MAGAZINE

C O N T A C T

April 2018 EditionVol. 2

Gravesend Kent +447564852059leanne.capuano@googlemail .comwww.travelantics.co.uk

Introduction

Law & Legality

Welcome to the world of Travel Antics, a place for all those who wish to travel the world and discover new places through the eyes of those who have spent their lives there.

All the information and images have been provided by the original owner, with express permission to be used as Travel Antics sees fit. If you have any questions please feel free to get in contact.

Leanne Capuano

Hello again you wonderful person. Another edition of Travel Antics is officially here. You’d think after finishing the first issue this one would be a breeze, right? Wrong. It took me months to finish the last magazine (you can download it here). Months of hard work before I could finally launch a travel company. Afterwards I thought I could finally sit back and relax, enjoying the fruits of my labour. But, before I knew it the next deadline was looming. Luckily I’d already had the features planned well ahead of time and I had some wonderful images from talented photographers.

‘So, what was the problem, get on with it?’ I can hear you mumbling. Well the biggest issue was while completing the first edition I had nothing to compare my work to. There was only one way to go and that was up. Now I do and throughout this process I was constant-ly comparing my new magazine to my old one. Luckily, I had the support of some of the finest photographers and writers in the travel world today and I am very proud to be able to introduce you to some fine human beings.

I hope you enjoy this issue as much as the last and these people give you the inspiration you desire to break free and discover new places and people.

A note from the Editor

Ewa Kowalczyk: Photographer of front cover.

“I am a nomad, travelling from place to place, taking photos, learning from people about their lives and mak-ing life happen day by day. Sometimes it’s an adventure, sometimes a slow walk through the unknown crowd. It’s either myself only or me and my boyfriend, looking for new faces and new experiences. We try to keep of the beaten path and look beyond the tourist guides.”

CONTENTS WRITERS

05LIFE OF THE LOCALSTravel phototographers share a glimpse of local life from around the world.

23FINDING LOVE IN LONDON Johnny Cassell gives his expert opinion on finding love in the historic capital city of London.

17CLIMBING KILIMANJAROKendell tells us all about her experiences climbing Tanzania’s highest mountain.

MARIA MILOJKOVIĆ

33STORIES FOR A SECOND CHANCE IN SERBIAMaya tells us how she is shaping the lives of women in prison, by donating books for a better education.

Maria Milojković, is a Serbian translator and freelance content writer with a mas-ter’s degree in English literature in post-modernism.

Maria proudly interviews some of the most intriguing people in Serbia, includ-ing a Serbian speech and autism special-ist.

As well as writing about some highly controversial issues in today’s modern society.

Aleks is a writer, blogger, traveller, and yoga teacher. she believes everyone has a story to share, and she aims to discover as many as possible - through her yoga and her writing.

On her website she states ‘I’m a simple soul with a simple life, learning and sharing with the world how to uncov-er and own new parts of our Self every day.’

ALEKS SLIJEPCEVIC

Lauren StewartA self-taught freelance photographer from the United States. Her work focuses on making cross-cultural connections by showing the daily life of different cultures across the world.

“I recently returned from Kashmir where I worked for over a month. In the news these days, the majority of the things you hear about Kashmir are all about con-flict. Through my photos and stories, however, I like to show a different side of the region, one that focuses on the daily life of the people, their families, and their cul-ture. While in Srinagar, the capital, I spent my time visit-ing one of the main bus stops to capture the comings and goings of the locals. Some were travelling home, some were rushing to work, others were coming to receive med-ical care. Through my lens, I was able to see their real life.”

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Adam MassingaleHe is an avid traveller and photographer living and teaching in Taiwan. His aim is to become a full time travel-ler and share all the things he finds beautiful.

