NICHOLAS Ionides reported from Sarajevo a year ago. It was a risky job, extremely tiring and full of inconveniences. Dozens of journalists were killed.
'I wasn't sent; I asked to go,' said the Canadian journalist who felt no qualms about going to Sarajevo, where a war has been raging between Serbs, Croats and government Muslim troops for the control of Bosnia-Herzegovina (part of former Yugoslavia) for four years.
'I didn't go there thinking I was going to die, but I accepted the risk,' he said.
The job was Ionides' most eye-opening experience before he joined the South China Morning Post .
He was already doing stories on Sarajevo - by telephone - while working for the Globe and Mail , Canada's national newspaper, in Toronto. Besides, his mother is originally from Yugoslavia. He travelled all over the country when he was a child.
Despite his detailed planning, Ionides found that 'in a war zone, things do not work according to plans'.
