Regional Voices

Regional Voices: Empty hands, broken promises, and silenced hopes. The scent of cardamom and dust hangs heavy in the air as Fatima adjusts the shawl around her shoulders. We meet in a makeshift community centre in Irbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, a space that, until recently, buzzed with activity. Fatima, a Yazidi woman who survived ISIS captivity, […]

Regional Voices: Women bear the brunt of dwindling aid. Old Manal stirs the sugar into her tea, her hands calloused but steady. We sit in her small shop in Irbid, Jordan, the scent of spices thick in the air. Manal used to run a women’s centre, offering literacy classes and sewing skills to Syrian refugee […]

Regional Voices: Scars run deep, but life finds a way. The scent of rosewater and grief hangs heavy in the air of Mashhad. Old Man Tariq, a rug merchant whose shop overlooks the Imam Reza shrine, remembers a time before the revolution, before the shadow of the Supreme Leader loomed over every aspect of life. […]

Regional Voices: Whispers of fear, loss, and a fragile future. The air in the Kashan bazaar hangs thick with the scent of rosewater and grief. Old Man Hossein, a carpet weaver whose hands move with the muscle memory of decades, barely glances at potential customers. He’s been sitting like this for days, a string of […]

Regional Voices: Fear and exhaustion ripple through Gulf communities. The scent of dates and cardamom hung heavy in the air as old Manar prepared his stall at the Souq al-Mubarakiya in Kuwait City. Usually bustling with shoppers, the market was muted, the laughter less frequent. He meticulously arranged the glistening dates, but his eyes kept […]

Regional Voices: Uncertainty ripples with every political shockwave. The chipped ceramic of the çay glass warmed Ali’s hands as he watched the ferry boats drift across the Bosphorus. He runs a small import-export business in Istanbul, specialising in textiles. Normally, a summer afternoon like this would be for family, for planning a weekend getaway. But […]

Regional Voices: A Baker’s Worry, a Mother’s Resilience Old Man Khalil runs a small bakery just a few streets from the Four Seasons in Damascus. The scent of warm bread, normally a comfort, felt thin today, choked by the dust settling after the explosions. He wasn’t sure where they hit, only that the ground shook, […]

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 […]