This image is from Yan-shui Beehive Fireworks Festival in Taiwan. It is one of the largest fire-works festivals in the world and the only one where the people are the target of the fireworks. Hundreds of thousands of firecrackers go off at the same time and it looks as though a swarm of bees are leaving thier hive. It began as a way to ward off bad spirits dur-ing a cholera outbreak in the 1800s and it now brings massive crowds of people to the otherwise quite district in Tain-an, Taiwan. It is a truly exhilerating and a one-

of-a- kind experience.

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“Sometimes you can come across someone who shows you what the true meaning of hap-piness is. I would often come across this very old and sick Indian man while shopping for vege-tables at the local market. He was unable to move without crutches and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He was such a col-ourful person despite his bedraggled clothes. He would laugh and speak to people as they passed. In fact, it was difficult to find a moment when he was alone. He’s truly an inspiration to all of us.”

Alex BarynkinA freelance photographer, traveller and story teller. Two months ago he left an amer-ican finance business to do what he really loves.

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Shirley PiccarretoShe is a, Certified Yoga In-structor, Amazon best-selling author, Travel Writer/ Pho-tographer, owner of Tales of Two Travelers and Wanderer of the World. She has ex-plored 25 countries in the last 10 years bringing home sto-ries to share with the world.

No socks. No shoes. No arms on the man to the left. Every day these two Sadhu’s walked the live-ly streets of Rishikesh seemingly unaware of the cold, wet pavement

below.

Saduh’s leave their home and their family to dedi-cate their lives to achiev-ing liberation through meditation and contem-plation of Braham. The saffron-colored clothing symbolizes their renun-

ciation.

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The mysterious face of Pul-cinella is a staple part of Neapolitan culture. You’ll spot the iconic figure in every facet of daily life in Naples. Take a simple stroll along the coast, or browse market stalls in the old town and you’ll come across his masked face with

the crooked nose.

Here a street performer dons the white robes and iconic mask and does his best impression of the 17th century character. Inviting tourists and locals alike to come forward and join in

his quirky performance.

Leanne Capuano The resident photographer, writer and editor here at Travel Antics who loves to travel and meet as many locals as possible in every corner of the world.

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Iuliana Marchian A writer, editor, and pho-tographer based in Sibiu, Ro-mania. Iuliana likes to travel to remote corners of the world to document authentic travel experiences.

“Mohammed Janati has a weaving shop at 229 derb Edaira, Azzemour, Mo-rocco. I was just walkingthroughout the small medina from the Atlan-tic Coast when he invit-ed me to his small shop, full of scarfs, carpets, and colorful threads. His daughter offered me a delicious Moroccan tea. While I was sipping from my small glass of tea, Mohammed showed me the secrets of his craft:

how the loom works,how he weaves silk scarfs, how he creates the color-ful geometric drawings of his Berber carpets. “

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Travel Antics is looking for interviews and photographs from local life businesses, charities and all those weird and wonderful people who make travelling everything we dreamed it would be and more.So, if there’s someone in your corner of the world who you believe deserves some recognition, whether it’s a street vendor who makes your favourite local food, a person with an amazing story to tell, or just some-one you think the world should know about. Please email me at leanne.capuano@googlemail.com and make sure you include photographs of the person you’ve interviewed. You will have your name, picture and a link to your website in the byline of the digital magazine.

We are also looking for photographers, who have photographs of people to feature in the magazine. Maybe you captured a carnival taking place or just a picture from your local town. Please email us the image and

100 words of what the picture is of and a little about yourself.We look forward to learning a little more about your corner of the world and we look forward to hearing more about you.

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TANZANIA

“ What left me with a sense of wonder and a desire to see the world, or if I would have had it regardless; but Whatever the reason, I knew from a young age that I want-ed to explore.

