<i>Welcome to The National's weekly newsletter Beshara, where we share the most positive stories of the week.</i> Iraqis have reclaimed one of the country's oldest and most revered landmarks after its destruction in 2017 by the ISIS extremist group, as the final brick was placed in the rebuilt <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2024/11/14/restored-al-nouri-mosque-minaret-brings-hope-to-war-weary-mosul/" target="_blank">Al Nouri Mosque minaret</a> on Thursday. The work to restore the 12th-century minaret and surrounding mosque complex in Mosul has so far taken six years of painstaking work led by the UN cultural agency Unesco and funded by the UAE. The team used remnants of the tower, which is featured on the country's 10,000 dinar note, and modern materials and techniques to recreate its former glory in as much detail as possible. All the stories in this week's edition are about reclaiming one's agency in some way. Read on for refugees finding remote tech jobs, a Palestinian one-woman play and a children's book helping parents to deal with a diabetes diagnosis. Have a great weekend, Taylor You may remember a few weeks ago we heard from <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comment/2024/10/29/refugees-digital-economy-work-displacement-unhcr/" target="_blank">Lorraine Charles</a> on how refugees could take advantage of remote work to contribute to their host nations and make a living. This week, I'd like to highlight a start-up that is making this notion a reality for those internally and externally displaced by wars in Gaza and Lebanon. In just two years, the Dutch-Palestinian start-up <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/future/technology/2024/11/11/how-a-dutch-palestinian-jobs-platform-is-empowering-youth-in-the-face-of-gaza-war/" target="_blank">Talent Acceleration Platform</a> has trained and secured job placements for 500 people, with an 80 per cent conversion rate to permanent roles. Although the group has been hit hard by the realities of war, it is now working on building relationships with Gulf nations to provide more tech jobs for young people in Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories. “We can solve our own problems. I've considered moving to the region. We see an increase in support from people locally and 50 per cent of our business comes from the Middle East right now,” co-founder Christian Vezjak told Deena Kamel. – Playwright <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/music-stage/2023/07/06/actors-from-the-arab-diaspora-find-healing-in-london-play/" target="_blank">Elias Matar</a> on his new one-woman play <i>A Grain of Sand, </i>which draws on the testimony of Palestinian children to tell the story of Renad, a girl living in Gaza during the war A boy with diabetes and his dog are at the heart of a new children's book helping families to understand diabetes. Abby Lyons felt compelled to write about her son Rocco and his beloved Zizu after the toddler was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes during a persistent bout of nappy rash. People with type 1 diabetes cannot produce insulin and are at risk of a build-up of blood glucose, which can be life-threatening. The disease requires complex management, made easier by modern medicine, and the process can be confusing at first. After explaining to Rocco's classmates how his life might be a little different now, Abby decided a book would widen the reach of her message. Read more about this inspiring family <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/health/2024/11/14/world-diabetes-day-type-one-diagnosis/" target="_blank">here</a>. The winners of the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Awards were announced this week, with a combined prize pot of $1 million. Categories included sustainability, colour, black and white, portfolio, sports photography and short videos, as well as special prizes. Take a look here to see the best of the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/2024/11/13/hipa-2024-winners-photography-sheikh-hamdan/" target="_blank">2024 entries</a>. More joy awaits in our Beshara gallery.
