ONE SUN, MANY CHILDREN

BRAZIL - RIO

WAMORI INDIAN CHILD






IRAQ

Patrick arrived home tonight, animated, relaxed and happy. Before heading out to meet up with his friends, he handed me the camera we bought between us just prior to his tour of duty in Iraq.

I smiled as I held it in my hand, the sheen gone, the cover worn and a tad battered, well travelled in other words. He gave me the OK to share his pictures on my blog.

On the disk were pictures taken whilst in Iraq, very different landscape to that of South America, but it has its own beauty.

I love the sunsets and given its the same sun that shines on all of the children in these pictures, I struck by the vast difference in their lives and what the future holds in store for them, their tommorrows.

Im struck by the trust, the curiosity of the Iraqi children, their innocence, and continue to pray that adults with the power will strive to work for peaceful solutions, worldwide.

Keeping track

Patrick has been in touch a few times since his departure, at the moment he is on a 3 day ferry trip down the Amazon to a place called Belem. I have to admit Im a bit confused as I had thought he had already made it to there given he has undertaken an 18 hour bus trip and then an 11 hour bus trip a few days later. I havent been able to find a map that shows the smaller towns. The last place he was in was a small town called Manaus and prior to that a place called St Elena

I have managed however to find pictures of the places he will visit, below...Belem




From Belem to Recife

Apparently they call this the Venice of Brazil, I would love to see this for myself,its beautiful




Then onto Salvador-de-bahia



He really is enjoying every minute of his travel and would of course love to have more time as he feels there is so much more he would love to see. He is speaking of returning to Caracas with a view to buying a property and doing the tours himself.

I was surprised when he said he has just over a year to complete his four years initial sign up for the Marines and is giving serious consideration to doing this in the future. If he stays for over five years he will qualify for a bonus and feels this will give him enough time to consider the possibilities and build the contacts he would need

The owner of lodges where he initially stayed was a young scottish guy who took the plunge when he fell in love with the country and he and Patrick have exchanged e.mails and intend to keep in touch. Whatever his future plans Im sure Patrick needed this trip to put some distance between his experience of serving in trouble torn Iraq.

My thoughts and prayers are with the men out there now and with their families at home who live with the daily anxiety, longing for them to come home safely.