a bank account at the Banco Comercial do Atlântico (BCA) branch in the city of Nova Sintra and that its movement depends on two signatures from responsible members.

“The demands and concerns of members are understandable, as they do not have any detailed information on the situation. I am not and have never been a Red Cross employee,” she commented.

“The Red Cross has nothing to do with the association or the dues. Only one employee of this institution, who is now retired, offered to do voluntary work as a collaborator, receiving dues from members, outside normal working hours”, he added.

Raquel Rodrigues highlighted that this employee has been experiencing health complications that culminated in several evacuations for treatment outside the island, with a stay of several months in the city of Praia, without anyone being available to receive the association's dues, until 2019.

On that occasion, as a way to prevent members from going without paying their dues, this person in charge said that she agreed to receive the said dues from 2020 onwards to all members who had the 2019 receipt in hand.

“It was not my intention to leave the associates in this situation, since my vacation trip to the United States of America, which was supposed to last three months, ended up being prolonged due to health problems and, on medical advice, I was unable to return to my country”, he highlighted.

According to this person in charge, the aforementioned Association was created in 1999 by suitable and responsible people who provide voluntary services, whose objective was to help the most disadvantaged people with the funeral expenses of a deceased family member”, he explained.

In this sense, he highlighted that people should be registered by paying a monthly fee of 100 escudos, corresponding to 1,200 escudos annually.

However, Raquel Rodrigues assured that during all these years, the association was unable to remain legally registered with all the procedures that an association entails, including the statute, election and appointment of bodies, but it managed to function normally, fulfilling its obligation. to subsidize each family member whenever a death occurs.

“For my part, I apologize for the embarrassment and inconvenience caused. I cannot say that the association no longer exists, what happens is that at the moment we do not have a designated person to receive the dues and pay the funeral subsidy”, he concluded.