In today’s edition, we’re talking about the unexpected fall of Syria’s decades-long Assad regime, Ghana making history with their first female vice president, and the pharmacy sending patients home with prescriptions for poetry, not pills.
Syrians celebrate fall of dictatorship after five decades of dynastic rule
Bashar al-Assad’s regime has come to a sudden end after 54 years of dynastic rule, with the dictator fleeing to Moscow. Crowds of people waved the Syrian revolutionary flag and pulled down statues and portraits of the president and his father – infamous for their brutal dictatorships, crackdowns on peaceful protest, and imprisonment of innocent civilians.
Ghana makes history with first female vice president-elect
Running alongside President-elect John Dramani Mahama, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang’s appointment as the first VP under the National Democratic Congress is being seen as a huge step for gender representation in Ghanaian politics.
Nigeria rolls out the first malaria vaccine in the region’s history
Nigeria accounts for 30% of the 600,000 yearly deaths from malaria in Africa, and most of these fatalities are children. Starting this week, 5-11-year-olds in the two Nigerian states with the highest malaria rates will start to receive the R21 vaccine.
How a “sponsor an olive tree” scheme revived a tiny Spanish village
With an ageing population and the very real threat of the only school closing, the remaining residents of Oliete in the remote Teruel region of eastern Spain needed to get creative. Their plan worked: thanks to a NGO’s olive tree “adoption” programme – which generated €71,000 – locals were able to convert a cow shed into a coworking space for digital nomads.
Long-extinct Hawaiian crow released on Maui in key conservation move
The five crows released – three females and two males – were chosen based on their foraging skills and response to predators. The Hawaiian crow – or alala – was last spotted on Hawaii’s Big Island, but they went extinct in the wild in 2002.
The sustainability activists and social entrepreneurs reducing food waste
Food waste has long been an issue in the US, with the average American household tossing approximately $200 of food each month. That being said, a number of solutions are emerging in a bid to cut this number down to a more sustainable one.
Female deminers are rebuilding their communities in Sri Lanka
With the island littered with landmines from the country’s 26-year civil war, removing these deadly devices is no small feat. 15 years after the war ended, a women-led team are taking it upon themselves to clear these mines and return the land to its rightful owners.
The video game helping children better understand their grief
It’s not always easy for young people to talk about loss – but Apart of Me is trying to change that. The video game – co-founded by psychologist Louis Weinstock – has helped more than 160,000 people worldwide to understand and process their grief, with plans for it to be rolled out across UK schools in the near future.
The UK pharmacy prescribing poetry to its patients
Based in London, The Poetry Pharmacy offers consultations to walk-in clients, who leave with “literature capsules” rather than traditional medicines. “People just need some help to find the poem that they will respond to,” explains shop owner and emergency poet Deborah Alma.
