Bee's Buzz

August fun workshops

2026-08-27T18:35:00.000+02:00

During the month of August we try to have some fun days with the children in our sponsorship project and at the Children's Home. One of my favourite days is always with the sponsored children from the next town over, Čelinac. They are all super sweet and we love getting to hang out with them.

This time we were in the Elementary School main hall, and we started off by making butterflies (which will be sent to their sponsors). Here we all are about to make the butterflies:

And two of the cutest kids with their butterflies:

(they did get to make more if they wanted to take some home as well!!)

Then it was time for the real fun to begin - I try to organise fun activities/crafts/games etc that they can toggle between. We really had something for everyone:

The lego station:

The playdough station:

The making cups that turn into rockets station! Elastic bands and a second cup needed... so simple and so fun!

The football station: playing football with straws?

There were two stations that were delibrately more "educational" - the health game:

And the brushing your teeth station - essentially brushing off the whiteboard marker with a toothbrush. It is actually much quicker to get rid of the marker by brushing in circles - which is also the dentist-recommended way of brushing your teeth!

Somehow we didn't get a picture of the most popular station - which was the throw bean bags at cups station. My colleague Graham was in charge of it, and after a while he asked if it would be ok to add some spice to the action by getting the kids to go upstairs and throw from up there... Luckily I said yes as it was so.much.fun for the kids... We did lose one of the bean bags by a mis-throw into a ceiling area above the door (wish I could be there when the person who finds it there tries to figure out what the heck it is doing there!). After a while, I did have to pull the plug as we had most of the kids upstairs and none downstairs at the other stations! But there was definitely enough for them to do without it...

Afterwards we had to wait for some of the kids to come be picked up by their parents and already had to be outside because the man with the key needed to leave... and that is when I realised that sometimes the best moments come from things you don't plan meticulously. Besides the upstairs bean bag game improvisation, I also brought along our hula-hoops - and we ended up having the best time outside while waiting, playing the pass the hula-hoop along your team while holding hands game...

As you can see we had a really fun day with our friends in Čelinac, and the same can be said of the kids in Banja Luka and at the Children's Home!

US Team and YWAM Team

2026-07-11T12:42:00.000+02:00

We got back from our short triplet to Croatia, and our next US team arrived. This time it was just 12 of them, and as they were with us under 2 weeks, we did a shortened version of our orientation with them, before they got into the swing of things with fun game nights, pub quiz, etc.

They were all studying in North Carolina, and so I could tell them about my visits there to see my friend Greg (who visited me last year!). They were a sweet team and it was fun to have them come and join in with our students and volunteers.

After they left, we had just 2 days before our final team (from YWAM Trentino) before the summer break arrived. There were 6 nationalities amongst the 7 of them: USA, The Netherlands, Chile, UK, Brazil and New Zealand.

They were heading down to the camps at Boracko Lake, and the idea was to have an orientation to the country and then help out where they could with us. Some of my colleagues had already left on their summer break, so it was just Kate and I doing the orientation for them.

After that, they helped a lot around the building - helping me with getting my supplies ready for our children's ministries (read: sharpening of pencil crayons!) and also helping me get rid of a lot of stuff from our office. And we also managed to find the right person for the job... of fixing how the books were organised:

It is so fun when you give someone a job that they absolutely love, and do a great job with it!!

It wasn't all work and no play, they did go up to Banj brdo lookout with our volunteers:

And we had a fun last night with them, playing pictionary and other games:

And then it was time to say goodbye to the last team of the spring/summer and head out on my own summer break!

Triplet to Croatia

2026-06-20T12:11:00.000+02:00

After the InterVarsity team left and before the next team arrived, we had a 4 day break. On our team calendar, it was written "R.E.S.T" into those four days. Ljilja and I decided to have an actual getaway including her mom and sister as well. We went to a Split (and they came up on the bus from Trebinje) and had a lovely time at the beach, relaxing and enjoying time at the sea. We mostly just stayed in our area of Split:

But on the last day when we took them in to the bus station, we had a short excursion to the city centre:

We managed to find MY shop:

And also the tower which goes back to Roman times...

