About their problems. They try to find answers for their problems together. For example

SINGLE FATHERS' CLUB
Self-help groups, i.e. groups of people with common problems, are very popular in many countries. These people have meetings and talk about their problems. They try to find answers for their problems together. For example, there are hundreds of groups of men and women who want to lose weight or give up drinking, who are single mothers or unmarried mothers. Now groups for single fathers are also starting to appear. This is the story of a group for single fathers.

It started when a radio announcer, John McCarthy, was reading an announcement for a single mothers' group. After he read the announcement, he said, “I’m a single father. I've got two sons. My wife died two years ago. I look after my children on my own and I have a lot of problems. I’m sure there are a lot of other men who have lost their wives. So we need a group, too”. Two single fathers, Henry Mason and Paul Singer, heard his message on the radio and called him and they decided to meet. These three men started the first single fathers' group in the US on May 5th, 1988. After 6 months, there were 30 fathers in the group called "Single Fathers' Club". There are doctors, students, mechanics, a bus-driver, a television producer, a few businessmen and several men who are unemployed. They meet every Tuesday night.

They talk about problems, such as how to look after a child with a temperature, where to find milk at 6 a.m., how to help children who don't sleep well at night, or what foods are best for their children. The fathers feel these meetings help them. They say the difficult part for men is just learning to talk to other men about anything really personal.

57

PLANE CRASH IN PERU

On Christmas Eve, 1971 Juliana Koepke a seventeen-year-old German girl, and her mother left Lima by plane. They were gonig to Pucallpa, another town in Peru. They wanted to spend Christmas with Juliana's father, who was the manager of a bank in Pucalipa. Forty-five minutes later there was a terrible storm and the plane hit a mountain and crashed. Juliana fell 3,000 metres, strapped in her seat. She did not die when the seat hit the ground, but she was unconscious all night.

The next morning Juliana looked for pieces of the plane, and called for her mother. Nobody answered and she only found a small plastic bag of sweets.

Juliana's left arm was broken, one knee was badly hurt and she had deep cuts on her legs and arms. She had no shoes and she was wearing only a dress, which was badly torn. But she decided to try to get out of the jungle. She knew that she would die if she stayed there. She started to walk. She did not have anything to eat for two days, so she felt very weak. She heard helicopters, but could not see them above the trees, and of course they could not see her.

After four days she came to a river. She walked and swam down the river for another five days. At last she came to a small village house. Nobody was there, but that afternoon, two farmers arrived. They took her to a doctor in the next village.

Juliana learned afterwards that there were three other people who were not killed in the accident. But she was the only one who got out of the jungle. It took her ten days.

58

INVERNESS

Inverness is a small town situated in beautiful countryside in the north-east of Scotland. It is an important centre for visits to many pans of the Highlands, which is the famous mountainous area in Scotland. Inverness is a small town but it has got an excellent transport system. There are trains to all the main cities of Scotland (Inverness - Aberdeen 1.5 hours, Inverness -Dundee 3 hours, Inverness - Glasgow~ 4 hours, Inverness - Edinburgh 4.5 hours). Dalcross Airport (about 8 miles east of the town) offers flights to many parts of the country. The buses leaving from Faraline Park serve the town and the surrounding area. Many of the big banks have branches in Inverness so changing money is not a problem for tourists. As well as these essential services, the town has cultural and entertainment facilities. There are theatres and cinemas, and some hotels organise Highland entertainment during the summer months.

Inverness is an old town, but there are not many buildings left from the old times. However, there are still some buildings in the town which are very old, such as the houses on Douglas Row. And Church Street has some interesting old churches.

Inverness is situated at the northern end of the Caledonian Canal. The canal was opened in 1822. Sailing boats used the canal to travel between the Irish sea and the North Sea. The canal provided a safe and fast journey for them. When steamships became popular instead of sailing boats, people stopped using the canal for transport because these steamships were too large and could not travel down the canal. Nowadays, there are sightseeing trips for tourists down the canal.

There are many good eating places in Inverness. There are plenty of restaurants and hotels which offer meals to non-residents. They have delicious local dishes at cheap prices; try some ‘haggis’ and a glass of malt whisky before you leave. There are also all kinds of sea food.

Places or Interest

Inverness Castle (1834) - It is now a court house.

Museum and Art Gallery - You can see the collection about the history of the Highlands in the Museum. In the Art Gallery artists exhibit their paintings, sculptures and photographs, which change frequently.

Abertaff House (1592) - The Highland Association uses this building now. This association tries to help people to learn Gaelic, the language which about 80,000 Scottish people speak. They are also interested in the country's national clothes, food and musical instruments.

St Andrew's Cathedral (1869) - It is richly decorated with fine windows and pillars.