Adriana Rebelo, a veterinary assistant by day and a spirited singer by night, is a woman of dedication and integrity. “Living in Aljezur for the last three years, I have finally found somewhere I can harmoniously combine my two passions,” she enthuses, inspiring others with her unwavering commitment to her busy life.
Adriana works full-time at the Aljezur Animal Centre. Competent and compassionate, she is devoted to the animals under her care. Seemingly not exhausted from her daytime work, she also finds the energy to sing several evenings a month in various venues in the area. Together with her boyfriend, Gonçalo, who plays the guitar, they form a powerful duo.
Adriana’s parents met as undergraduates at Coimbra University. They dated and fell in love. Adriana was born in 1993. Sadly, her parents split up soon after, and her mother took Adriana and herself to live in Lisbon. “My mother’s love and devotion never faltered. She is my goddess, my icon, the person I aspire to,” Adriana declares, her words resonating with their deep bond. “She is a strong woman with solid principles and is a great mum. We are very close.”
Adriana loved growing up in Lisbon. “It’s a vibrant city with so much happening, a buzzing atmosphere and a mix of different nationalities and cultures.” From a very young age, Adriana started feeling an affinity with animals. “I can’t remember when my love and compassion for creatures began. Do you learn to be empathic, or are you born that way?” she asks. “It seems as if it was always there for me. As a baby, I once crawled too close to a grumpy dog that bit my nose. It didn’t put me off loving animals, though!”
Adriana brought injured animals home to nurse them back to health throughout her childhood. Copying her religious grandmother, she would mutter words of prayer for the wounded creatures. Her grandmother once insisted Adriana had performed a miracle by bringing a bird back to life. “You can manifest something when you believe it enough,” she laughs.
Adriana got her first dog, Ulisses, when she was 13. “With no siblings, my puppy became my little brother, my constant companion. I would dress him up, interview him, talk incessantly to him, and he would sleep in bed with me.” Thus began her adoration of dogs.
As Adriana went through school, she realised she was different from the other children. Impacted heavily by the punk music she was listening to, she dyed her hair pink and began wearing crazy punk clothes. “I managed to shrug off the inevitable bullying aimed at me, but I found studying difficult,” she remembers. “I just didn’t have the concentration. Looking back, I realise I have always been more hands-on than academic. At the time, I was frustrated with myself, as my dream had always been to be a vet, but there was no chance of that. I was terrified of exams and suffered excruciating anxiety knowing so much depended on the results.”
At 14, influenced by some animal activists she met, Adriana became a vegetarian. She strongly desired to help change the world and attended protests, driven by the realisation that as meat eaters, we suffer cognitive dissonance when we say we love animals yet eat them.
“As I wasn’t doing too well in academia, I decided at 14 to help at the local cat and dog shelter, União Zoófila. I wanted to do something useful and important.” She was too young to work with the dogs, so she was placed as a volunteer in the cattery. There, she discovered the calming effect of these beautiful animals. “Cats are magical.
They are our emotional support creatures. The abandoned cats were so needy of my affection, and I grew to love cats as much as I love dogs.”
A few years passed, and Adriana, while still at school, was offered more responsibility at the shelter. “By then, I was working with both cats and dogs, dealing with medical situations and helping with adoptions.” Not having the grades to study as a vet, Adriana decided to take a degree as a veterinary assistant. Accomplishing this, she went on to do internships in three different clinics, but no one rewarded her with a work contract. “I did not seem to fit in anywhere.”
Disillusioned, she set off on a campervan journey. Finding herself in Beja, she decided to volunteer at the Cantinho dos Animais. “I would often cry when I was there as I witnessed the results of the hideous cruelty that people inflict on animals. Frequently, dogs and cats were thrown over the fence into the shelter. The committed volunteers work long hours to help and care for every animal, and I cannot praise them enough for what they do.”
Returning to Lisbon, Adriana embarked on a rebellious alternative lifestyle. She quit her veterinary work and moved into an empty house with some friends. “We began squatting, incensed by the number of derelict houses around and high rents. We patched up the house, put in windows, improved the plumbing, painted it, and called it The Anomalia Project,” she remembers. “We were a mix of people of different nationalities who involved the community in various cultural events.”
The project arranged art exhibitions, fire juggling shows, and musical concerts. “We even arranged a crochet evening, a gathering of neighbours who crocheted together!”
During this time, Adriana learnt to speak English, developed her musical side, and gained immense confidence. “It was a turning point for me and made me who I am today. I stopped taking myself so seriously and discovered how to get along with different types of people. Many musicians were in our group, and we practised often. My singing voice improved, and I realised that my musical side was essential to me.”
Adriana then moved to Setúbal and continued living communally in an abandoned house. After four years of this lifestyle, she and her boyfriend, Gonçalo, travelled to France in the campervan and worked as grape pickers for a season. “After that, we returned to Portugal and moved from place to place, busking to earn money wherever we could.”
Soon, Adriana started feeling dissatisfied with her nomadic lifestyle. “Living a life with free will is good, but I wanted to focus again. I was feeling dumb. I had been refining my singing and other talents, but not my brain. I felt the stirrings of wanting to do something worthwhile.”
Adriana began the laborious task of applying for veterinary assistant jobs nationwide, emailing her CV and calling, to no avail. With the incredible determination and sheer grit that is part of her character, she persevered undeterred until one day, three years ago, Dr Pedro Kaisler from Aljezur Animal Centre interviewed her via WhatsApp video. “Gonçalo and I were still travelling in our van, far away from Aljezur. Dr Pedro wanted me to start work as soon as possible, and in a flurry, I made it there!”
Adriana has been working at the veterinary clinic ever since. She has a natural connection with animals and is diligent, knowledgeable, and committed to her work. With the right balance of professionalism and empathy for the animals in her care and their owners, she and Dr Pedro work well together. They both speak highly of each other. “I have worked with numerous vets; many are cold, incompetent and mercenary. Dr Pedro genuinely loves animals and speaks to them with his heart.”
The music that Adriana and Gonçalo produce is mesmerising. Adriana, her voice perfectly harmonised with the guitar playing of Gonçalo, sings traditional Fado, covering Amália Rodrigues and Gisela João songs. Performing also cover versions of Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse and Ella Fitzgerald, Adriana’s voice is captivating. By the power in her voice and in her dedication to the welfare of animals, Adriana is clearly a woman with considerable depth. “Through both my passions, I experience extremes of emotion. From saving an animal’s life to having to put one to sleep. From singing Fado with the intense feelings of saudades to the joy of performing upbeat songs. My life is a rollercoaster of emotions!”
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