Judith Marianne Ferreira (known as Marianne) was born in 1965 in Bulawayo, Rhodesia. Part of a 4th generation of Adventists, her parents were missionaries in the Solusi Mission. Marianne´s father died when Marianne was only 2 years old.
After her father’s death, the family moved to Cape Town (South Africa) where Marianne grew up and went to UCT medical school. She had discovered her calling to be a missionary. While at medical school, she knitted woolen sweaters and sold them to colleagues, donating the funds to mission work.
The Marriage
When Marianne was 19, she met Viriato at Claremont Adventist Church in Cape Town, where they were both attending the same university. Viriato, too, had felt the calling to become a missionary.
Marianne and Viriato married in 1987, both at the age of 22. After their wedding, Marianne pursued further studies in surgery and pediatrics, in preparation for mission work.
The Mission
In 1994, the young couple accepted a call to the remote region of northern Namibia to do medical work amongst the local people, particularly within the Himba tribe, as part of a Global Mission project.
They worked in Namibia for 4 years and helped to establish the local mission. There, Marianne, together with Viriato, was both the surgeon and the general doctor for thousands of patients.
Family grows
During their period of work in Namibia, the couple was blessed with Daniel, their first child, whom the local tribe named “Waeta”, which means, “they brought”. When questioned why they gave him that name, the tribe members answered: “‘they brought’ to us the knowledge of God.”
While in Namibia, the Ferreiras expanded their family by adopting Muundja Mbinge, an 8-year-old child who needed a home.
Starting the Lifestyle Center in Portugal
In 1999, the Ferreiras accepted an invitation to settle in Portugal; they were to help start the first lifestyle center / clinic in the country. However, they arrived in Portugal in 2002, after a period of training in lifestyle and preventive medicine in the USA.
Marianne co-founded the Portuguese Association of Preventive Medicine in 2003. To support her participation in the mission, she learned the language and sat for the Portuguese medical exams in order to be able to work in the country.
She started seeing patients and provided medical assistance at the local Adventist retirement home.
She was loved by patients who travelled from far to come and see her. Being close to the patients, having their well-being as priority and help mission grow were her main focus.
Starting a New VitaSalus Lifestyle Center
In 2011, the Ferreiras moved to Penela, near Coimbra, where the new VitaSalus Lifestyle Center was in the beginning stages of being established. They dedicated all their will and efforts to the development of the Center, by personal and family sacrifice.
Clarisse, the second biological child was born in Portugal.
“She was always a cheerful doctor, who helped thousands of people with an unmatched joy, night and day,” explained her husband, Viriato. “Without her vison, quiet and loving spirit, and without her sacrificial giving of herself, in love, the VitaSalus Lifestyle Center would never have been established. Many have been touched by the love of Jesus through her life,” concluded Viriato.
Marianne passed away to her rest on Sunday, Jan 8, at home, surrounded by the loving nurses and family who took care of her in the final stages of her life, after a four-year battle against cancer.
She passed away in the certainty that the next time she opens her eyes, she will see the face of Jesus welcoming her to stay with Him and all the faithful for eternity.
