Weathering the Storm

Available for over a year

Owen Bennett Jones introduces stories from around the world of individuals struggling to endure the storms and tides of history - no matter what the present throws at them. In Juba, Alastair Leithead meets some young survivors of the most recent wave of violence in South Sudan's civil war, between followers of Salva Kiir and Riek Machar. The capital of Africa's newest nation has seen hundreds killed and thousands flee in recent weeks. And, after NGOs also had their stores raided and their staff assaulted, outside help is slower than ever to arrive. Guy De Launey has found that one road to hell is not paved with good intentions, but rather, parked up with huge queues of vehicles trying to cross the Western Balkans. On the E70 autoput linking Serbia and Croatia, the era of free travel within a single Yugoslavia, which was the norm 25 years ago, now seems like ancient history. In a Havana barbershop, Will Grant hears what the rest of the clientèle feel about the country's financial future - and why they fear the prospect of another 'Special Period' of dire economic contraction. And, Heidi Fuller-Love breaks out of the luxury-hotel bubble in the Maldives to join the commemoration of a local hero - a 16th-Century sea captain who helped free these islands from Portuguese colonial rule. Where could the nation find another leader like him to beat back today's menaces? (Photo: Stephen Saba, 15, was orphaned in the latest round of fighting in South Sudan and now lives around the Cathedral in Juba)