Imagine not being able to read or write.
Imagine having a wage that can hardly feed your family.
Imagine working a long, hard day emptying dustbins.
Imagine people caring so much that they are doing something to help.
It is happening in Campos. Rotarians are making a difference in peoples' lives.
Thanks to the care and concern of Rotarians like Maira and Miriam (R.C. Campos dos Goytacazes Planicie)some municipal workers from the city are being taught basic literacy and life skills. The employer provides a meal plus text books but it is Rotarians who are making it happen.

Left Campos to go to Itaperuna. Arrived just before lunch as usual. Met be a few Rotarins and Meryellen. Had a nice relaxing lunch and our host (Pedro) turned up just after we had finished as he was working - his wife was in Campos for the day - we had been paired up again (boys and girls) so Raf and I are together again

Visited a sugar production plant today, that takes raw sugar cane and produces both ethanol - popularly used to fuel cars here - and sugar for the supermarkets.

It was a surprisingly big operation, and not as clean as you may think. Wearing beige trousers and white shirts was a big mistake.

Interesting fact for you: the supermarkets' quality control processes selected the whitest sugar, which is in fact the least nutritious.

After our stay in Conceição de Macabu the team headed to Macaé and were met at Petrobras by Various Rotarians and a german girl, Sabrina who was living locally. The tour of the Petrobras site was very good, we saw their admin building, heard about the scale of their operations, and saw their control room.

Raph lost his phone - muppet - and so is incommunicado. Nothing new about that, but do not expect any messages from him until we're back in the UK.

• The lovely city and people of Nova Frigburgo (Huge thanks to Gilvan, Neide and family for their hospitality and to Naiana for letting me share her birthday and acting as interpreter).
• Seeing the work of Negra - a well know Brazilian who sculptures in clay which is later covered in grass.
• Planting a tree in the Naval Hospital.
• Meeting Julio again and being introduced to his lovely family - and the painted goats!
• Appearing as supporting cast to Raph on Zoom TV - bread and butter pudding is introduced to Brazil!

Let lovely Fribugo to drive to Conceiçaô de Macabu which was a few hours away

Arrived ti find it unbelievably hot and sunny - sweating just sitting still! We were all staying the their current Rotary Club President, Dolce. So we had lunch at her house along with her husband.

We started Monday with a trip to the Escola Cecilia Meireles where they use the Waldorf or Steiner method to teach children from 3 to 12. We had a very interesting visit and were guided by Manu and the Director of the school - many thanks to them both for their time and making us welcome.

We then visited Arte Heraldica where we were all able to see famous coats of arms and look for our own - I never knew there were so many!

After lunch we went to the Triumph lingerie factory here in Friburgo - lingerie is one of the citys main industries.

What a weekend......

Saturday began with a trip to my host family`s farm just outside of Nova Friburgo! It had a beautiful old house nestled amongst the trees with cows, ducks, turkeys, banana plantation, a swimming pool, a tree house (which Katie and I climbed up to)and a lake you can fish in! It was lovely to relax in the tranquility of the countryside!

For my vocational afternoon I visited 3 hospitals here in Friburgo - one public and two private. The private hospitals were similar to in the UK but smaller than our DGH's. The public hospital was very different with less equipment, poorer facilities and environments. All hospitals had very dedicated and enthusiastic staff. The public hospital here relies on a purely paper based system whereas the private hospitals had greater use of computers, partly to ensure they collect the information required by the many insurance companies.