hope

Appledore is a beautiful village in north Devon. It is hoping to showcase all it has to offer to even more visitors when its Clean Maritime Innovation Centre opens later this year

A small coastal village steeped in history and a rich shipbuilding heritage, with a vibrant seafood scene and colourful cottages, is hoping a futuristic, million-pound project will put it firmly on the map.

The tiny village of Appledore isn’t one of the most well-known places in Devon, but can certainly be characterised among the most beautiful, with narrow, winding lanes, a bustling quayside to explore, and pastel-coloured houses and coastal views. Its estuary shore is suitable for beachcombing and exploring rock pools.

Located in north Devon at the meeting of the Rivers Torridge and Taw, the village is built on the centuries-old traditions of shipbuilding and fishing.

Renowned for its maritime heritage and vibrant seafood scene, Appledore is also celebrated for its art and creativity, hosting regular arts festivals and resident craftspeople showcasing ceramics, photography, jewellery and more in independent shops and markets.

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But while the village has a multitude of offerings for those already in the know, Appledore is hoping to boost its popularity among people outside the local area with the opening of its Clean Maritime Innovation Centre later this year.

The global innovation centre has received £15.6million in government funding and aims to support research in clean propulsion, autonomous vessels and marine sustainability.

Due to open in late 2026, the centre will also provide a base for floating offshore wind activity in northern Devon, with the electricity generated able to power approximately three million homes and create 3,000 jobs.

The maritime sector has played such a significant role in Appledore’s history and this project will be a real opportunity for the village to move into a national maritime future. The project is being delivered with funding support from the UK government through the Levelling Up Fund, the Community Regeneration Partnership, and the Devon and Torbay devolution deal. Devon County Council is overseeing the financial management.

Initial construction involves enhancements to the wall along New Quay Street, with full-scale building work set to start in the autumn. Preliminary works began in April, including the creation of a new quay to improve estuary access.

Councillor Ken James, leader of Torridge District Council, said: “This is a very exciting step in the journey of this project, not just for Appledore, but for the wider district. We hope that the delivery of this centre will put Appledore and Torridge at the forefront of innovation and investment in clean maritime energy. By getting as many local tradespeople involved in the build as possible, we hope that this will be just the start of future job creation and investment in the area.”

Reviews of Appledore praise the villages colourful look and picturesque charm.

One reviewer wrote: “Appledore is a lovely place with lots of interesting nooks and crannies with brightly-coloured houses. It’s a lot less busy and touristy than some of its bier neighbours.”

Another said: “Appledore is great – very pretty with small craft shops, cafes, restaurants and is incredibly dog-friendly. Would definitely visit again.”

Deir el-Balah and Khan Younis, Gaza – For the past two years, Khitam Hameed has clung to the hope of a single sliver of news that could fundamentally change the fate of her entire family.

The reopening of the Rafah crossing, shut and controlled by Israel as part of its genocidal war on Gaza in spite of a ceasefire agreement, would allow her family to travel and reunite with her husband outside Gaza.

But for this family, the reopening is not just about freedom of movement. It represents both a chance for reunion after a long separation, and an opportunity to secure treatment for their son, whose life, schooling, and normal childhood have all been destroyed by the two-year Israel-Palestine war.

With the United States pushing a deeply intransigent Israel to progress to phase two of the ceasefire that began on October 10, the reopening of the Rafah crossing was directly tied by the far-right government to the recovery of the remains of the final Israeli captive, and only partially for pedestrian use under strict military supervision.

On Monday, the retrieval of the last Israeli captive’s body appeared to open that locked door, with thousands in urgent need of treatment or family reunification in a state of anxious anticipation.

From her family’s displacement site in the Nuseirat refugee camp near Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Khitam, 50, a mother of six, sits trying to organise her thoughts as news circulates about Rafah.

Next to her is her 14-year-old son, Yousef, unable to walk, suffering from a rare genetic disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a painful condition primarily affecting his bone development, with potential cardiac complications.

“Yousef has been undergoing treatment for this syndrome since he was very young … he has had around 16 surgeries,” Khitam tells Al Jazeera.

“We got used to hospitals, but before the war, there was some monitoring and a little hope.”

Since long before October 2023, the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been a lifeline for Palestinians, not only as a natural exit and entry point, but also as a symbol of connection with the outside world.

Before the war, the crossing was heavily used by patients seeking medical treatment, families visiting relatives abroad, and the movement of goods and supplies that helped ease Gaza’s economic pressure under Israeli blockade.

Its closure, beginning in May 2024 after Israeli forces took control, marked a dramatic turning point in the humanitarian crisis.

The shutdown affected not just the movement of people, but also significantly reduced the flow of medical aid and essential supplies, impacting thousands of patients waiting for treatment outside Gaza, including children and the wounded, amid a severe shortage of health services and medical equipment.

