Alentejo não é muito longe da aldeia da minha família
Woman found living wild in Alentejo
BY TPN/ LUSA, IN GENERAL · 14-02-2013 10:05:00 · 0 COMMENTS
Beja authorities have taken in a woman who for 23 years had lived isolated from the modern world in the hills of the Alentejo, and who was found in an almost “animal-like” state.
Preliminary results from tests carried out by the Beja Cerebral Palsy Centre indicate that with time 33-year-old Ana de Fátima could become completely independent and fully integrated into modern-day society, according to Diário de Notícias.
“There is hope that Ana could become autonomous and look after herself” a spokesperson said, adding that she is soon to be transferred to a residential institution that educates and rehabilitates children, juveniles and adults with integration issues.
Since being found on a hill in Serpa, on 29 November 2012, Ana has been living at the Brinches Parochial Social Centre in Beja. She lived in an isolated area of Vale de Vargo with her elderly parents and 43-year-old sister.
Helena Barreto, director of the Beja social security branch said Ana is believed to have gone to school until ten years of age but then “stopped in time and didn’t have any contact with the outside”, living “completely isolated from the rest of the world.”
Exams from Serpa Hospital show that the woman has
anaemia.
An evaluation from the centre where she is accommodated revealed that she is now making “significant progress” but before ate with her hands and needed help to eat normally. She also had incoherent speech, moved awkwardly and had broken teeth, bruises on her head and damage to her spine.
Nuno Sousa, of the Social Centre, said she is “evolving well”, now has a more “coordinated movement” and “eats unaided, with cutlery.”
Mrs. Barreto found out about the case from the Vale de Vargo parish mayor following a visit to an institution in that village last November.
That same day, accompanied by social security workers, Nuno Sousa and the Vale de Vargo mayor visited the woman and found the elderly impoverished couple with their two daughters.
According to Mrs. Barreto Ana’s father believes she has a handicap and “to protect her, decided to keep her at home.”
http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/...alentejo/27750