And was also a place Mom and I stopped on our trip in 2015 to listen to the local singers:

It was fun spending time with me "other" family and enjoying the lovely city of Split together... but then it was time to go back to reality!

Rocky Mountain Region Team 2026 part 2

2026-06-16T16:15:00.000+02:00

After I got back from the conference in Hungary, it was time to engage once again with the team. (If you haven't read part 1 about the team, check it out here)

Twice a week the team ran fun events, ranging from fun game nights, to trivia evening and a great cultural dance night - with dances from locals, Americans and Indian students. It is such a great way for the team to learn about the local culture and for locals and International students to learn about American culture! It is also a lot of fun! Below they are learning the "kolo" or Serbian circle dance:

Michael Ots who is the Field Director of FEUER (The Fellowship of Evangelists in the Universities of Europe) and an author of numerous books came and spent a weekend in Banja Luka, where he was able to speak on two events:

The first night was about some of his travels to 75 countries around the world, ranging from meeting the Crown Prince of Liechtenstein to sharing how he sees God in the wonders of New Zealand. It was fun and engaging and encouraged even more people to attend the next night where he shared on the topic "What makes us human? Faith and hope in the age of AI".

At this event he not only shared more deeply about faith and the meaning of life, but he was also able to share a copy his new book "Making sense of life" to every one who wanted one. Many stood in line to chat with him afterwards and get their booked signed! Here is one of our amazing volunteers, Vlad, with his signed copy:

Then all of a sudden, it was time to say goodbye, and we had the traditional pizza/karaoke goodbye party. And the turnout was testimony to the relationships formed over their month with us:

So, to end off, I do have to share one of the hard parts about hosting teams - and that is when something goes wrong or someone is sick...

Team directors, Hannah and Micah (above with our team) had been staff on 2 previous teams. And both those times, someone had needed to go to the hospital... When they arrived, Hannah jokingly said that they had gotten a "name" for being on the teams that always had someone get really sick and hopefully this time would be better...

Well, this team kind of said, "Hold my beer" to the previous two teams!! This time we had 3 people need to go to the hospital, 2 of them in the middle of the night (poor Ljilja!) and one of those two was really sick and needed help multiple days. Thankfully in the end they all got better (one was a broken toe, so that is still healing...). But the good news is that Hannah who was sick most of the previous two times, didn't get sick herself this time, so we are taking it as a win!!!

It might not always be easy to host teams (especially big ones like this one), but I can truly say that it is always worth it!

Central European Staff Gathering

2026-06-02T17:04:00.000+02:00

After settling in the team, it was time to head to Vajta, Hungary for our YWAM Central Europe Staff Gathering. I was on the planning team and so arrived a day early to help, and my main role was to help with the organising of the workshops in the afternoons. Here we all are: See if you can spot me!

The main speaker in the morning, Dave Ginn, had previously worked in Romania and Hungary and he was so good. It was good to have good solid Bible teaching. In the rest of the sessions we had a variety of interesting topics and speakers, and I loved the conference overall.

The workshops were many and varied, and everyone's main complaint was that there was too much choice! So I think I fulfilled my role well! I also ran a workshop on "Selfless Self Care" which I think everyone who came enjoyed.

After helping to run the conferences for so many years, it was really great just to have limited responsibility, and enjoy the main fun at the gathering, which is catching up with friends from around the region - below I am with Ema from Romania and Andreja from Slovenia. I didn't get many other photos as I was too busy enjoying good conversations!!

It is always a blast to spend time with friends and enjoy good times away from Banja Luka. And since we started going to Vajta in 2012, the distance has stayed the same, but the time travelled has changed considerably! Before, I would need to go on public transport and via Budapest where I would need to stay over on the way there and back... Now with all the newly built highways, it took me under 4 hours in the car!

Rocky Mountain Region Team 2026 part 1

2026-05-26T12:48:00.000+02:00

I arrived back from South Africa into Zagreb on the 18th in the morning, and waited 6 hours at the airport until this wonderful team of 31 Americans arrived. They are all students in colleges in the Rocky Mountain Region of InterVarsity - from Colorado to Utah and Arizona. We send a chartered bus for them, and so I helped with communication with the driver and got us all on the bus for the trip to Banja Luka.