‘Opening the crossing shouldn’t be a miracle’

Before the war, Khitam and her family monitored Yousef’s condition regularly, and he could walk and move.

But the war halted everything. Hospitals were routinely bombed by Israel, and most ceased functioning. Medics were killed by the hundreds, medications ran out, and medical checkups became nearly impossible.

“Since the war, Yousef’s condition has deteriorated. His legs are weaker, walking is harder, he uses crutches,” Khitam pauses before continuing: “He falls often… and my heart is in my throat every time.”

The mother no longer knows the full extent of her son’s health. “I don’t know if he has heart complications, or if his spine has worsened … we are living with him with no answers.”

The war also separated the family. Weeks before the conflict erupted, Khitam’s 52-year-old husband, Hatim, had left Gaza for Egypt, as an initial step to secure a chance for the family to migrate and access advanced medical care for Yousef.

“Since then, I’ve been alone. Six children, one with a special medical condition, war, displacement, hunger,” Khitam says, her voice exhausted.

“Being displaced alone is so difficult. You don’t know where to go, how to protect your children, how to provide food or safety. The constant anxiety and fear have affected everyone, but Yousef suffers the most.”

“No school, no play, no outings, no treatment … even psychologically, he is exhausted. A child his age should be living his life, not caught between war and illness.”

But, she adds, “just the idea of travelling eases us a bit psychologically. It feels like a door might open” for treatment outside of the besieged enclave.

She still fears how the crossing will operate, even as hope keeps her going.

“Even if the crossing opens, not everyone can leave, and not every case will be approved,” she adds. “Opening the crossing shouldn’t be a miracle… it’s a right.”

Yousef’s story intersects with those of hundreds of families of sick children in Gaza, for whom Rafah is not just a crossing, but a lifeline.

‘The family started a new battle against time’

Local estimates indicate that more than 22,000 patients and injured people, including about 5,200 children, are unable to travel for treatment due to the Israeli closure, with thousands more waiting for approved medical transfers that cannot be executed.

Among them is Hur Qeshta, a newborn girl only 15 days old, born with a large, unusual tumour in her neck, affecting breathing and swallowing.

She requires urgent surgery outside Gaza, according to doctors at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.

Her mother, Doaa Qeshta, 32 and a mother of five, tells Al Jazeera, “From the first moment she was born, the family started a new battle against time to ensure she could urgently travel for treatment.”

Hur was delivered via Caesarean section and now lies in the Nasser Hospital neonatal ICU, on oxygen and fed via a tube from her abdomen.

“She can’t breastfeed, everything is through a tube, and the mass is growing rapidly … all within 15 days,” says her mother.

Doctors confirmed that surgery inside Gaza is currently impossible due to a lack of facilities.

Doaa links her daughter’s condition to the circumstances during her pregnancy, including displacement in a tent in al-Mawasi, exposure to nearby shelling, smoke, gunpowder, hunger, and lack of nutrition.

“I was pregnant during famine … no food, no vitamins, no safety,” she recalls. “Shelling was nearby, 300 metres (980 feet) away… the tent shook; we thought we were dead.”

“Opening the crossing means saving my daughter’s life,” she says. “I’ve registered the whole family as companions … the most important thing is Hur goes, gets treatment, and survives.”

Of the reopening of the Rafah crossing, Doaa says, “We hear news and live on hope, but we are really in a limbo… we don’t know what’s happening or when. We just pray this is true.”

‘Our lives and futures hang on a hope’

The effects of Rafah’s closure go beyond medical access, affecting an entire generation of youth whose education has been halted at a closed gate.

Among those affected is Rana Bana, a 20-year-old from the Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City.

She graduated from high school in 2023 with a 98 percent average in the science track, with a focus on pharmacy. Within a single year, she received multiple opportunities abroad, but none materialised due to Rafah’s closure.

“In 2024, I was accepted for a scholarship in Egypt, ready to leave, but the crossing closed. A year later, I got a scholarship to Turkiye, did the online interviews, was accepted, and since then I’ve been stuck,” Rana tells Al Jazeera.

Her Turkish scholarship includes 220 students from Gaza, all from different disciplines, most with high academic grades.

Over the past two years, Rana tried not to stagnate, taking Turkish language courses and exploring alternatives like local universities. But she would hold back each time she heard news of Rafah possibly reopening.

“Every time there’s news the crossing might open, I tell myself, ‘Let me wait a bit’… but it turns out to be just talk, and my hopes are dashed,” she adds. “A lot of our time and life has been wasted waiting … our lives and futures hang on a hope.”

Rana is displaced with her family of eight. They returned briefly to northern Gaza during the first ceasefire, found their home intact, but fled again after fighting resumed, and are now settled in Deir el-Balah.

