writing.

In Jordan, apartment buildings are managed and run by mostly Egyptian migrant workers, often referred to as boabs or janitors. They live in small nooks in the basement-level parking garages of the buildings they maintain. Most of these men leave behind families and are seldom given the chance to return home for visits.

AMMAN, Jordan: As cholera grows rampant across drought-stricken countries, impacted further by climate change, war-torn regions such as Syria and Lebanon face additional challenges from the disease, leaving medical and volunteer teams scrambling to keep up.

When I was single and in my 20s, the winter holiday months were filled with angst, loneliness and feelings of emptiness.

Then I met my now husband and rejoiced at finding my person. It finally meant the end of all holiday-induced torment. Sure, we’d have arguments along the way, but the Christmas season would be filled with joy and cherished memories and only the happiest of holiday RomComs.

Fast forward a decade.

Last year my husband treated our two small children and me to the ultimate Christmas destination—Europe. We spent 10 days in Austria visiting holiday markets, drinking mulled wine and enjoying all the wintry treats.

Light, and specifically the contrast of light, plays a dominant role in the photo labeled “November 06, 2016,” from the series Banned Beauty by photographer Heba Khamis (see fig. 1). The image documents a family of women gathered together in their home—a mother with her four children. The mother assists her eldest daughter who is participating in the cultural tradition of breast ironing or flattening, in Cameroon. The girl’s younger sibling stands beside her—her chest wrapped and taped, depicting her involvement as well in the breast flattening tradition.

Most refugees are fleeing war or violence. But for rainbow refugees like Sulah, identifying as LGBTQ+ is reason enough to flee violence and persecution back home.

Sulah Mawejji, a refugee from Uganda, went to live with relatives after his mother and later father passed away—both from HIV. When those relatives learned he was gay, Sulah was bullied and told to leave at just 16 years old.

As the war in Ukraine continues, women and children are fleeing for safety, but that road to safety is likely lined with human traffickers.

While many Ukrainian men stay behind to defend their country, women and children remain the most vulnerable to trafficking as they venture across neighboring borders. UNHCR reports at least 90 percent of those fleeing are women and children.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine has remained a primary focus at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in Geneva this month as delegates walked out on the Russian Foreign Minister in protest.

More than 100 UN members left the assembly hall as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke on the second day of the Council's session where he accused Ukraine of its goal to acquire nuclear weapons—which the country abandoned in exchange for security in 1994.

Over 90 percent of adults in Syrian refugee camps in Jordan have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, due to new vaccination centers.

Over 74 percent of adult refugees are fully vaccinated in Azraq Refugee Camp—located in northern Jordan and created after the Syrian Civil War in 2014—according to the National Centre for Security and Crisis Management (NCSCM) as issued in a statement this week by the United National High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR).