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I think the tour was a complete success. We made contacts, have a better understanding of the situation cultures/religions, and likely problems that may be encountered. Even the mistakes we made and problems we met on this tour are good, as now that we are aware of them, we can work on minimising them on the next tour.

I've yet to add up the number of shows, games, children reached etc, but I am not disappointed, neither do I believe that our backers will be disappointed.

I am now intending to spend a week or so in contemplation; then I will write up my report which I hope will be placed here on the web site.

I'd like to finish this diary by thanking CIRCUS 2 IRAQ (also known as BOOMCHUCKER CIRCUS) for their financial and moral support, without which my part in this tour might not have been possible, and MOHAN who first sugested the idea of a mini recce tour and without whose practical on the ground help we could not have reached half the number of children that we did.

I would also like to show my respect for the indigenous volunteers in numerous local N.G.O.'s who have put their own trauma to one side so as to help children, and the hard work and dedication of western people such as M.C. and David Innes. Many of them are new to this type of work, many have been shocked and shaken by events surrounding the Tsunami. All of them have shown a dedication to their work that far exceeds exspectations. They have my full respect.

I'd also like to thank you for taking the time to read this diary, and ask you to spend a few more minutes looking around our web site at the other interesting projects of our sister charity CHILDREN'S WORLD, whose 25 years of knowledge and expertise is fully available to the CWI team.

Finally, I'd like to send my condolences to Indonesia, the site of the latest earthquake. I have friends in N.G.O.'s who are based out there and whose safety I have so far been unable to ascertain. It is my sincere hope that this is because they are too busy with emergency work, or because of damaged and busy phone lines etc. For now, I must wait, cross my fingers and remind myself that in this type of work, no news is good news.

<B>Note (December 2005): This web journal is being bombarded with advertising in the guise of comments. Please disregard. The offending entries are removed as often as possible.</b>

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