麻豆社

Pascale Harter introduces insight, wit and analysis from 麻豆社 correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world. In this edition:

Fleeing life in limbo
What would you do if you had studied for years to achieve your ambition but then, just as qualification was within your reach, your country slid towards civil war? On the Turkish/Syrian border recently, Portia Walker spoke to a young woman who has to choose between becoming a doctor and keeping herself and her family safe.

Peace, without the prosperity
In Tajikistan the civil war that tore the country apart in the 1990s is over. But young Tajiks these days still have little choice in what to do with their lives. The former Soviet satellite is the poorest country in central Asia. Half the country's earnings come from remittances sent by Tajiks working abroad. Young men, in particular, often feel compelled to go to Russia to find work. Nick Redmayne's been finding that even the most spectacular landscapes can't feed a nation.