“My biggest fear is leaving and not being able to come back,” she says. “Before, they [her family] were 100 percent supportive. Now there’s fear because the travel process is unclear, and they don’t know how many will be allowed or registered to travel.”

Many Palestinians fear leaving Rafah would be a one-way ticket as part of an openly touted Israeli plan to permanently expel the population from Gaza.

“We students and youth are the most affected group during the war,” Rana says. “Our years have gone by silently, our studies destroyed by war, and no one talks about us. All we want is education — not travel for tourism or anything else.”

After last year’s fires, cars were often all that remained on the lots of homes reduced to rubble. Some sat remarkably untouched, but most were damaged beyond repair — crushed by falling beams, burned to a shell, and covered in toxic dust. The steely husks stood sentinel over unfathomable loss for weeks or months until they were towed away and sold as scrap.

More than 6,000 cars were destroyed in the Pacific Palisades alone. Some were used for daily commutes and left in garages as families fled; others were trucks and vans packed with landscaping gear or tools.

Then there were the showpieces: steel-and-glass representations of an owner’s love for the open road and classic automotive design. It was these vehicles that captured the imagination of Ben Tuna, a self-described car guy and stained glass artist, who saw a way to create something beautiful from the rubble.

Pieces of salvaged glass and other tools litter the work table of artist Ben Tuna as he works to create sculptures using vintage Porches that were burned in the L.A. fires.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Beginning in March 2025, Tuna snagged five burned-out Porsches from the L.A. fires, and began turning the shells into cathedral-like creations using salvaged stained glass from old churches.

Armed with a soldering iron and good intentions, Tuna paid tribute to what the fires took.

Tuna said that he was moved by posts on Instagram of cars getting taken away on trailers, and by reading about the loss in news stories. He couldn’t stop thinking about what the collectors were experiencing.

“It was all so sad to imagine losing something that you might have worked 30, 40, 50 years to collect,” Tuna said. “And it kind of broke my heart. A lot of those cars were history. They’re not making new ones.”

Tuna made connections through social media to obtain the Porsche shells, with four coming from a single collector’s garage in the Palisades. As a fan of classic automotive design, Tuna calls the Porsches “icons of design” and “the most recognizable cars in the world,” despite what they looked like after the fires. He wishes he could have collected many more.

“I probably could have gotten 300, but I just didn’t have the space and couldn’t act fast enough,” he said, adding that he also acquired two additional Porches that were not burned in the city’s fires.

One of five vintage Porches burned in the L.A. fires that Ben Tuna reimagined as works of art using salvaged stained glass.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Tuna’s first post-fire project was a 1965 Porsche 356 that he turned into a 700-pound piece of movable sculpture. The artwork took him and two helpers several months to complete at his workshop on the east side of L.A. They wore respirators while they worked to avoid dangerous ash and chemicals, and began by stripping the car down to bare metal.

Next came the meticulous glass work. Tuna used pieces of glass from what he estimates are about 15 different salvaged stained glass windows from decommissioned churches. He thinks they were likely all created in different countries, eras and studios. Much of the illustrated glass in the car was hand-painted in Germany in the late 1800s, a look he grew to love as a kid after hearing how much his father — also a stained glass artist — adored it.

Tuna says he’s not trying to tell a story with the windows. Instead, he’s assembling them by feel: matching pieces of cut glass by size and color on top of a dark table before using lead to solder them together in a perfect arch for the car’s back window. Tuna says he never knows what a window is going to look like before the end, when he lights it up — but by merging the glass and the car he’s aiming to honor the design legacies of both.

Stained glass windows salvaged from churches are key to artist Ben Tuna’s practice. “All these windows were beautiful back in the day but have been forgotten,” he said.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

“All these windows were beautiful back in the day but have been forgotten,” he said.

Though Tuna’s cars are still works in progress, his goal is to eventually display all seven as part of a gallery show. In the meantime, he’s hosting visitors who want to see the work so far — including the owner of the four cars salvaged from the Palisades, who cried.

Tuna says everyone who has come to see the art has left feeling a bit more reverent.

Artist Ben Tuna stands with a piece of art he made from a vintage Porsche that was burned in the L.A. fires. “Because these cars are so big, when you’re standing around them, you really see what fire can do,” he says.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

“Because these cars are so big, when you’re standing around them, you really see what fire can do,” he said. “You can really study it, and you start to think about loss and how hot the fire must have burned and what shape the buildings around the cars must have been in afterwards.”

Each car is an altar of remembrance to the fires, Tuna said, but they’re also a reminder.

”Even when you lose everything, there’s still beauty that can come from that loss,” he said. “You can take all that devastation and still make something good.”