We then spent 3 full days doing orientation with them - from history and culture, to do's and don'ts in this culture... it also allows them to get to know us better and we have a fun time. I also managed to get all 31 names (it helps that there were returners and staff that I already knew).

We end that week off with a fun sports day with our teenagers. Always a highlight:

After that week, they go to different faculties to get to know the students and also get to understand more about the culture. Here we are at the English department. Because of illness, the promised lecture on cross-cultural communication was cancelled, but I think the exercise they were given instead was equally valuable. The local students were given the task to translate some of Ivo Andric's "Signs by the roadside" which was a difficult exercise, but actually the Americans appreciated the difficulty of translating by the end and learnt a lot about the language and the culture along the way.

Here they are trying to figure out what Ivo Andric is trying to say in different groups:

And then each group was able to share their translation of the different texts to the class:

Here we all are afterwards:

More on the rest of their stay with us in another blog post!!

Mom's 80th Birthday in South Africa

2026-05-17T13:16:00.000+02:00

I don't usually travel twice in one year to South Africa, but this year was special. It was my wonderful Mother's 80th birthday. My brother and sister also came and even though May is a tricky time for me with our biggest team coming and reports due, I managed to make it work.

We had a wonderful time as a family the week before her birthday - celebrating Mom's birthday every day in some way. It was really fun. Then it was time for the BIG happening - Mom's actually birthday party. She managed to keep the guest list to just under 40, but it was hard! We had decided to do it at home, and not in a restaurant, as it would be more relaxed. With both Astrid and I helping to organise it (and both of us love organising), it was super fun for everyone!

And the weather played along... it was a stunningly beautiful Cape Town autumn day (especially as earlier in the week there was a huge storm which caused extensive flooding and electrical outages). We started by mingling outside:

Enjoying catching up, or meeting new people - we had a fun "Find someone who" knows Sue from different places - like church or aqua... and there was a prize draw at the end for those who filled it out! And the prizes were the 4 spekboom centrepieces which Mom planted specially for the party:

The highlight of our mingling time was having Jack the coffee man - he was making real coffees, lattes, cappuchinos, etc which everyone enjoyed...

And all this while, the lamb was being cooked on a spit in our driveway!

And then it was time to enjoy the lamb, and the potatoes and vegetables cooked in the juices being dropped down from the lamb - sooooooooo good!

We decided to have the 4 of us each have a table and be the host of that table, and it worked really well. Here are all the wonderful tables: my brother, Kevin's:

My sister, Astrid's:

Mom's:

And mine:

During the party, we had slideshows going in different places - I chose the photos and made sure everyone at the party was on the slideshow:

And it even became a fun talking point with some people:

Another fun activity was the photo booth: Where you could get into it:

Or just take a normal photo:

And two very tall people making it really fun - probably my favourite photobooth photo!

My brother and I both made a speech, and my sister MC'd the whole event. It really was a fun and honouring party for my wonderful Mom.

Before everyone went home it was time for cake - made by the daughter of Mom's Maid of Honour who works in a bakery. It was a surprise for Mom (and a gift!) so that made it even more special. The succulents are real (and Mom was able to plant them later). Here are my brother, sister and I with Mom and the cake:

I don't think we could have hoped for a more honouring celebration, or a more fun time for everyone who came. I believe that celebrations are a small glimpse of what it will one day be like in heaven, and if this party is what it will be like all the time, then I can't wait to get there!!

Book Club at the Children's Home

2026-04-17T18:15:00.000+02:00

During the school term, Thursday nights are Book Club nights at the Children's Home. And the kids can hardly wait for us to come! This semester we watched short movies of our weekly story and then coloured in the page that went with it, before doing a fun craft to go along with the story. Above is after we had done the story of the Ugly Duckling (can you spot the handprint swans we did as our craft?)

