We Do Adventure

This video is about one of the hot topics of the last week here in Jajce. As I say in the video, I'm not claiming to be an expert on the issues or have all the facts at my finger-tips. But as I was cycling past Brana today I thought I'd stop to film incase there's someone out there on the internet who'd be interested in this news who hasn't heard it already. As for what will actually happen to this beautiful little part of central Bosnia: time will tell. And when it does I'll be sure to make a video about it!

A piece on the BBC website about the Easter Islands caught my eye this morning. It made me think about a conversation I had on Friday morning out by the lakes in Jajce. I was drinking coffee with a local friend who was saying it was a shame more had not been done to develop the potential of the lakes as a leisure destination. It's true they have huge potential, their banks bear testimony to various efforts down the years to capitalise on this, yet it's fair to say much of this potential remains unfulfilled. I'll confess my knowledge of the Easter Islands runs little deeper than recognising the origin of the giant talking statue in Night At The Museum, but their story got me thinking over breakfast today about the pros and cons of achieving potential. The lakes in Jajce could easily become one of central Bosnia's go-to summer locations, but at what price to the local community. We know the lakes are loved by the local community but perhaps the price of overcrowding an...

I had a long conversation about humanitarian aid with a co-worker today. It was about humanitarian aid but it touched on education, transport, housing, displacement, development...the list could go on. The seemingly endless list says less about our ability to stick to the point than it does about the complexities of helping people in difficult situations. When faced with so many variables, most of which you have little influence over – certainly none you control – it would be easy to admit defeat before even attempting anything. While neither of us seem predisposed to pre-emptive defeatism, as we look at where we go from here it’s fair to say we’re both grappling with the question: where do you start? You have to start with what you can do. Yes, there needs to be a big picture, a grand scheme perhaps, but those are never achieved overnight. But the picture must be of individuals, of names not numbers. Help must help them. Self-serving projects may make for great project reports but for...