“

CLIMBINGKILIMANJARO

I had the pleasure of meeting Kendell Sullivan on my first ever trip to Nepal. She was hosting a yoga and hiking re-treat, and I just so happened to be in that phase of my life where I needed to travel real-ly far to do something really wild. She appeared, almost di-vinely at the right time. I met her once I arrived at my hotel in Nepal, and as we hugged in the lobby before our welcome dinner, I knew she was going to be one of those intriguing people you write about. May-be it was the way she carried herself, with her long, blonde dreads and red tika between her brows, a traditional Nepa-lese dot; or maybe it was the way she affectionately smiled with her entire being, as if she was radiating something you wanted to just bottle up and save for later. Needless to say, we hit it off right away.Having travelled the world by way of medical mission work, Kendell was never short on adventure stories. Marrying her work with her passion for yoga, you get a sense of peace and nurturing as you chat with her, and better yet, as you travel with her! Always with that smile, Kendell effort-lessly exuded an appreciation for the world in which she was in, and reminded me to do the same. I had the pleas-ure of sitting down with her

to recount one of her many life-changing adventures. Ever since her first visit to Af-rica and seeing Kilimanjaro in the distance, she was hooked and determined on climb-ing the mountain; through her words, she brought this world wonder to life for me, as I hope she will for you, too.

What made you want to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro?

Growing up, I wasn’t very athletic or outdoorsy. My family wasn’t the type to camp, and we never really had the means to travel. I am not sure if this is what left me with a sense of wonder and a desire to see

Aleks Slijepcevic a writer, traveller and yoga instructor met Kendell in Peru and decided to share her amaz-ing story of the courage she diplayed while climbing Tanzania’s highest mountain.

the world, or if I would have had it re-gardless; but whatever the reason, I knew from a young age that I wanted to explore. One of the first ways I began to see the world was by doing medi-cal mission work. This work has taken me all over the globe, and it was on a medical mission trip to Africa that I first saw Kilimanjaro from the window of a plane. I remember seeing the peak stick up through the clouds and thinking to myself, “someday, I want to climb that.

Did you prepare for the climb be-forehand?

Physically, running was the only prepa-ration that I did. It was during a period of my life that I ran a lot, so this wasn’t any special prep work; it was just a usu-al part of my routine. The company I booked with sent me a packing list and I, of course, made sure to have all of the items. This was a big purchase, as I had nothing. No boots, no backpack, no sleeping bag. I had never done an-ything like this! I had a friend who had done some climbing, so I met her for coffee to get as much information from her as I could. She helped me with rec-ommendations for all of my gear, as well as some practical tips.

Were there any mental obstacles that you faced before the climb (phobias, hesitation, etc.)?

Beforehand, I don’t think I really had any mental obstacles. Maybe I was too naive. I had read lots to prepare and studied up on acute mountain sickness,

HACE (High-Altitude Cerebral Edema), and HAPE (High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema). I had no basis to compare an-ything to, so more than anything, I was just excited. .

What was an average day like climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro?

I chose to do a 7 day/ 6-night climb and camp of the Rongai route, which approaches from the Northeast side. The trip begins in the lowland, forest-ed area. I remember taking a van to the departure area and meeting the team, as well as signing a book. We then took a couple of days to climb to Mawenzi Tarn camp. Along the way, I saw streams and exotic flow-ers, and I began to see great views of the mountain and the glaciers. From Mawenzi Tarn camp, we crossed the saddle, which is an expanse of barren land where the vegetation begins to disappear and ravens lurk. From here, the views of the sky were some of the most magnificent I have ever seen. As the sun began to set, the sight of the clouds below reminded me of the view I had seen from the plane and what ig-nited my desire to be here. The night sky was so bright with stars, as there is not a single light around. It is a transi-tional area,

where the experience of altitude seems to begin. From here, we hiked up to 15,585 feet to out-ward bound camp. It was here that we were woken up at mid-night for a 1am summit depar-ture.

