Having arrived in Rio Branco last Thursday, I was a bit nervous about a new place and if I would
love the this city as much as Belem and Manaus and I do, it's fabulous and our new friends are lovely. It's becoming a bit of a standard joke now with the team how much I fall in love with the new places and people, I now don't want to leave Rio Branco!
Visiting Bolivia was great on Saturday, Beatrice and Alan took me, Steve and Kat and Getulio and Curacy drove Liz and Ursy. We visited the house of Chico Mendes which was really interesting and then drove across the border into Bolivia. It was a fab road trip and we were all singing together on the way back. The Rotarians here are lovely and some of them have also been GSE members in the past so understand how tiring it is- and how amazing!
On Sunday we were invited to a Brazilian BBQ and pool party which was brilliant. The host had arranged Brazilian dancing, cocktails and as always, lots of lovely food! It was one of the best parties I have ever been to and I will cherish the memories of dancing with the team and all our new friends from Rio Branco.
Yesterday was one of my favourite days in terms of the vocational visits. In the morning we went to the Courts and met with the judges and I had an opportunity to ask questions about the differences in the Brazil Criminal Justice System and the system in England. There were many more similarities that I had read about, there are community based penalties or custodial sentences available to the Courts depending on the seriousness of the offence. This was the same as England and the Community based penalties were similar which included Community Service or substance misuse programmes, the main difference was there is no Probation Service here, the supervision of offenders is over seen by the Courts, looks like I won't be emigrating after all. The vocational trips have been really interesting and I've enjoyed finding out the differences in our two countries. This morning I have been to a young offenders institute for female juvenile offenders. The age range was 12-17 and I had a tour of the place and I got to meet some of the girls there. The girls were really welcoming and were asking questions about England and how Young offenders were treated in England. The institute was a new building and it appeared very well staffed and the girls I spoke to all appeared to be settled there and motivated to changing their lives. I really enjoyed the visit a and once again was inspired by the commitment of the staff in the work that they do. This afternoon I am visiting an adult female prison with a judge that I met yesterday. I've already spoken to her about the Tomorrows Women Wirral Project I am involved in at home and she was really interested. It's amazing to be discussing ideas with professionals in a completely different country!
We leave Rio Branco tomorrow- think there may be more tears! Wonder if I will love the next city as much..,,,,
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