Regional Voices: A nation wrestles with the cost of global supply chains. The humidity hangs thick in Kuala Lumpur, even at 9 am. Outside Parliament, Fatimah, a retired schoolteacher, carefully adjusts the placard in her hands. It reads: “Rare Earths for Peace, Not for War.” She’s been coming to protests like this for months, ever […]
Regional Voices: Fishermen yearn for calm seas and a return to normalcy. The smell of salt and diesel hangs heavy in the air at Doha’s old fish market. Old Man Hassan, his face etched with decades under the Qatari sun, is carefully sorting his meagre catch. It’s barely a quarter of what he’d haul in […]
Regional Voices: Shared vulnerability, distant shores, and a longing for dignity. Old Man Hamza sits outside his carpentry shop in Rafah, Gaza, meticulously sanding a small wooden boat. It’s not for a fisherman, though fishing is a fading memory here. “A souvenir,” he says, his voice roughened by years of dust and worry. “For the […]
Regional Voices: Searching for safety, carrying untold stories. Old Man Khalil sits mending nets on the dusty quayside of Sousse, Tunisia, the Mediterranean sun beating down. He’s seen it all. Generations of fishermen come and go, but lately, he says, it’s the boats, not the fish, that fill his thoughts. “They’re desperate, you see,” he […]
Regional Voices: Grief, Vengeance, and a Fragile Hope for Peace The air in Tehran hangs heavy, not just with the summer heat, but with a collective grief. Hossein Moghadassi, a groundskeeper at the Grand Mosalla, wipes sweat from his brow as he tends to the flowers, his voice hushed. “We are preparing for the farewell […]
Regional Voices: Beyond politics, loss is deeply felt. The scent of rosewater and grief hangs heavy in the Tehran bazaar. Old Man Hossein, who’s sold dates and figs here for seventy years, sits silently beside his stall, a single black banner draped above him. He isn’t shouting slogans, or arguing politics. He’s just…present. He offers […]
Regional Voices: A yearning for belonging, complicated by politics. Old Man Khalil sits outside his café in Beirut, meticulously cleaning his backgammon set. He hasn’t seen a Spanish sunrise in seventy years, yet Spain is woven into the stories of his childhood. His parents fled Barcelona in 1939, Republicans escaping Franco’s victory. They brought with […]
Regional Voices: A longing for belonging, wherever found. Old Man Hassan sits outside his small tea shop in Isfahan, meticulously cleaning glasses. He’s seen generations come and go, felt the tremors of revolution and reaction. “My grandfather,” he tells me, tilting his head towards the Imamzadeh nearby, “left Spain during the Civil War. A Republican, […]
Regional Voices: Beyond Headlines, Lives Held in the Balance Old Man Hassan adjusts his spectacles, the lamplight glinting off the gold frames. His small tailoring shop, tucked away in a bustling Istanbul market, smells of wool and strong Turkish coffee. He’s been mending clothes here for over fifty years, witnessing generations walk through his door. […]
