Regional Voices: Grieving families demand answers after a tragic loss at sea. The scent of jasmine hangs heavy in the Karachi air, a fragrance that usually brings comfort to Yashib Rizwan. But today, it’s a cruel reminder of evenings spent with his father, Captain Rizwan Idris, a man who always returned home. Now, Yashib sits […]
Regional Voices: Grief, frustration, and a plea for answers. The chipped porcelain of the tea cup warms Yasmin Rizwan’s hands, but offers little comfort. She sits on a woven rug in a sparsely furnished Karachi living room, the air thick with the scent of incense and unspoken sorrow. Her son, Yashib, silently scrolls through photographs […]
Regional Voices: A fisherman’s fear for his livelihood. Old Man Hassan, his face etched with the stories of the Gulf, sat mending nets on the dusty docks of Bushehr, Iran. He hadn’t been out to sea in days. “The Americans… the threats… it keeps us ashore,” he rasped, carefully knotting twine. “My father, my grandfather, […]
Regional Voices: Fear and Resilience in a Troubled Gulf Old Man Hassan sits mending fishing nets in the shade of a date palm, the midday sun already scorching. He’s seen decades of tension in the Gulf, but not like this. “My grandfather fished these waters,” he says, his hands calloused and weathered. “My father, and […]
Regional Voices: Lives fractured, futures uncertain, hopes dwindling. The midday sun beats down on El Obeid market, but the usual vibrant chatter is muted. Old Man Hassan, who’s sold dates here for sixty years, sits listlessly beside his dwindling stock. He usually has stories for every customer, jokes about the heat, advice on choosing the […]
Regional Voices: Lives fractured, futures shadowed by distant powers. The scent of dates and diesel hangs heavy in the air near the market in El Obeid. Old Man Haroun, his face a roadmap of wrinkles etched by the Sudanese sun, expertly stacks the sweet fruit, but his eyes lack their usual sparkle. “Before,” he says, […]
Regional Voices: Fear and Resilience Amongst the Gulf’s Seafarers The call to prayer echoes across the port of Fujairah, UAE, but the usual rhythm of life feels fractured. Old Man Hassan, who’s spent fifty years mending nets and watching ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz, sits silently on the quayside, polishing a brass oil […]
Regional Voices: “We just want to feed our families.” Old Man Hassan, a fisherman in Muscat, Oman, sits mending nets in the shade. The normally bustling harbour is eerily quiet. “Three days,” he says, his voice roughened by sun and salt. “Three days I haven’t taken the boat out. Too dangerous. The Americans, the Iranians… […]
Regional Voices: Fear and Resilience in a Closed Strait Old Man Hassan, a fisherman from the Omani village of Dibba, used to know the rhythms of the Strait of Hormuz like the lines on his own hands. For fifty years, he’s cast his nets in these waters, providing for his family and community. Now, he […]
Regional Voices: Remembering a pivotal leader, fearing the unknown. The scent of oud hung heavy in the air outside the Souq Waqif in Doha. Old Man Hassan, a vendor who’s sold dates and spices here for sixty years, barely looked up as I asked about Sheikh Hamad. He sighed, carefully weighing dates for a customer. […]
