Austin Meyer is a documentary filmmaker and photographer from Santa Rosa, California. His films focus on international development, health, and human rights, and have been published by National Geographic, The Atlantic, The New York Times, POLITICO, and Slate among others. Meyer is a National Geographic Explorer and the 2015 winner of The New York Times’ international reporting trip with Nicholas Kristof competition. He also hosts The Austin Meyer Podcast, on which he intervi

How does it feel to be illiterate in a foreign country surrounded by signs and documents written in a strange new alphabet? Imagine for a moment you have fled war in your home country and seeking asylum in a distant land. On arrival, you are surrounded by people speaking a language you do not speak, and signs written in an alien alphabet you cannot read. Feeling hungry you browse the menu outside a nearby restaurant. If you are not keen on eating jellyfish, you need to avoid

“Hello everyone, Radio Zaatari here, calling on a hot summer’s day in August. Stay tuned for all the latest developments here at Zaatari Village,” blared announcer, Sondose’s voice-over after the stations introductory jingle. Although crystal-clear in quality, the program was not being broadcast from a fancy studio in Amman, the capital of Jordan, but from a high-tech oasis, a radio studio in a desert region a few kilometres from the border between Jordan and Syria. Sondose

Twenty-one-year-old Hiba al-Khaldi is from the north of Jordan. With the onset of the Syrian conflict in 2011, she witnessed this region become home to hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. It was her passion for teaching that motivated Hiba to join Acting for Change International (AFCI) in 2017. ‘When I finished school’, says Hiba, ‘I used to teach the kids in my neighborhood. And I’ve also completed courses on education and self-development…then, when I first heard of A