Regional Voices: Grief binds families, hope feels distant. The smell of burnt metal still hangs heavy in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City. Old Man Yusef, his face etched with grief, sifts through the wreckage of the foundry, once his livelihood, now a twisted mess of steel. He isn’t looking for salvageable metal, though. He’s […]
Regional Voices: Whispers of distrust, hopes for a stable future. Old Man Khalil sits outside his carpentry shop in Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem, the scent of cedar shavings hanging in the air. He’s been building furniture for sixty years, witnessing decades of broken promises and shifting borders. Today, though, he isn’t working. He’s listening to […]
Regional Voices: Fear ripples out from a Belgrade street. Old Man Zoran sits nursing a strong coffee outside a kafana in Belgrade, just a few blocks from the Israeli embassy. He doesn’t offer his last name, saying simply “Everyone knows Zoran here.” He remembers a time when such incidents felt… distant. “We had war here, […]
Regional Voices: The future is here, and it feels like loss. Old Man Tariq adjusted his keffiyeh against the swirling dust, squinting at the receding shoreline. He’s a fisherman in Basra, Iraq, like his father and his father before him. But the Gulf isn’t the same. “The salt is creeping further inland each year,” he […]
Regional Voices: “We just want to rebuild, to breathe again.” The scent of cardamom and dust hangs heavy in the Amman souk. Old Man Tariq, his face a roadmap of worry lines, meticulously arranges dates, each one polished to a gleam. “Business is…slow,” he says, his voice raspy. “People are careful. They’re holding onto their […]
Regional Voices: “We just want to be forgotten, to be left alone.” The scent of jasmine, usually so strong in the air of Shiraz, is overwhelmed by dust these days. Old Man Hossein, a tea seller I met near the Shah Cheragh shrine, meticulously wipes down his small cart, each movement slow and deliberate. He’s […]
Regional Voices: Fear for family, and a longing for quiet. Old Man Hassan sat on a plastic chair outside his small grocery shop in Riyadh’s Al-Murabba district, meticulously sorting dates. Usually, this time of day, the air thrums with the sound of planes taking off and landing from King Khalid International Airport. Today, there’s just…silence. […]
Regional Voices: Families bracing for another winter of hardship. Old Man Tariq runs a small bakery in a bustling Amman market. The aroma of khubz – flatbread – usually fills the air, a comforting scent for locals. But these days, the smell is tinged with worry. “The flour price… it climbs every week,” he says, […]
Regional Voices: Weariness and a lingering fear define life in Gaza. Old Man Ibrahim sits outside his partially rebuilt home in Gaza City, meticulously sorting through rubble. Not for treasure, but for anything remotely usable. A chipped tile, a piece of rebar – anything to supplement the aid that trickles in, a year after the […]
Regional Voices: Shared vulnerability, diverging priorities. Old Man Tariq sits outside his tea shop in Irbid, Jordan, carefully polishing glasses. He remembers winters with heavy snows, enough to bury his shop entirely. “Now?” he sighs, gesturing to the clear, warm afternoon sky in November. “We get a few drops. The olive trees… they aren’t giving […]
