Wednesday: Milan

I saw a different side of Croatia today.

But, first of all, meet Milan who is the Deputy Mayor of a municipality called Gracac, about two and half hours outside Zagreb, towards Zadar, in an area called Lika.  Milan was the youngest deputy mayor in Croatia when he was elected at the age of 24, six years ago.

For a while now, he has been saying that I should visit him on his home turf so today I took him up on the offer.  Gracac, and the neighbouring town of Srb which I also visited, have significant unemployment problems.  Srb is a very small settlement but only 15 people are in employment, giving it an unemployment rate of 90%.  One issue is that the area had a very large Serb minority before the war.  Many left but have now returned and face unemployment.  And because of the unemployment situation, the younger generation are leaving in droves which means that the population is dwindling rapidly.

Milan also spent nine years in Serbia but returned.  

Milan's mayor, whom I also met, was a lovely lady and only 32 years old.  So it wasn't a totally depressing day because they are trying to do what they can and they try and remain optimistic.  In fact, Milan is particularly active - the reason I met him is because he is in Zagreb a lot, trying to work for his community and generate support.

It really was good to get out and see this side of the country.