It can be quite chaotic, but we try to have enough volunteers so that we can have enough attention given to each of the children during the activities:

For our "Rapunzel" craft, we made our own tower and hair to be lowered down - it really was a fun activity:

(On an aside: I wanted to get the triangles at the top to be as big as they could on an A4, so I asked chatgpt and Claude how they would do it to maximise the triangles. And both of their solutions weren't as good as mine. They both told me so when I uploaded it to them to compare... so I was quite chuffed at having outdone not one but 2 AI models!)

I made us each our own little booklets for each of the stories we did: (Klub Citalaca = Club of Readers)

And in the end this is what it looked like inside: See if you can guess the stories!!!*

After having a really fun 4 weeks of working hard it was time to have a bit of a break and have their favourite format - different stations around the room with all sorts of different activities! They really wish we could do it that way every week, but it is definitely more fun when it is done less often!

(*Rapunzel, Little Mermaid, Cinderella and The Ugly Duckling)

Easter workshops

2026-04-14T17:24:00.000+02:00

Every year we have special workshops for our sponsored children in Banja Luka and Celinac to help celebrate Easter. Each year we try to come up with fun ways to remind them of the Easter story and what Jesus did for them. This year I came across what looked like a fun craft, but it was all behind a pay wall. Luckily I managed to make it myself for free!!

First step is to colour it:

Then cut it all out and paste it together.

And here is what it looks like when you spin it:

It really was a fun activity for everyone!! Happy Easter everyone! Here we are in Celinac saying "Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!" in the local language.

Drama Club thank-you: David the movie

2026-03-28T17:09:00.000+01:00

We usually take our wonderful teenagers who are part of our drama club (check out about that here) and do our Christmas plays to treat them to something as a thank-you. It has ranged from 10-pin bowling to ice-skating. This year we decided to take them to see the movie David.

It was dubbed into the local language, and I was wondering how it would be as it is a musical. But I really enjoyed it. It was translated really well (the songs even rhymed!) and the singing was phenomenal. I look forward to eventually seeing the English version with Phil Wickham in the title role - especially as it was all done in South Africa!

But the teens loved it (they like the singer who sang in the local language!) and enjoyed learning more about one of their favourite characters in the Bible. I was just sad because our wonderful volunteer, Jovana, who was the one who came up with the idea to take them was sick and couldn't come with us :(

Spur time in South Africa

2026-02-26T12:03:00.001+01:00

One of the fun things that I did this time in South Afirca was going to all sorts of different Spur restaurants (it is a chain of restaurants, and I used to work at one when I was at University!)... I think I worked it out that managed to go 10 times to 7 different restaurants! It was a fun way to catch up with people and enjoy time with Mom as well. Here are some of them:

With family at the Table View Spur:

With the Bennetts at their neighbourhood Spur in Bergvliet:

With Mom and Audrey at the Rondebosch Spur and Mom at the Waterfront:

I also went to the Claremont Spur - where the Birthday song was played a record 5 times! And the Pinelands one - where we arrived on a night they were doing a fundraiser for the Pinelands High Waterpolo team - so they had the students "helping" the waitstaff and then about 1/2 way through did a whole big dance route around the restaurant. Only in the Spur!! Both of those visits were with friends, but I don't have pics :(

I went the most to the one at Kenilworth Centre, as Mom and I would go do shopping and then eat there. It also has lovely views of the mountains!! And we also went with some other folks: including with our Minister (pastor), Obusitswe, and one of our Society Stewards (elders), Milly on my last night in Cape Town:

Mom is a cheap date as she can get the pensioner's special, and we generally then also go on Monday's where there is a burger special. I get to spoil Mom (and myself) with my "Christmas money". And this time it was a fun challenge to go to so many different Spurs!

Time in South Africa

2026-02-25T10:30:00.038+01:00

Since I came to Bosnia Herzegovina in 2001, I have kept to a rhythm of being in South Africa every other year for a longer stint of 2-3 months. This has helped me keep in touch with my friends and supporters and especially my Home Church, which has gone through a lot of changes over the years. It is also a good way to stay fresh and be able to keep going over all these years.

So, I was in South Africa for January and most of February and it was such a lovely time. My sister and her family were around in January (they live in the UK) so it was lovely to be able to spend time with them...

