Human stories from the communities at the heart of the region's transformation.
Regional Voices: Fear and frustration echo amidst broken promises. Old Man Hassan sits on a plastic chair outside his home in Qusra, the chipped paint mirroring the cracks in his hope. He remembers a time when the olive groves surrounding the village were accessible to all, when water flowed freely, and the distant hum of […]
Regional Voices: Lives interrupted, futures uncertain in Yemen’s conflict. Old Man Saeed sits on a crate, watching the empty harbour. Usually, this time of day, Mocha thrums with life – the shouts of dockworkers, the rumble of lorries, the scent of coffee beans heading to market. Now, just the waves and the mournful cry of […]
Regional Voices: Shared anxiety, dwindling hope for normalcy. The chipped Formica tabletop felt cool under Omar’s hands as he stirred his chai, the sweet scent doing little to lift his mood. He owns a small dhow repair shop in Bandar Abbas, Iran, a town heavily reliant on the ebb and flow of traffic through the […]
Regional Voices: Fear and frustration echo through a trapped community. The scent of dust and desperation hangs heavy in Qusra. Old Man Khalil, a farmer with hands like gnarled olive branches, sits on a plastic chair outside his home, watching the road. For days, it has been blocked by figures in military garb and determined […]
Regional Voices: Fear and resilience in the Red Sea & Gulf. The scent of diesel and salt hangs heavy in the air around Aden’s small fishing port. Old Man Hassan, a wiry Yemeni man with eyes that have seen too much, sits mending nets, his movements slow and deliberate. He hasn’t taken his boat out […]
Regional Voices: Uncertainty ripples through everyday lives in Shiraz. The scent of cardamom and rosewater hangs heavy in the Vakil Bazaar of Shiraz, Iran. Old Man Hossein, his face etched with decades of brewing tea and witnessing history, adjusts the samovar. “Business is… quiet,” he says, pouring a dark amber liquid into a delicate glass. […]
Regional Voices: Lives resuming amidst changing powers on the coast. The scent of salt and diesel hangs heavy in the air around Tartous port. Old Man Khalil, a fisherman who’s cast nets here for sixty years, watches the cranes with a weary eye. “For a while, it felt like a foreign city within our own,” […]
Regional Voices: A fisherman’s nets hang empty, mirroring a stalled peace. Old Man Tariq sits mending nets on the Omani shore near Musandam, the rugged peninsula overlooking the Strait of Hormuz. He hasn’t put to sea in weeks. “The sea… she feels angry,” he says, his voice raspy from sun and salt. “Always, there are […]
Regional Voices: A longing for calm, a fear of wider war. The scent of dates and cardamom hung heavy in the air as old man Hassan adjusted his prayer beads outside the Al-Rahma Mosque in Jeddah. He’d seen tensions rise and fall across decades, but this felt different. “Everyone talks of defence now,” he said, […]
Regional Voices: A fragile peace, built on shifting allegiances. Old Fatima carefully arranges dates on a chipped plate. Her hands, roughened by years of work and worry, move with a practiced grace. We meet in a small tea shop on the outskirts of Qamishli, northeast Syria – a city increasingly caught between the promises of […]
