TONY Carne and his young daughter are meant to be making memories in the Galapagos Islands and Peru now.
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The former Border man and Jumanah, 9, had planned the trip since losing their adored wife and mum, Karyn, to brain cancer in February.
Even though the coronavirus crisis put-paid-to their travel plans, Jumanah's mind turned to the tour guides.
"Jumanah asked if our guide will be taking other people out to see the wonders now we aren't going," Mr Carne said.
"And the answer to that is more tragic and dire because the answer is 'no'; and not just for now, but for the foreseeable future.
"I work with tour guides and I thought maybe there is something we can do to help."
In a light-bulb moment the Melbourne-based father and daughter got to work on A Letter From The World, which is a new social enterprise designed to support tour guides impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Letter From The World sends children a note with activities - such as colouring-in, word searches, recipes, games and song links - from new friends worldwide.
Mr Carne, who is also Urban Adventures managing director, said he related to the many parents trying to amuse their children under COVID-19 stay-at-home orders particularly during the recent school holidays.
He said A Letter From The World's subscription pen pal model provided activities, education and connection for children and supported tour guides who had lost income indefinitely.
"International travel seems unfortunately destined to be the very last part of normality that will return to our world," he said.
"In many places, there are not strong government safety nets."
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Having a life-long passion for travel, Mr Carne had met his Albury-born wife in Cairo, where they lived for five years.
Jumanah, meaning "silver pearl" in Arabic, will test A Letter From The World content for its "fun factor".
The subscription - which targets children aged 5 to 11 - is offered to Australian and American subscribers only at this stage.
The first issue will be posted during May.
The letters will be curated by a tour guide and their child globally but then edited and printed in the subscriber's home country.
For more details visit: aletterfromtheworld.com.
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