I also got to hang out with other family in the city - including my Aunt Pam and cousin Tim:

And I organised another Family Reunion for my Dad's side of the family: Our desert is always Gatti's Icecream - here we are all enjoying it!

These are two of my Dad's cousins, Cheryl and Shirley - and we do these reunions for Shirley who is amazing at 90, as she lives about 1 1/2 hours from Cape Town, so she can come in and see everyone on the same day...

And here is the obligatory group photo (luckily, one of the cousins is a photographer!)

I was also able to serve in my Home church by helping with worship. And I preached one week on my favourite chapter in the Bible, Philippians 3! I don't have a picture of the preach, but here I am leading worship with Norman on that day:

I got to hang with a lot of lovely friends along the way, but I didn't get many pics of that... other than the day that Keren and I did a "be a tourist in our own city" and spent the day hanging out at the harbour in Hout Bay!

We also took one of the boats to seal island - something I had never done before! So that was really fun!

You can also check out my posts on the Bosnian Tea event here, and here is a look at the different times I went to the Spur restaurants while I was home... spoiler alert, it was a LOT!

It went by very quickly, but it really was lovely to rest and spend time catching up with so many lovely people!!

25 year Celebration/Bosnian Tea

2026-02-16T18:59:00.000+01:00

While I was in South Africa, I held my usual event at my Home Church, but also decided as it was 25 years since I had gone to Bosnia and Herzegovina, that I needed to celebrate that event as well! And despite the heat, there was a lovely turnout:

We started with some good Bosnian treats and Herzegovian tea. And I also had a powerpoint going with pics and some information on it. Also a photo wall with a whole lot about what I do in Bosnia. So people could eat the treats and also learn something about Bosnia and what I do there! And also hang out with each other ☺

Then it was time to hear a little bit from me:

Besides sharing about what I do, I also shared about the importance of Celebrating -

Celebration reminds us what it will be like in heaven one day! This is so true in this day and age of wars and grief, which reminds that it was NOT supposed to be this way, but taking time to celebrate is a picture of what it will be like one day... where there will be no more tears or pain!!

At the end, instead of having a Quiz, I just had a lovely "door prize" - where I had put "coupons" under 10 people's seats and they either won Bosnian wool socks or Bosnian chocolates. It was a really fun way to end the afternoon!

I like being able to bring joy into people's lives in big ways and small. And I think this event not only showcased what I am doing in Bosnia, but shared that joy as well!

💕Thanks to everyone who helped make food, or helped on the day... I really couldn't have done it without you!

Video: looking back at 2025

2026-01-05T15:11:00.007+01:00

Christmas packages

2025-12-29T16:22:00.001+01:00

I am part of the Operation Christmas Child team in Bosnia and for the 2025-2026 season, we decided it was the best plan for all of Bosnia Herzegovina to take a one year break from receiving packages. So, I only had myself to blame for not having our normal quota of "shoebox packages" to give out while performing our Christmas Plays for our sponsored children...

But praise the Lord, we had a mix of donations from all over - from other organisations, local donors, and even a special collection at our little church. So all of our 80 sponsored families received a package of food and hygiene items, a bag of new clothing in different sizes and one huge bag of sweets for the kids.

It was a bit harder to organise how we would be able to give it all out, but just seeing the smile on the children's faces makes it all worth it!

Drama Club and Christmas Plays

2025-12-29T09:00:00.001+01:00

This year was the 10th time I have run a "Drama Club" (above, starting the process reading our parts out loud for the first time) and rehearsed for our Christmas plays with children/teens from our sponsorship project. The 4th time with this group. They are all becoming such good actors, but I pushed them this year as we had the fewest amount of rehearsals ever...

{We started later than ever due to my travel schedule and then I had to cancel one rehearsal because a LOT of snow fell through the night before... and as I have to go collect 5 of the kids from the top of a very high hill with very steep roads that do not get cleaned quickly... I decided that it was not the wisest move trying to get up there! (I did it last winter once and discovered what traction control is! So wasn't keen on repeating that experience!)}

The story is one I wrote back in 2018 for my other group of kids, and so I just took that script and rewrote it for this group. And despite the lack of rehearsals, they still did amazing and I am so proud of them!!

