The biggest culture shock I have in the UK is when fellow activists tell me they feel hopeless/powerless. It’s nearly always people with resources to deploy. I wake each day with boundless hope and try and make a difference with all that I can lay my hands on.

I often try things I’m told won’t work and succeed. I don’t know where this optimism comes from, but my parents were revolutionaries who found joy in everyday life. In the brief moments the electricity came back on, my mother would instantly play music and we would dance.

When my father had a little bit of money leftover, he would buy a treat for us to share. Each bit of joy sustains us and sustains important and necessary work. I was once told that I shouldn’t welcome a ceasefire because it was ephemeral- but if you lived in a war, what joy...

Comes from a night of sleep without bombing. I rarely feel powerless or hopeless - I have been in situations where there was nothing to do but hope you stayed alive. And in that moment of true powerlessness, you come face to face with the beauty of the world you might lose.