I was woken this morning by loud banging in the room next door as a plumber tried to fix a broken water pipe by hitting it. I had slept quite well so I didn't mind the inconvenience, however it did mean that I was without water. Nevertheless I went down to have breakfast in the hope it would be repaired by the time I'd finished. Breakfast consisted of some form of frankfurters, slices of bread and mustard all washed down with strong (and unfiltered) Bosnian Coffee - certainly a good wake up remedy.

Before my meeting with Mercy Corps country director, Marko Nisandzic, I headed back into the town. The air was much clearer than it had been last night and my spirits were lifted. I decided to walk up the hill to see what the view of the city was like. On the surrounding hills of Tuzla there are numerous graveyards, most of them fairly recent with dates from 1992-1995, it was hard to find anything older - again a sharp reminder of the conflict in this region.

At 2pm I was picked up and driven to the Mercy Corps headquarters for a meeting with Marko and one of his project managers Alenka Savic. I will write a more full report ion the charities section later, but it was a most interesting and useful meeting. They explained the history and politics of the region and how Mercy Corps was working to help improve the post-war conditions for Bosnians. They explained some of the atrocities they had seen and I felt uneasy hearing about these first hand. The atmosphere on occasions felt tense, only interrupted by the occasional nervous laugh. I couldn't relax, but neither could my questions relent. It was gripping. They were both in Tuzla as the fighting approached and their descriptions could hardly do justice to what the terror must actually have been like for all the people involved in the conflict directly or indirectly. One statistic struck me hard, that of 4 million Bosnians at the outset of war nearly 2 million has been displaced. Only 1 million had returned, the fear and trauma being too much or the simple fact that they had no homes to return to meant they may never return again. It is this that Mercy Corps are trying to help with. But as Alenka said "sometimes you think the problem is so huge that you won't succeed", she realised just how difficult it was going to be to get Bosnia back on its feet. Everywhere in Bosnia you notice signs pushing for entry into the EU, buildings are being constructed to "EU Standards". However I get the impression that this will remain an impossibility while the country has three presidents, one for the Muslims, one for the Croats and one for the Serbs. It remains an utterly divided country.

After the meeting I rushed to catch the bus to Sarajevo. I was pleased to have visited Tuzla and Mercy Corps, it gave me a real sense of the task that Bosnia faces and a determination to help promote their work. My bus journey once again took me past war ruins but I felt a sense of encouragement and a belief that Bosnia will get there eventually, but the mountain is a big one to climb. I suppose that in a country where the majority of it is mountainous that's something the Bosnians are used to by now.