• Brazil
    1997 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • The First Assembly Halls

      As the number of Jehovah’s Witnesses increased throughout the country, it became increasingly difficult to find suitable places for us to hold assemblies. The first attempt to have a place of our own was in Salvador, Bahia, which enjoys a mild, tropical climate year-round. In 1975 a partially covered amphitheater with sufficient rows of concrete benches for 4,000 people was constructed on one slope of a valley. It was called Assembly Park. Later in the same year, construction began on an Assembly Hall in a beautiful wooded area in Ribeirão Pires, São Paulo, about 25 miles [40 km] from the city of São Paulo. Years later, another hall was built alongside this first one and was linked to it by closed-circuit television. The two have a total seating capacity of 3,300. In 1979, construction was begun on a second Assembly Hall, in Duque de Caxias, near Rio de Janeiro.

      Those who worked on the construction of these Assembly Halls manifested an enthusiastic spirit. This fine spirit compensated for what many lacked in experience and for the shortage of appropriate machinery and equipment. For example, at Ribeirão Pires it was necessary to dig to a depth of 23 feet [7 m] to reach firm ground for the base of the foundations. A backhoe was used, but it could be used for only half the depth that was needed. The rest had to be done with pick and shovel. More than 20 such holes had to be dug.

      What about mixing and pouring concrete? There were no concrete plants or concrete-mixer trucks available for the project at Ribeirão Pires. Natal Batulevicins, a member of the Bethel family, recalled: “The concrete was mixed in two old, manually fed cement mixers and taken by wheelbarrows to the area being concreted. There were lines of from 20 to 30 volunteers pushing wheelbarrows. For the high and difficult-to-reach areas, a second person helped by pulling the wheelbarrows with hooks. To concrete the floor areas, all the volunteers—including those in administrative services—shared in the work, which at times took 24 hours.”