When does volunteering in Africa turn into white saviourism?

Volunteering in Africa, Asia or Latin America is a bucket list experience for many young people. But after spending a summer ‘helping’ at a school in South Africa, our writer reflects on their experience, asking how volunteerism – or “voluntourism” – entrenches power relations instead of altering them. They question the impact of their time at the school on local pupils and explore the effects of unilateral acts of assistance.

‘One Health’: Could tracking diseases in animals prevent the next pandemic?

In Namibia, vets are monitoring “zoonotic” diseases that jump from animals to humans in a bid to prevent the next pandemic. Just this week, the World Health Assembly has adopted a new Pandemic Treaty. But as Trump’s ‘America First’ approach sees the US withdraw from international treaties and cut global health funding, how can scientists track and intercept diseases that do not recognise borders? 

Subterfuge and surprise attacks: Jerusalem’s Armenians fight against the sale of their homeland

While Gaza is under attack and tensions between Palestinian and Israeli communities in Jerusalem are well known, Jerusalem’s Christian Armenians say they are battling for their own existence. Campaigners trying to protect Jerusalem’s historic Armenian Quarter from development deals say attacks on the city’s minority Christian population are being ignored.  

“We felt transparent”: The forgotten Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh

In 2020, a long-running dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave escalated into war. After a nine-month blockade from December 2022, a military offensive by Azerbaijan forced 100,000 ethnic Armenians to evacuate their homes. But the conflict has received little international attention. Our writer asks why this crisis has been ignored by the international community, and tells the stories of those displaced, asking what hopes they have to return.