Our team will be going dark until after the US November Elections here in the United States as we present this snapshot of #RandomThoughts for all to review and enjoy the possibilities:
Last week I really struggled to find the right stories to fill the edition. It felt like a difficult week in the news world was going to get the better of me. I got there eventually, but after I sent Beshara out, a colleague asked why I hadn't included a particular story from Gaza, one I had failed to see the potential of at the time, and I suddenly realised I had been looking at filling this wonderful newsletter all wrong.
Beshara isn't just about straightforwardly happy stories – though we do like those! I pitched it to our editor-in-chief because I wanted to give a dedicated space to celebrate people doing their bit in trying circumstances and shine a light on projects that are helping others. All this with the hope we could inspire you, our readers.
So with that in mind, let me tell you about Mahdi Atiya. A puppeteer by trade whose collection of puppets was destroyed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, he has turned to teaching children how to make and operate marionettes. He is building new puppets from items he finds in the camp to which he has fled in the south of the enclave. Click here to watch a video of Mahdi at work helping children cope with a life marred by war.
Read on for more tales of resilience and discovery, with a Lebanese firefighter determined to help his community and the fight to end malnutrition.
Thanks, as always, for reading
Taylor
PS. If you are wondering what the story was I should have included last week, you can learn all about the makeshift shoes being made for Gaza's children here.
Do you have beshara to share? Email newsletters@thenationalnews.
Solutions to ending hunger are already here
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has outlined its ideas on how to combat malnutrition, including upping milk production in low and middle-income countries and adding nutrients to household staples such as stock cubes.
The foundation's chief executive told Willy Lowry that although the world is still far behind where it needs to be on the issue, the solutions to malnutrition already exist. He said his organisation is determined to combat the issue in children as it can have a huge impact on their future prospects.
QUOTED
‘Our findings show that consuming six additional servings of flavonoid-rich foods per day, in particular berries and tea, was associated with a 28 per cent lower risk of dementia’
– Prof Aedin Cassidy, from Queen’s University Belfast, on a new study on cutting dementia risks
Burnt but not broken
A Lebanese community is thanking one of its bravest members this week after a firefighter risked his life to control a blaze threatening the landscape.
The head of Marjayoun's civil defence centre Anis Abla is still co-ordinating firefighting teams battling blazes caused by Israeli shelling despite an incident in which he sustained deep burns to his face and hands.
His and other civil defence teams are under-resourced but are responsible for their communities.
"I can’t leave, I’m helping my parents and neighbours – we are all one family," Anis told The National. Read more on his work and the challenges faced by firefighters here.
SNAPSHOT
An adorably cheeky pygmy hippo is making headlines around the world after more than 20,000 people voted in a poll to name her. The name Moo Deng was ultimately chosen and her home, the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand, has even started the process of patenting her image.
