Americans are ‘People Who Care,’ Amazon River Folk Say After Warners

Americans are ‘People Who Care,’ Amazon River Folk Say After Warners
Life on the Nova Esperanza was about helping people living on the Amazon River. The Warners opened health clinics and started schools and churches. Courtesy of David Warner
Patrick Butler
Updated:

Arizona native David Warner was used to traveling over great distances of water serving America as a petty officer aboard the aircraft supercarrier USS Independence (CV-62) in the 1970s.

But his most demanding and daring mission was being captain of his own 50-foot boat, the Nova Esperanza,  traveling up the Amazon  “about a week” upriver from the last major outpost of civilization, Manaus, Brazil.