A story of hope from Palestine

… plus curiosities from Hawaii, the DNC, and more.

Welcome back to another edition of The Detour! My name is Kelly, and I’m the founding writer of The Detour. We created this newsletter to fight against the internet’s information overwhelm with curiosity-invoking journalism from around the world. We're so grateful for the time you spend with us each week.

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Sincerely,

Kelly

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Without further ado, here’s what’s on deck this week: 

🇦🇫 Why Afghan refugees bound for the U.S. might take a pit stop in the Philippines

💭 Palestinian bedtime stories, Lahaina recovery, South China Sea drama, and more

🧐 No, we don’t see dead people. But we do have a 6th sense.

Here’s a closer look at what’s been going on around the world lately:

Kelly Kimball for Frame. // Wikimedia Commons

$1 billion — The loss in Hawaii’s revenue this year following a spell of wildfires that tore through Lahaina, Maui, in early August 2023. Since then, economic recovery has been Sisyphean, with many Lahaina locals still displaced and brick-and-mortar businesses among the rubble despite a drip-feed of aid and other resources from grassroots efforts and federal programming.

As the tragedy moves past its one-year anniversary, locals continue to band together to support one another through creative means. At the outset of the fires, over 1,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) personnel were sent to help Lahaina survivors, and the National Guard sent over 250 personnel. Over the past year, FEMA has given $3 billion in assistance, and the Red Cross has provided $89.5 million in emergency relief and recovery, according to the organization’s website. But the local government emphasizes Lahaina’s recovery efforts are just beginning.

In April 2024, the County of Maui Office of Recovery laid out Lahaina's long-term recovery plans. // Source: County of Maui Office of Recovery

You can learn about one prominent mutual aid group assisting Lahaina locals, Maui Nui Strong, here.

“The first responders were the citizens of Maui, not the Red Cross, National Guard, or FEMA,” a Lahaina restaurant group co-owner Ashley Davis told SevenFiftyDaily earlier this month.

34% — The increased demand for air conditioning in primary schools across the United States. As the school year begins this fall, this will lead to a flurry of challenges: A 2020 report by the Government Accountability Office found that 41% of public school districts need to replace or update HVAC systems in at least half of their schools. And according to a 2024 survey by the National Center for Education Statistics, many schools were simply not built to withstand the kind of heat we're seeing today. What’s more, a study by the American Economic Association shows that as temperatures rise, academic performance among children falls.

Keeping schools cooled is a mounting challenge as the U.S. experiences hotter summers. // Source: Climate Central

But wait! There’s so much more to this week’s Detour (including a pretty cool Concepts on how humans have a sixth sense that’s rarely discussed).

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