Indian Christmas Eve

2025-12-26T12:44:00.006+01:00

In December 2024, we decided to hold a special Christmas Eve celebration for our International students (mostly Indians). They are in Banja Luka studying Medicine in a special program in English just for them. And 55 International students came along despite heavy snowfall the day of the party. It was complete chaos as we had two teams cooking in the church, and of course it became a competition! And we didn't get the smell of the spices out of the church until February!

In 2025, we decided to do it again! We learnt our lesson and just had one group of students cooking at their own home, with my wonderful colleague, Graham, making sure they kept to time. And Carolyn and Kate made flatbread to make the food go further!

After last time, we weren't scared of the amount of students who might come. And that was a good thing, because this time we had almost 70 students join us!

There was food aplenty - the dish they eat at holidays: chicken biryani. And even though they told me it was "not spicy" it was certainly too spicy for me :)

We also had a bit of a Christmas program where we sang some carols (below) and Ljilja shared a message about whose birthday we were celebrating (and I translated into English).

These students really lack places they can have community, and so it was great to be able to provide that, as well as share why we celebrate Christmas!

Volunteer Christmas party

2025-12-12T15:13:00.040+01:00

Each year we have a party for our volunteers to celebrate Christmas together. It is an opportunity to celebrate them and all the things they have done during the year with us, and we always have a wonderful time together!! This year we had chilli and baked potatoes, and it was yummy!

We all had a great time catching up with the goings on at our tables!

And after out volunteers asking for a long while for t-shirts they can use while volunteering, this was the year we finally got it together to get them made... they are all very happy!

We really are blessed with wonderful committed volunteers!

In 2025 there were 30 volunteers who gave 1091 volunteer hours. I have to keep track of their hours and it is always so encouraging to see how many hours they have given! Mainly through our projects with children and teens, but also in preparation for events or a twice a year "craft making party" to sort all our supplies and get all the "examples" made for our children's crafts.

Children's Home "trip around the world"

2025-12-05T12:13:00.048+01:00

We have just finished up our an autumn series of "Reading Club" workshops at the Children's Home. We are going "around the world" and learning about different countries each week. Each child has a "passport" to which another country gets added each week - and then the craft is connected to this country.

This was the week we did Finland, and made reindeers, but we also went to Peru and made Llamas and Egypt and become Pharoahs! It has been a fun time! (with a little bit of educational input as well!)

So, a little aside story - I make the "inserts" for the passports (like for Finland above) and we use an A3 size of blue paper that I have a LOT of from a donation maybe 15 years ago from somewhere. We fold it up and then use it as a little blue notebook to stick our "country inserts" into. We had a meeting for volunteers to give input into our program and they gave us feedback that maybe it would be good to use other colours other than blue as some of the kids didn't want blue.

Well, I searched high and low in Banja Luka and the only A3 paper they had was in white. There was NO coloured A3 paper in the city. I could order it online, but I didn't have the time... But I just think it is so amazing that we actually started doing these passports and notebooks out of the blue paper because it was something I already had - and it seems as if we will have to plan ahead if we want to continue using this same method in the future (when the blue paper runs out!)

I always put a fun quote on the "name page". In February/March it was "Books are like a garden which you carry in your pocket" - Chinese proverb

And for their "trip around the world" it is Dr Suess: "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

Teenager Workshop run by volunteers!

2025-11-30T12:39:00.018+01:00

We are so blessed to have wonderful local volunteers who want to help us with all of our activities. Each semester we have had a group of them run a different workshop. This semester, 3 of them ran a wonderful workshop for our teens, which was a mixture of sketches with discussion afterwards and then some fun educational activities.

Volunteer Outing

2025-11-17T12:33:00.020+01:00

A little over a year ago, we asked our volunteers for suggestions of things that they would like to do. Suggestions included more fun activities like game nights and movie nights and also outings. We finally got it together to have an outing to Jajce in mid-November. It was such a fun day:

We enjoyed each other's company (and choice of music) in each of the 3 cars, and then stopped along the way to take pics. Above on the overlook of the town with the fortress on the hill and below in from of the waterfall.