To our surprise, in the very short time we were asleep, it had snowed, completely covering the trail. Of course, the guides were there, but even experi-enced guides need some sort of trail markings! As we climbed with our headlamps on, trudg-ing through the snow, there was no one else in sight. This was the beginning of a literal one foot in front of the other walk for me. In fact, it was one step, stop, lean over my trekking poles and breathe; next step, stop, lean over my trekking poles and breathe. The closer we came to the rim of the crater, the less breath I had. As we ascended, I could finally see in the distance a string of lights, which were

other trekkers! I could see the shape of the switchback path by the formation of their lights. We finally met up on the same path and slogged our way to the crater rim. The sun began to rise just before we reached the rim. We stood on the path watching the pink and purple sky make its appearance over Africa.

After about a 7-hour hike, we arrived at the crater rim, Gill-man’s Point. There was a break in the clouds and I could see into the caldera for about 60 seconds; then the clouds would cover everything, and there I was, freezing, breathless and exhausted. It was here that all of my inexperience really shined. I had a camel back system in-side of my backpack, but the tube was completely frozen and I couldn’t drink from it. I smartly packed additional wa-ter bottles, but failed to turn them upside down, so they, too, were frozen and undrinkable.

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How would you describe your team?

The entire team was incredible. As a camping trip, as opposed to a hut-based trip, so many people are required because of the logistics. I look back and think about how pa-tient the guides were, especially as inexperienced as I was. When it came time to decide if I was going to descend, my guide knew I was already tired, and he knew how long we still had to go. If I would have chosen to continue, I think he might have let me. He was prob-ably really grateful that I chose to head down.

What proved to be the hard-est obstacle to overcome?

Without question, my mind. My mind is what always wants to quit before my body. The decision to stop at Gillman’s Point was so dif-ficult, because it felt like failure. It still feels like failure. Ultimately, I know I made the right decision, but that doesn’t make it any easier. My mind, to this day, continues to be my biggest obstacle.

Was there anything that proved to be easier than what you had originally thought?

I walked in with nothing to com-pare this to. I had only slept in a tent twice in my life - once in my backyard and once as a girl scout.

With no gauge to measure this by, I don’t think I had any concept of what it would entail.

If you could name the biggest lesson from this trip, what would it be?

I learned so much here that to name one lesson would be impossible!! The biggest lesson? Pay attention to the details. At lower elevations, you can get away with things, but as you ascend and climb higher, all of the details matter.

Did you face anything on this climb that was unique and spe-cific to only Kilimanjaro that you haven’t experienced on any oth-er adventure?

Kili is super interesting because it is simply up and then down. There really is no time on this trip where you practice “climb high, sleep low;” it is just up and up, then de-scend. Most other terrain is varied and you have the opportunity to acclimate a little longer. And of course, Africa! I love it very much, but you must be patient. This trip and the company I used were very well run, but travel in Africa comes with the need to be patient and go with the flow.

If you were recommending this to any first-time climbers, what advice would you offer?

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Talk to people who have done it or have done similar types of trips. Try all of your gear out and break it in before you go. Know how it all works and make sure it all feels good. Go slow, slower than you think, even if you feel good. No matter what, always keep safe-ty first. Know that as much as you prepare, there will always be things that you discover along the way and wish you had done differ-ently. Be prepared to push yourself at times, and most of all, be pre-pared for an experience you will never forget!

Since Kilimanjaro, you’ve combined yoga and hiking/climbing. How do you feel that these activities comple-ment one another, or stand in contrast?

Yoga (physical yoga practice) is a great tool to help open the body before or after a day of hiking, but any stretching could accomplish this; this is not unique to yoga. The essence of yoga - the union of body, mind and Spirit, is exactly what surrounds you in the moun-tains. Here you are, on this endeav-or, perhaps pushing your physical boundaries at times; and during this time, you’re spending hours on end, in the quiet of nature with your mind. The act becomes a moving meditation. There are mo-ments when you simply begin to meld with the vastness of nature surrounding you. It becomes evi-dent that this world is made up of so much more than the material possessions we once held so dear. It is, for me, the ultimate union with Spirit. So, do they comple-ment each other? In my mind, they are one in the same.

