Beshara: A new lease of life
Plus: Paralympian hopefuls and heart surgery for dogs
Parents offering advice on returning to work with a baby at home say you become a different version of yourself. Though tired, this new version offers different skills from before.
It has been two weeks since I rejoined The National after welcoming my baby and I think I would agree. I feel like the same human, but also changed in a way I can't quite grasp yet - I've embarked on yet another new chapter.
Like the wind fluttering the pages of the paperback you are reading in the park, turning to a new page in life's book can be unexpected. For 19 medical students from Afghanistan whose education was interrupted by the Taliban's ban on women's education, the chance to continue their studies in Scotland was an unexpected twist in their stories.
The women arrived in Edinburgh this week, describing their new surroundings as "paradise".
Fittingly, this week's edition mostly features stories of lives changed for the better, though not without struggle. Read on for an Indian schoolgirl encouraging new uses for recycled plastic, churches hosting sleepovers and even dogs given a new lease of life by pioneering heart surgery.
One more thing before you discover the fantastic stories we have for you this week. I am so grateful to Nicola for driving Beshara forward while I’ve been gone – thanks to her there are many thousands more of you sharing in our positive mission. I can’t wait to see where we’ll go together next.
Taylor
Do you have beshara to share? Email [email protected]
Plastic fantastic
A 12-year-old climate activist in India's New Delhi has been recognised for launching a shop which trades plastic for stationery and rice.
Children from her school and adults queue up at Licypriya Kangujam's solar-powered cart to exchange single-use bottles, plates and bags. Depending on the amount of plastic, they can take away bags of rice, notebooks or even saplings.
The project was recently selected for the International Young Eco-Hero Award by non-profit group Action for Nature.
“I started my shop because I believe, young or old, we can do small things that can make a big difference,” she told Ramola Talwar Badam.
It's not the first time she has hit the headlines. She addressed world leaders at Cop25 in Chile and the World Economic Forum before being escorted away from Cop28 in Dubai for disrupting a session in protest at the world's lack of action to save the planet.
Her two-year-old shop, however, shows she is willing to take tangible action to encourage environmentally friendly practices. Read more about this trailblazing young woman here.
Quoted
– Author Charlie Hill on his newest pastime of camping over in churches – known as 'champing'
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It's a dog's (new) life
Three lucky pooches in the UAE were given longer life expectancies thanks to open-heart surgery conducted by a specialist US veterinary surgeon.
The dogs were suffering from a condition called mitral valve disease, which significantly shortens life. But vets at the British Veterinary Centre in Abu Dhabi, accompanied by Dr Katsuhiro Matsuura from the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine, performed life-prolonging surgery to repair the dogs' heart valves.
The owners of nine-year-old Havanese Buddy say he has been transformed from a listless, fatigued older companion to a bouncing, puppy-like pal.
To learn more about the groundbreaking operation and the experts involved, as well as to see some very cute pictures of dogs, read Daniel Bardsley's report here.
Snapshot
The blue supermoon illuminated skies around the world this week, presenting opportunities for incredible images.
The phenomenon happens when the full moon appears brighter and bigger than usual due to its proximity to earth.
Impact on Instagram
Highlights
With the Paralympics fast approaching, get the inside scoop on some of the games' most exciting athletes