Romania 2001

Brazil

16 September 2001 08:18

After visiting several of the main tourist attractions of Rio de Janeiro I found out that if you want to buy a glow-in-the-dark statue of Christ the Redeemer then the Christ the Redeemer statue (the full size one) is not the place to buy it. At the top of Sugarloaf (argueably the second most popular tourist attraction in Rio) they cost about half the price.

Which is all very well, because that's where I bought it.

However, the highlight of my stay in Brazil was getting to visit the child I have been sponsoring through Tear Fund for the last seven and a half years. Thielys is now 14 years old, and even though due to technical difficulties arranging the visit I missed his birthday by a couple of days, he and everyone else there were extremely glad to have me there. They have even invited me back to take me horseriding (don't laugh, Cherie) and fishing (but not for piranha).

The visit required hiring a translator for three days (thanks for being so helpful, Marcus), and the two of us caught a bus to the small city (80,000 people) of Itaperuna, about 6 hours north-north-east of Rio. I don't know how common it is, but the place has its own stature of Christ the Redeemer on a hill overlooking the town - just not as big as the one in Rio.

In the 15 years that the project there has been running, I was only the third sponsor to visit it. Also, the contact person in São Paulo mentioned that it was rare for sponsors from anywhere other than the United States to visit.

The two days with Thielys were basically magical. I didn't realise just how much a sponsor means to the sponsored child, his or her family, and to the project and project workers.

And you've heard it before - the children LOVE getting letters from their sponsors.

FWIW this particular project has 200 children and 59 have sponsors. Wait for the movie.

God bless from Peru.

Ian
8 )

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