Someone recommended choco-lates as a quick energy food, so I tried to bite into one of the little pieces that I brought and near-ly chipped a tooth. I am forever grateful to my guide (pictured) who opened a thermos of hot tea to share! Now, I had to make a de-cision. I wasn’t yet at the summit, I was only at Gillman’s Point. Uhuru Peak (the summit) was about an-other hour traverse. With the cold wind hitting me and the thought of another 5-6 hours of descend-ing, I decided that that was it; I was heading down.

I started the long slog down the steep side of the mountain, through the knee-deep scree. My legs were tired and my quadriceps were on fire! I could tell that I was exhausted and so could my guide. He was quite a tall man and I am quite a short woman. He was try-ing to take my arm and help me down the mountain, but it felt awkward and rushed for my short stature. I could tell I was becom-ing agitated. Finally, we arrived at more level ground and despite being cold, the sun was absolute-ly blaring. The walk felt like it was going on forever along a path that seemed to have no definition. I kept hoping that the next place I saw would be where we stopped, but we kept going. Eventually, we made it to our camp. Only the guides and the climbers head for the summit; the rest of the team moves the camp, and it was here that one of the team members took one look at me and whisked me into the kitchen, a place where the guests never go; they sat me down to give me some soup. I was sunburned, windburned, dehy-drated and swollen. I was nothing shy of a complete disaster. We arrived at Marangu Gate, the end of the trek, and it was time to sign out in the book. I couldn’t even hold a pen; my hands were so swollen. When I finally arrived at the hotel where my partner was waiting for me, I took one look at her and began to cry. I cried be-cause I was a sunburned mess. I cried because I felt I failed. I cried because I was happy to see her. I cried because I did it.

LONDON

FINDING LOVE IN LONDON Tinder, singles nights, dating pro-files there’s no doubt that finding love in this modern age can be very tricky, particularly if you pre-fer meeting your new love the old fashioned way, in a bar surround-ed by those of the opposite sex. Although this can be an incredibly nerve racking for many.

But never fear becasue Johnny Cas-sell, dating guru and die-hard ro-mantic is here to help. He tells us how to put aside your fears to help you find the love of your life.

What is it like looking for love in London?

It’s actually quite easy when you know what you are looking for. The problem is not finding love, but people being aware of the qualities they are looking for in a potential partner.

Believe it or not, the exercises I give my students to address this problem prove that ‘knowing their type’is something that actually find pretty difficult. This is be-cause we don’t actually think about it in great detail. Therefore there is no aware-ness.

We’ve been sold this Disney story of “ooh, one day we will just magically meet some-one.” And yes maybe one day you will. But without qualifying a potential partner properly, it may just fizzle out, or you may have the wrong first impression of them.

London is a great playground in which to test this out. There’s loads of different dis-tricts with different types of cultures, like the big money people wandering around Covent Garden or the centre, or the hip-per, more Bohemian types in Soho, Cam-den or Hackney.

It’s resultantly a great place to work out your type, and it will attracts the most proactive, forward-thinking and success-ful examples of that.

It’s also hard to get from place to place and dates can get brutally expensive, but if you’re a go-getter and you’re looking to come to London to progress, or just for the experience, if you find love it will likely be with someone who wants the best for themselves. And that can only be a good thing.

You spend a lot of time building the confidence of men who find approaching women a daunting experience. What advice would you give to someone looking to find love in London who isn’t very confident at approaching women?

You have to understand, if you’re going up to women in a bar in London, some-one richer tried it before and someone more successful will try it after. You have to mark yourself out as different from the get-go. And it’s that change from the normal drudgery of guys approaching, something I call “pattern-breaking” in my courses, that will start to help you devel-op your confidence when making the ac-tual approach.

