I started donating blood when I lived in Melbourne. It was not a lightning-bolt moment that made me do that. I probably saw a post on social media and made an appointment. Next thing I knew I was in the Red Cross Donor Centre on Collins Street. A few weeks later, a flyer showed up in the mail saying my donation may have helped save up to three lives, and asking me to book my next appointment. So I did. The point is that there was no dramatic backstory or a patient connection. I just went and that was it.…

A story of a return to Kabul after decades away — through ordinary moments that carried unexpected weight, and a country that was both exactly as she remembered and entirely changed.