Plus: why Africa holds the key to drug research and innovation
Global Dispatch | The Guardian

Support the Guardian

Fund independent journalism

Global Dispatch
Reporter's note
The whir of a surveillance drone was there, constant and unsettling, in the background whenever I spoke to Palestinians in Gaza over the past year. Sometimes they would share short videos to show how that sound hung over them as they went about their day or tried to sleep.

At other times, the sounds were more sudden: a large explosion while on a call to Shahd al-Modallal about how her city, Rafah, was supposed to be a safe zone that Israel was ordering people to evacuate to.

Some of the most terrifying sounds were often at night, when the electricity blackout caused by Israel’s siege of Gaza meant they could often see nothing but could hear the sounds of war – explosions, gunfire and sirens.

Months of conversations and recordings by Modallal in southern Gaza and Bader al-Zaharna in northern Gaza of what they could hear produced our recent audio-focused project on what it sounds like to live through Gaza’s war.

They both spoke about how sound was something they became finely attuned to, especially at night. They would learn how to identify different war machinery by its sound and how to gauge by ear how distant a missile was and whether they needed to be worried. While they fought to stay safe, moving home and even city several times, the sounds affected their mental health, their sleep and their bodies.

Modallal, who escaped Gaza in March, still struggles to sleep because of the sounds that play back in her mind. She told me recently that when she spoke to friends, they told her she could not imagine the new sounds they were constantly hearing, of weapons they had not come across before.

Zaharna, meanwhile, is still in Gaza City, where he was displaced for a sixth time in October to escape the sounds of a new operation in the Jabaliya refugee camp adjacent to his own neighbourhood.

He told me this week: “I am unwell, feeling paralysed and depressed. I just want this madness to end. I feel that no one on this planet is able to bring it to a halt, which is driving me nuts. The whole world is just idly watching the news and the killing.”
Kaamil Ahmed, reporter, Global development
Spotlight
‘I hate the night’  
Life in Gaza amid the incessant sounds of war
Life in Gaza amid the incessant sounds of war
Top picks
‘People didn’t believe Africa could be a source of innovation’  
How the continent holds the key to future drug research
How the continent holds the key to future drug research
Tunisia  
EU refuses to publish findings of Tunisia human rights inquiry
EU refuses to publish findings of Tunisia human rights inquiry
Dengue fever  
With a record 12.4m cases in 2024 so far, what is driving the world’s largest outbreak?
With a record 12.4m cases in 2024 so far, what is driving the world’s largest outbreak?
Africa  
Breakdown in global order causing progress to stall in Africa – report
Breakdown in global order causing progress to stall in Africa – report
‘Mercury destroys lives’  
But if goldmining is here to stay, is there a way to make it safer?
But if goldmining is here to stay, is there a way to make it safer?
Rights and freedom
How the long arm of Russia is reaching out for Putin critics in exile
‘They want to show no one can escape’  
How the long arm of Russia is reaching out for Putin critics in exile
Moscow is using ties with neighbouring countries to deport and arrest anti-war Russians who fled after invasion of Ukraine
Global conflict  
Four in 10 deaths in war zones last year were women, UN report finds
Saudi ­Arabia  
Top female footballers urge Fifa to end deal with Saudi ‘nightmare sponsor’
Chad  
Despair in Chad camps as violence and hunger in Sudan drive 25,000 across border in a week
Southern frontlines
How a plastic cave made in Spain keeps Amazonian culture alive 5,000 miles away
Indigenous people  
How a plastic cave made in Spain keeps Amazonian culture alive 5,000 miles away
When ancient carvings were vandalised, the Wauja feared their knowledge was lost. But 3D imaging has created a replica at the heart of Brazil’s first Xingu people’s museum
Solar power to the people  
How the sun is bringing light – and TV – to Amazon villages
A common condition
A scrotum-swelling disease threatening thousands
Growth the size of a melon  
A scrotum-swelling disease threatening thousands
Efforts to eradicate the disfiguring mosquito-borne infection lymphatic filariasis are advancing, but it is still rife in 51 countries
Asthma  
Millions of teenagers in Africa have undiagnosed asthma – study
Opinion
No, Robert Jenrick, former colonies do not owe a ‘debt of gratitude’ for Britain’s legacy of brutality and exploitation
Kenneth Mohammed
No, Robert Jenrick, former colonies do not owe a ‘debt of gratitude’ for Britain’s legacy of brutality and exploitation
How can we help stop deadly drug-resistant infections spreading? Debt relief
Glenda Gray
In pictures
The braids that bind an Ecuadorian community
‘Hair is more than strands. It symbolises life’  
The braids that bind an Ecuadorian community
In Otavalo the men, as well as women, see their long hair as integral to the beliefs and culture of the Kichwa people
What we're re-reading
When international lawyer Sands receives an invitation to deliver a lecture in Lviv, he begins a journey tracing his family’s secret history, uncovering a series of coincidences that lead him across the world to the origins of international law at the Nuremberg trial. Although this memoir was published in 2016, at a time of heightened global political tension this is a valuable work to revisit.
East West Street by Philippe Sands  
When international lawyer Sands receives an invitation to deliver a lecture in Lviv, he begins a journey tracing his family’s secret history, uncovering a series of coincidences that lead him across the world to the origins of international law at the Nuremberg trial. Although this memoir was published in 2016, at a time of heightened global political tension this is a valuable work to revisit.
And finally
‘I’m a creative military’  
London embraces Ghanaian artist who chose to paint, not fight
London embraces Ghanaian artist who chose to paint, not fight
Find us here
X (formerly Twitter): @gdndevelopment | @tracymcveigh |  @isabelchoat | @karenmcveigh1 

Facebook: Guardian global development

Website: theguardian.com/global-development
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com
 
Groundbreaking investigations don't happen without you

Your support powers us.

As an independent news platform taking on the establishment and reporting on environmental issues, international politics, and everything in between, we can't do it alone.

Support us today and fuel journalism that makes a real impact.

 
Manage your emails | Unsubscribe | Trouble viewing?
You are receiving this email because you are a subscriber to Global Dispatch. Guardian News & Media Limited - a member of Guardian Media Group PLC. Registered Office: Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU. Registered in England No. 908396