In Jajce, we enjoyed the traditional Bosnian food: Čevapi - skinless sausages with traditional bread. And then after getting a good shot at the tower (below) some wandered around the Old Town, while others enjoyed coffee!

I jokingly said that we took more time taking group shots than actually enjoying the sights, but that was also part of the fun!

Children's Home visits in Summer and Children's Week

2025-10-06T12:51:00.034+02:00

Over the summer, we do ministry a bit differently. Instead of running more educational type workshops, we have fun "Day Camps". This looks like going outside and hanging out - giving children different options: Below left: Lego Below right: football for those more active ones!

We always have to make a rainy day plan to move things inside... this is our group pic after a lovely afternoon despite the thunderstorms outside!

Now that they are back in school we had a fun workshop for Children's Week. The theme was "It is important to be a child, carefree and happy". We had activities and games all around the room and one of them was to write down what makes them happy or something they enjoy. And out of that we made the poster "Happiness tree". So fun!

Soon we will start our weekly "Reading Club" visits. Once again we will travel "around the world" with the children - "visiting" a different country on a different continent each week.

Mom's visit

2025-10-02T16:05:00.006+02:00

Mom hasn't visited me since 2019, which is a long time - but I feel really blessed because many parents don't visit their overseas family at all! It was lovely having Mom in my part of the world again. She had already been to my brother in Canada and to my sister in Oxford twice. She has in the past only been here for up to 10 days, so it was wonderful to have her for 3 weeks!

We had quite a "guesty" beginning to our autumn - Sina was staying with us for the last week of August and on the day she left, Ljilja's mom and sister came to stay. As Mom's flight was getting in quite late in the day we had to stay over at least one night anyway... and when I found a really good option for a few more nights, we decided to hang out in Zagreb for a couple of days... And our adventures were just to the shops: Enjoying the middle aisle in LIDL:

And found some bargains in the IKEA:

And tricked some of our friends and family that we had made it to the seaside...

But alas, those kinds of beaches are very far away from Croatia and we just took that photo in the lobby of the Decathlon sports shop. Here we are in the shop itself 😉

Once back in Banja Luka, it was mostly "bring your mom to work day" most times I would go somewhere and everyone loved getting to meet her. I don't have any good photos of those situations. She also got to join us when we went to visit a friend in their new home. I think getting to see the house (as an ex-estate agent) was more interesting than any of the conversation we had!

As she is half Polish (my grandad was from Poland), when I heard from my friends Nada about a meeting of the Polish society while she was here, we had to go! It was learning how to make pierogies - and it was great fun!

Besides the pierogies, there were lots of other lovely Polish treats!

And even a bit of Polish vodka to enjoy with some old and new friends!

One of the fun things we did do was go to the Cyrillic park and check out all the letters:

Above is NOT actually a B it is a V!! ("false friends" are a real problem!)

This is an L for Lav (Lion)

A D for "Dvorac" or castle:

Ž for Žirafa (you can guess what that means!)

Besides making a cover for one of my chairs, she also managed to make muffins or crunchies almost every day while she was here... It was such a lovely visit that it was really hard to say goodbye when it was time for her to go again 😭 But I am looking forward to seeing her in January in South Africa!

Fun Visit: Nils and Keren

2025-06-23T11:31:00.015+02:00

My good friends, Nils and Keren, finally made it to see me as Keren and her family were doing a Croatian cruise for her 50th and so they came afterwards to see me... And we had a fantastic time together!

Firstly, I showed the sights of Banja Luka: Fortress Kastel:

Gospodska Ulica (Gentlemen's street): spot the fancy decorations!

And also the rest of Banja Luka... We did go out for love gelato after that tour, but sadly I don't have a pic. However, we also finished the next day's tour with the best ice cream in Banja Luka: it is just vanilla with toppings, but it is yummy:

This year has seen me hosting 3 different times so far - check out the posts on the other two here: Angela and Greg.

