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Iruan spends first day in new home eating, playing

Iruan, left, blows out candles to celebrate his return to Brazil during a welcome home party in Canoas, near Porto Alegre in southern Brazil on Friday. PHOTO: AP

Iruan Ergui Wu (吳憶樺) spent his first full day back in Brazil on Friday eating cake and playing video games, after a three-year international custody battle that ended with the chubby eight-year-old orphan boy being returned to his Brazilian grandmother.

Iruan arrived at Rosa da Silva Ergui's home in southeastern Brazil early Friday to cheers from dozens of neighbors. Later Friday, he mugged for television cameras and news photographers while playing soccer in the yard.

"He hardly slept and he didn't let anybody else sleep all night and all day," said the boy's aunt Patricia Ergui Tavares.

Rosa da Silva Ergui said Iruan seemed bewildered by the media attention and his lengthy trip -- a 35-hour plane ride in the company of Taiwanese relatives and Brazil's diplomatic representative to Taiwan.

"Obviously, his adjustment will take some time," she said. "After all, he has gone through two different cultures."

Taiwan's Foreign Minister Eugene Chien (簡又新) said Friday that Iruan's arrival in Brazil would improve relations with the Latin American nation. At one point, foreign ministries of the two countries were issuing stern warnings about complying with court orders and police activity.

"We hope this incident will not affect relations between Taiwan and Brazil and will not influence our businesspeople, our trade and the rights of our citizens [in Brazil]," Chien said.
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