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Lives Less Ordinary

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC World Service

Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and wondered, "What’s their story?" Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Extraordinary stories from around the world.

1779 - How to talk to guerillas
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  • 1779 - How to talk to guerillas

    Leyner Palacios grew up around volatile armed groups, so he learned to negotiate with them.

    He comes from a remote forested area called Bojaya, where clusters of small villages are spread along isolated waterways. Leyner's community had to share the rivers and forests with outsiders, armed groups like the Farc and the paramilitaries, who were locked into a decades-old conflict. As a child, Leyner learned to constantly navigate checkpoints manned by volatile armed people, and he showed a talent for negotation and mediation. As the conflict heated up, and with his community under siege, these skills would become more useful than ever.

    Music from the 'Cantadoras de Pogue' was recorded by the Centro de Estudios Afrodiaspóricos - https://www.icesi.edu.co/vocesderesistencia/e/vol-1-cantadoras-de-pogue.php

    Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Harry Graham Translation: Jorge Caraballo Sound design: Jo Munday Editor: Munazza Khan

    Mon, 25 Mar 2024
  • 1778 - Behind the locked door

    The Austrian house where a doctor experimented on children.

    Evy Mages grew up in and out of foster care in 1970s and 80s Austria. But even when she started a new life in the US, she was haunted by traumatic memories of a strange yellow house high up in the Alps, where she had been placed as an eight-year-old. It took an idle internet search in her 50s to reveal that this was actually an institution called a 'Kinderbeobachtungsstation', or 'child-observation station', where vulnerable children were experimented on by a psychologist using shocking methods. She decided to step back into her past to uncover the full, disturbing truth of what happened there.

    Evy’s story first appeared in a New Yorker article in September 2023.

    Presenter: India Rakusen Producer: Edgar Maddicott Editor: Rebecca Vincent

    Mon, 18 Mar 2024
  • 1777 - I cycled across Africa for a place at my dream university

    A handwritten map is all Mamadou Barry had to guide him from Guinea to Egypt.

    At the age of 24 he had reached a crossroads in his life. Having failed his final year secondary school exams five times in a row, he set his sights on a different type of education. Mamadou had heard about the prestigious Al Azhar University in Egypt, but could not afford a plane ticket. So he decided to set off on an epic adventure, travelling by bike, and leaving his home in Guinea with only $55, a small bag of clothes and tools, and a map he had drawn himself.

    Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Rob Wilson Translator and interpreter: Olivier Weber Voiceover artist: Gaïus Kowene

    Archive was from the official YouTube channel for Will Smith

    Mon, 11 Mar 2024
  • 1776 - Going cold turkey in a Bangkok prison

    A life shaped by addiction.

    Australian Holly Deane-Johns had a complicated childhood. Her parents ran an escort agency from their home, and heroin addiction later took over the whole family. She was first given heroin by her mother, aged just 15. Holly ended up dealing to feed her habit, and in her early 30s was sentenced to 31 years in a notorious Thai prison, convicted of drug smuggling.

    Presenter: India Rakusen Producer: Mary Goodhart Editor: Rebecca Vincent

    Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

    Mon, 04 Mar 2024
  • 1775 - The Pacific odyssey of a runaway rebel

    Ruth Shaw spent years on ships and islands, trying to outrun her past.

    She left her home in New Zealand as a young woman, driven away by a traumatic attack that would shape her life for years to come. Ruth tried to find escape on sailing ships, in Tahitian gambling dens and in the bars and kitchens of Papua New Guinea. But ultimately she had to head home, to face up to deep adolescent scars, and to find the child she’d been forced to give up years before.

    Presenter: India Rakusen Producer: May Cameron Editor: Munazza Khan

    Photo: ‘The Bookseller at the End of the World’

    Mon, 26 Feb 2024
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