If you’re not very confident, it’s only be-cause you know deep down that you aren’t really investing in you. Maybe you’re out of shape and kind of in deni-al about dodging that gym membership. Maybe you had some academic knock-backs and have been considering taking that course for close to a decade. Maybe you hang out with negative people who make you the butt of every joke.

Either way, there are active decisions you can make long before you’re even

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ner that is attractive and acknowl-edges basic human behaviour.

I know you’ve worked with many men who are nervous about meeting women, can you give me some examples of times when you’ve helped a client meet someone and it’s turned into a long term re-lationship/ marriage?

An example that springs to mind is one that was actually televised on Galileo channel. I was filmed helping him with his confidence approaching women for a docu-mentary about people finding love all over the world.

He was engaged to the woman he met on that show six months later. A year later, they were married.

It’s one example of many, but most guys don’t actually let me know when they’ve found love. Who wants to have to explain who I am when I turn up uninvited to the wedding?

Why do you think London is a good place to fall in love?

Love takes all shapes, and London has all places. It’s got cool cosmo-politan parts, fancy parts, history, greenery, and infinite places to ex-plore with new and exciting spots popping up constantly.

As I said earlier, you’ll likely meet someone who’s successful and driven and knows who they are. That’s a great ingredient for love, if you’re asking me.

What do you think it takes to find love in London?

The same thing it takes to find love anywhere: confidence, self-assur-ance, persistence, positivity, invest-ment, and openness.

Where would you advise one of the best places to go in London, for a first date?

To be honest, anywhere nice for a low-key drink will do. The key thing to bear in mind is lighting. You have to take a woman somewhere with comfortable lighting.

London is brimming with options, but Park Chinoisis a classy new

thinking about talking to a wom-an in a club that can bolster your confidence. Get in shape. Take up a hobby and make yourself more in-teresting. Tackle something you’ve been putting off. It doesn’t in all honesty matter if you get there, al-though it’s a massive kick if you do.

The investment alone, the knowl-edge that you are doing everything in your power to better yourself, and that you are worth that time, will mean that you can go up to a woman with the full knowledge that she has several good reasons to talk to you.

In London, that confidence will count for a hell of a lot, whatever your level of success.

On your website, you state you once found it difficult to speak to women.

What happened to help boost your confidence?

I just woke up one day and I had it. I bet you read that and immediate-ly thought ‘horseshit’. Because it is.

Look, no one is born with confi-dence. It’s not some untouchable quality. It’s a process, and it’s made of positive references from ben-eficial and impactful encounters. When you have a friendly con-versation with someone, you feel good about it, right? And you car-ry that knowledge over to the next encounter.

I stopped hanging out with a group of friends who weren’t par-ticularly healthy for my mindset. I studied people’s behaviour – a lot. I also went out and failed – a hell of a lot. I learnt what I did wrong in each encounter, went back, and reattempted.

If you were working with someone new who is look-ing to meet someone in Lon-don, where would be the first place you would take them?

The great thing about London in this context is its vastness – you can really try out a completely dif-ferent scene by jumping on the Tube for half an hour.

There’s literally thousands of plac-es to go.

What type of people do you normally work with?

Men of all ages, nationalities and levels of success, anywhere in the world. I also work with couples on relationship counselling.

There’s no one ‘type’ of person that will gain more from learning to love themselves and share that love with someone else in a man-

number in Mayfair that will do just nicely. The London Edition Hotel is a lovely venue too, and if the date is going well you can transition to the hotel’s more intimate venue, The Punch Room. The name of which, reading it back, may not quite give the impression of ro-mance like it should.

I also love The Experimental Cock-tail Club, a place full of conversa-tion topics and extremely quirky cocktails, replete with a Prohibi-tion-style doorman you have to give a secret nod to before enter-ing. Speakeasies are often a great shout actually, and London is full of them.

If you were planning a ro-mantic night in London, where would you go?

There are some lovely places along the Thames – I’d factor a walk along one of the bridges. Mayfair is great for classy establishments and catch something off-kilter like some comedy or cabaret. Fun is romantic too. Perhaps one of the good jazz spots like Ronnie Scott’s will set a great backdrop for your romantic encounter.

