SOS for Princess of Acadia

Life preserver on board Princess of Acadia.

(Originally published in the Telegraph-Journal)

The first thing chief engineer Roger Lightfoot will tell you is, that for a salt water ship commissioned in 1971, she is in an exceptionally good condition. Even a cursory glance at the interior of the Princess of Acadia will unmistakably reveal the age she was built in. Boxy lines and oddly coloured furniture in rather dark tones throughout the ship somehow scream 70s. The bridge sports an old fashioned telegraph that was once used to communicate with the engine room, and the old radar equipment is still operational. None of it is in use today. Radio connection replaced the telegraph and ultra-modern radar systems using as many as nine Global Positioning System satellites are in place to guide a ship safely on its route between Saint John, New Brunswick, and Digby, Nova Scotia.

Villages in Transition

Posavina horses resting in Lonjsko Polje Nature Park.

(Published in YouthVision magazine, China)

I arrive at dawn and villagers are already up and working: men and women biking to market with baskets full of fresh cheese and metal pails full of cream; cow herders collecting livestock from yards to take into the fields to graze; old women in black scarfs feeding chickens.

Best known for its feathery residents – white storks who make their home in large nests on the roofs of almost every house in this small Croatian village – Čigoč is also the gateway to one of Croatia’s best kept secrets: Lonjsko Polje Nature Park and marshes.

A large flood area between five rivers in central Croatia (Lonja, Sava, Kupa, Una and Strug) the park is home to some 250 bird species, 500 white and black stork couples and 21 villages.

Recognized internationally as an Important Bird Area, the region’s inhabitants are fighting to preserve their natural and cultural heritage.

Disappearing Arts

A man walks by a traditional coppersmith shop in Sarajevo's old Turkish quarter.

(Published in Toronto Star)

Hazim Numanagić exudes a calmness that permeates his entire studio and slowly spreads to those who step inside. Just around the corner, the bustle and noise of Baščaršija, Sarajevo’s old Turkish quarter is as it always was.

Hazim’s unassuming shop, located in a side street, is completely silent. A small tea pot and two small, narrow glasses are the only indications that he was indeed expecting a visitor. The smell of tobacco spreads throughout the studio as Hazim lights a cigarette and selects a particular piece of reddish reed. On his desk, there is a thick copy of Jalaluddin Rumi’s The Mathnawi and a small Qur’an. Both books are worn, yet cared for – a source of pleasure as much as inspiration.