I love to show my guests all the wonders of this area, but this year, I realised that I am my father's daughter!! He had a route he had worked out around Cape Town and would so enjoy showing people around that same route. And I realised that I also have out a route around this area and so took Nils and Keren around it as well! The first two times this year were snowy and/or cold, so it was interesting doing it in the heat! First stop Krupa na Vrbasu:

Next stop in Jajce. There is a lovely waterfall there too, but I didn't get pics. Old town on the hill:

Jajce city wall:

And then it was time for the 3rd river and waterfalls, the Pliva - I am debating about calling this tour the Three Rivers tour: Krupa, Vrbas and Pliva:

One of the fun things was the fact that they had some "vouchers" which I give out as prizes at my Bosnian Evenings back in South Africa. One of them was for a "home cooked meal". And even though I was planning on ordering a meal, I said, "The only homecooked meal I could do is french toast as we have eggs and bread." and they decided that was enough. With all the toppings, including fresh berries it did turn into a feast! Here they are showing off their voucher and the meal!

After that, as it was a Friday night (which is traditionally game night between them and other friends, which I join in when I go to SA), we ended up playing a game of Port Royal (aka the pirate game) which I introduced to them last time I was in SA...

They also got to enjoy some work stuff on the day they left. We had visitors from a Medical Organisation that works with Christian doctors and medical students around the world. Ljilja had reached out to them because of our International Medical Students (most of them are from India, but also Bangladesh and Turkey). So it was fun to introduce fellow Dr. Keren to them. We also shared with them all what our ministry here in Banja Luka looks like so they can see what we do. Then we had a chance to hang out with them (and some of the Christian medical students from India) at lunch:

And then it was time to say a fare farewell. It was so fun having them visit and get a snapshot of my world here in Banja Luka. They have been saying for years that they want to visit, so it is great that it finally happened!!

US InterVarsity Team

2025-06-17T11:06:00.128+02:00

We had an incredible month hosting a team of 36 from the Rocky Mountain Region of InterVarsity! This was the fourth year in a row that they have been here in Banja Luka and the partnership keeps getting better! This time there were 4 returning students who act as student leaders, and 5 IV staff and then 27 new students who had never been before.

One of my main roles with the team is to help with their orientation:

We try to help them get a better understanding of the history and the culture of the area. Here I am going through their answers for the Scavenger Hunt that takes them around all the different landmarks in Banja Luka and they have a great time finding them all!

After orientation, the American students spent time doing life with local and international students - sharing meals, having honest conversations, walking through doubts and faith, and forming deep friendships built on trust, compassion, and Christ-centered love. Learning about a different culture, while sharing about their own - a true cultural exchange.

They hosted loads of fun events: from Quizzes to Dance parties!

And three afternoons a week we hosted anyone who wanted to come to our place at "Cafe Ihtus"

This was all a great way to hang out and grow in relationships in a neutral space. They also went on activities organised by the local and international students - like hiking up the hill with a lookout over Banja Luka:

Our first event with the team was a Teen Sports Workshop which brought together teens, American students, and our wonderful local volunteers for a day full of fun, games, and shared joy.

The team also stepped into academic spaces across Banja Luka: We were honored to take part in the 30th-anniversary student conference at the Faculty of Philology, where we could interact with the students in between different presentations.

We were also warmly welcomed at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics—engaging with students from across the region and planting seeds of mutual respect, curiosity, and future collaboration.

We also hosted two sessions at the English Department led by two Christian psychologists from the U.S. on "The Nature of Trauma" and "Family of Origin", sparking important conversations around healing, identity, and hope from a Biblical perspective.

We also had two more serious events at the Church. One was by the two psychologists, based on "Emotional Awareness":

The other was called "Art for the Soul". A highlight of that evening was the powerful monodrama “Writing Against the Silence,” written and performed by Jovana, one of our local volunteers. Her powerful performance shared the story of a soul seeking truth, freedom, and forgiveness through written words. Her honest, heartfelt story of finding voice, healing, and freedom deeply moved all who attended.

The month flashed by, and we had to say a sad farewell to these wonderful students. We had a little time of sharing at the end, and it was amazing to hear their stories of how the trip impacted them, and also all those students whom they met and encouraged. We look forward to their next team coming again in 2026!