This week I would like to recommend a moving story from my colleagues Lina Verschwele and Katja Lutska. It's about people who are missing arms, legs and hands because they were wounded as soldiers in the war in Ukraine. And it's about the question of how they can find their way back to life and build a new identity.
What will help you with this is a place called the Superhumans Center near Lviv. Since the rehabilitation clinic opened last spring, it has been providing soldiers and civilians with prostheses. The mission runs in an endless loop on a screen in the reception: people on prostheses running around with their children, playing basketball, dancing. Plus the promise: “You can do it.”
This stirring optimism in the clinic impressed my colleagues. “Hardly anyone seemed bitter; it was always about progress,” says Verschwele.
Oleksandr Basylewytsch is also trying to find a new everyday life at the Superhumans Center. He was wounded in an explosion near Kherson. His case was one of the center's most complicated: doctors removed his left arm and both legs in several surgeries. My colleague Verschwele met him while swimming.
Basylewytsch tells her that he has deliberately isolated himself. His girlfriend has lived in the USA since the Russian attack on Ukraine, his mother has lived in Poland, and he only sees her on screens. »I knew that I had to be as independent as possible in order to feel good. And that it would be difficult with someone around who pitied me.”
Basylewytsch doesn't complain much, but instead sets goals for himself and wants to become a programmer. He researched on the Internet about electric hands and bionic models that follow the impulse of remaining muscles. He found implants and exoskeletons that clamp the body into walking aids. State-of-the-art prostheses promise a lot: some are intended not only to restore mobility, but even to improve it. The problem: They are many times more expensive than mechanical ones.
The veteran didn't let that discourage him: he applied to a specialist clinic in Minneapolis. And even thought about seeing his girlfriend again. If you want to know what happened next for him, you can read the report here.
What else was good this week – for the world:
Rescue for the land of alpacas
The South American country of Peru has already suffered from a lack of water in the past. Today, more and more people are moving to the capital Lima, the second largest city ever built in a desert. Water is a luxury for many poorer residents there. And yet there is hope: the resourceful engineer Abdel Cruz has developed a simple and cost-effective method of extracting water from the fog above the city's hills. The photographer Allessandro Cinque accompanied him. You can see the pictures here.
The world's largest power plant is being built in India's salt desert.
It will be visible from space and could supply the entire Switzerland with electricity: The largest project to generate green energy is being built in India. Across more than 200 square miles, solar and wind power are expected to generate enough clean electricity to power 16 million Indian households in the foreseeable future. The success of the Khavda Renewable Energy Park is critical to India's efforts to reduce pollution and achieve its climate goals.
Humanities scholars are needed.
Anyone who studies German or philosophy is often laughed at. Literary scholar Julika Griem says: Our society needs such thinkers - and so does the job market. A need for experts could arise overnight. The skills of humanities scholars are particularly in demand in unexpected crises in order to be able to make good decisions. You can read the interview here.
KLM airline found guilty of greenwashing
»Fly Responsibly« campaign: The airline KLM misled consumers about climate protection, a Dutch court ruled. In a campaign, the airline painted a “too rosy picture” of how sustainable it was. The environmental organization Fossielvrij NL brought the lawsuit.
Electricity providers pay money back to customers
The two electricity providers Primastrom and Voxenergie are said to have increased their prices ninefold. The consumer advice center filed a class action lawsuit against it. With great success. The customers now receive their money back: in one case it is 5,500 euros.
Amsterdam wants to teach tourists how to behave - with a quiz
Smoking weed, partying, stag night: Amsterdam is apparently thoroughly fed up with the harassment caused by mass tourism. A quiz called “Amsterdam Rules” is intended to make it clear to party and drug tourists from all over the world what is no longer possible in the former stoner paradise.
What’s good – for you:
Detect fake SMS from Netflix, DHL and Co.
Protection against online fraud: To get passwords or credit card details, criminals often use fake messages in the name of well-known companies. The recipient thinks: I know that, I have to react. Fraudsters rely on this effect when they send masses of short messages in the name of well-known service providers. A classic is SMS that supposedly comes from DHL. How to unmask attacks and protect yourself.
New Banksy artwork appears in London
A bare tree gets fresh leaves: residents in the otherwise not very green London district of Islington are happy about the new Banksy artwork - and its clear message. The artist posted the work on his Instagram account, confirming the authenticity of the graffiti. You can see the video here. However, just two days later, the painting was changed: unknown people left white paint there. What do you think you want to tell us?
The successors of Dr. Summer
What “Bravo” used to do is now being done by online providers: This ranges from posts about “orgasm struggles” to video tutorials on “sexual intelligence”. Who do these offers help?
How to get into the next round of applications
Ralf keeps getting invited to interviews, but he just doesn't make it to the second round. What is he doing wrong? The career counselor has an idea. Read Petra Cockrell’s guest article here.
And otherwise?
The Germans are apparently not particularly happy at the moment. This is what this year's UN happiness report shows. Germany slipped from 16th place to 24th place and is therefore no longer in the top 20 for the first time since the first World Happiness Report was published more than ten years ago. The USA also fell: 23rd place instead of 15th place.
Finland remains the happiest country in the world - and relatively small countries from the north occupy the top ranks: Denmark, Sweden and Iceland. The ranking takes into account the gross domestic product per capita, but also people's self-assessment of their life satisfaction, their social environment and their expectations of healthy years of life. In the report, happiness is not to be understood as an intoxicating feeling of exhilaration, but as “joy in the moment,” as “a feeling of satisfaction,” explains Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, one of the authors of the study.
The good news? Of course, it's not that easy to change your own life circumstances and certainly not your own past - but happiness can still be trained a little. Of course, such methods are of no use to the people of Afghanistan, the unhappiest country on earth. But in this country, maybe it's worth giving the whole thing a try? This article is about the question of how you can gain confidence.
Did you experience something motivating or entertaining? Feel free to send us your personal good news from the week by email to GuteNachrichten.Newsletter@spiegel.de - what good things happened to you, what nice things did you experience, see or hear? It can be something small or something life-changing. We will present another submission here in the next few weeks.*
Have a nice long weekend! And if you haven't signed up for this new weekly newsletter yet, you can order it for free here.
Yours, Nicola Abé, team and project leader of the “Global Society” project in SPIEGEL’s foreign department
(*By submitting a submission, you agree to publication - anonymously if desired - on SPIEGEL.de and all other SPIEGEL Group media.)
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