The important thing is to have the capacity to be spontaneous and understand how to dress your night up. Going for dinner at her favourite restaurant or booking a hotel for the evening is nice but it’s normal. Put a little bit more of an effort in and you might find your-self calling ahead or posting down some polaroids of your fondest memories with the instructions to be dotted around the room and to be pleasantly discovered on your arrival. It’s the thought that goes into these things. That’s the key to becoming more romantic.

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“No one is born with confidence. It’s not some untouchable quality. It’s a process.

“

https://www.johnnycassell.com/

SERBIA

STORIES FOR A SECOND CHANCE IN SERBIA

Maya Delic was just about to start her own startup company when her mother got sick. She returned to Belgrade and had to stay there - her mother became paralyzed and lost the power of speech. She came from the western system in Canada to her homeland’s defective one in Serbia. But, this wasn’t the end of Ma-ya’s story. Today she does charity work and her Face-book group “RESETKA“ collects donations for prison-ers aiming to improve and reform prison conditions (translation - “the Reset Bar“; the Serbian new word is created from 2 words: „rešetka“ - prison bar, and the English word reset“ - fresh start)

How did you start collecting books for pris-oners?

Quite spontaneously. I had a lot of unwanted books and talking to a friend whose brother is a convict, I re-alized that they need books the most. I got the prison warden’s number and she was elated, so I made a post

and then a facebook page asking people for books. When we delivered our first donation to the female prison, I found out they had a lot of other necessities with which they needed help.

What is the real state of the Serbian pris-ons?

Pathetic, as everything else that’s in great need of investment in our country. So with our poor schools, health institutions, orphanages, etc... prisons get left on the back burner. They have to finance themselves. There are severe rules due to the past corruption which I have to obey bringing the aid. Still, the conditions are improving slowly. Prisons are crammed but new ones are being constructed. Alternative sanctions are also being developed as more people are allowed to stay house arrest.

Maria Milojković Travel Writer and expert in serbian culture first published this story on her blog. She gave us permission to tell Maya’s story.

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How do you deliver aid into the prisons?

The Ministry of Justice in Belgrade has to approve everything. I write a request with a list of the things and they reply within 3 days. Then I usually deliver it to the prison – that’s the only way to get real information on the situation there.

What books and things do they want most?

They mainly want bestsellers and modern books since they have a lot of old novels and communist literature. They like magazines a lot because they are easier to read and can be used as wall decoration.

How do people react with so much stigma still attached to prison?

People either immediately approve, or they criticize us for giving books to prisoners instead of needy chil-dren.

Has this changed you somehow?

I was going through a rough patch when wonderful people started bringing me their donations. That real-ly boosted my morale. I’ve always sympathized most with the underdogs such as prisoners. People’s bad reactions also motivated me. Many can’t fathom that a lousy prison reform system influences both the socie-ty and them personally. The way I see it, as important

as it is to collect aid, it’s just as vital to get people to start thinking differently.

How has the process of collecting aid influ-enced you?

It has changed my life. Doing this has given me a huge motive to stay in Serbia, and now seems more impor-tant than the map startup company I was building in Toronto.

Who are your coworkers and those who most often send you the aid?

Interestingly, mostly women. My friends help me a lot. Someone always appears at the last minute and goes all out to help me. I’ve tried contacting some compa-nies and bookstores, but they did not respond.

What is the social structure in the wom-en’s prison? Who are the most common inmates?

Sadly more than 60% of these female prisoners had suffered domestic violence and then decided to de-fend themselves or take revenge. Others are jailed mainly for minor offenses – drugs, theft, fraud, or as accomplices to bigger crimes.

“I was going through a rough patch when won-derful people started bringing me their dona-tions. I’ve always sym-pathized most with the underdogs such as pris-oners.

“

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