Hello, this is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service with reports and analysis from across the world, the latest news 7 days a week. BBC World Service podcasts are supported by advertising. The danger they endured. The threat my head should be cut off. I'm John Legend. Listen to Afghan Star on the iHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcast. This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service.
I'm Chris Barrow and in this edition uploaded on Saturday the 6th of July, listener Uter tells us how the kindness of a man she just met changed her life. Everybody has something they can give to others. Everybody can make somebody else's life a little bit better. You just have to have the guts to go out and do it. Also the Kenyan woman using artificial intelligence to help farming communities like the ones she grew up in.
When we see reduced crop losses, when we see improved livelihoods, life's changed, young girls like myself being able to access education. I don't think there's something that can be more encouraging than that. And? I'm pleased to take you through the exhibition with this audio guide. We can explore the evolution of French fashion together. Why Chinese stars and K-pop bands are guiding tourists around European museums.
Also in the podcast a study finds that chimps keep learning new skills throughout their lives, a habit previously thought to be unique to humans, and the school exam with a difference. You have to do key tricks and then just knowledge about the sport as well. You might have a big dream that seems almost impossible to achieve, but you hope that one day it might just come true. Imagine bumping into a stranger who has the power and kindness to make that happen.
Well that's the story of one of our listeners, Uter Berkmeier, who's originally from Germany. As a young woman she wanted nothing more than to attend the Cornell Hotel School in New York, and was working at a beach resort in Corsica, trying to earn enough money for her tuition. Then in 1987 she saw an American tourist Harry Pettsky, and decided to wish him a happy Fourth of July.
Well Harry revealed he'd attended the very university that Uter was working hard to get into, and he could help get her a scholarship from an anonymous donor. Well the pair became lifelong friends and worked together to achieve Uter's goal. The happy pods Holly Gibbs spoke to them on the anniversary of their chance meeting. Everybody said you will never get there. There is no way. I mean you won't get accepted, you don't have the money.
It's just so hard, you're not special enough, and I'm the kind of person if you tell me you can't do something or something is impossible. That's exactly what I have to do. Harry what made you want to help her? Why not? I mean I try to help everybody I can. It's my nature. I've had helped in my life, and if I can help people I'll do it. And this is one of the most gratifying experiences of my life. This is a very, very talented young woman.
Uter taught me through the moment when you realized that Harry would be able to help you get into your ultimate dream school. I remember him saying, you know, every day he says, what are you doing here at this place? You know, I was doing like every day resort work. And he said to me and he was the first one to ever say this. He said, you're made to do great things. And you know, I never had that before. I never have.
Harry, it's clear that you've had such a big impact on Uter's life. It's always felt great. It's always felt great. I don't go out of my way to look for things like that. But if people ask me for help and I it's within my capability and my power to help them, I'll do it. It was really a turning moment for me that I was not being told something is impossible or I can't do it or I'm not good enough. I kind of felt my world was broken open and the sun came in.
You must be such a resilient person to keep fighting for your dream when you are being told that you can't do it by other people. Well, my mother actually taught me this when I was about seven or eight years old. You always have to have a wish list in your life. Always have something on that list that you want that you want to achieve. You should always keep a wish list. You should always want something when those opportunities in life open up like meeting Harry.
Has this experience of being helped made you want to pay it forward? Do you feel like you want to help people the way Harry helped you? Absolutely. Absolutely. And I have a coaching business about what I most passionately love to do is help people find their authenticity because people often don't know all the power they have. And that's what makes me happy. How is your decision to be kind all those years ago changed your life?
Well, I mean, it's kind of a dear friend, a dear friend for life. I'd like to say something about the quote unquote anonymous donor. He didn't want anything in return for what he was doing. He was just helping people. We need more people like that in the world. What would you say to your younger self? Follow your dream always. Follow your dream. Don't let other people convince you your dreams not relevant. Don't give up. And when the opportunity comes your way and it will just grab it.
You say that you speak to each other every July the fourth, which is the day you met. And as we are speaking, it is July the fourth. What would you like to say to each other? I think it's a shiny example of that you're shoulder to the grindstone work, work, work and use your talents to the best of your abilities and you will succeed. Everybody has something they can give to others. Everybody can make somebody else's life a little bit better.
You just have to have the guts to go out and do it. And if you start it once, you know, it's infectious. You just keep doing it. Now to an inspiring young Kenyan woman who's using technology to help traditional farming communities like the one she grew up in. Esther Kermani, whose invention uses artificial intelligence to improve crop yields is the latest winner of Africa's biggest engineering prize.
On the basis of the technology, they're great prospects for becoming a very successful business with a huge impact. The 10th winner of the Royal Academy of Engineering Africa prize for engineering innovation. Taking home £50,000 is the third woman to win the prize Esther Kermani. Well done Esther. Now she says she's hoping to use the prize money to bring the technology to a million farmers over the next five years. And she told Maira Anubi what motivated her.
I was born in a farming community. Our livelihoods were really affected because at least a third of our crops were destroyed by pests and diseases. I thought that is a lot, especially when you look at subsistence farming where they depend 100% on the produce of those farms for the school fees, medical care. So that would really hurt me when I see that because I had to go through that. And I was privileged to even make it through education to study at a green computer science.
And I knew I was leaving home to change home. How exactly does your innovation work? We assemble AI enabled cameras. So when they're mounted on farms they're able to compare what is on the ground and what has been pre-trained. And they can distinguish between a healthy and an infested crop. And that would again leverage another AI algorithm to now pick out the specific pests, pick out the disease and recommend what this farmer should apply and the exact quantities.
Now the most interesting part is how that is communicated to the farmer because it can be very complex botanical names. So you have to break that down to a simple SMS and even in local language to recommend the pesticides that they need to apply and the exact quantities. And there are also natural ways of controlling some of these pests. Maybe mixing just liquid soap and some water or ash could be used to control effort and the crops.
Without damaging the crops and at the same time ensuring that their food being produced is healthy. How much does this cost the farmers? We only charge farmers $3 a month. And losing feed. They don't buy the devices. So the current cameras that we have, the span of a farm that they can cover, 600 meters. It can sell at least three farmers. So the three of them each pay the $3. And you said sub farmers, how many farmers are using your device currently?
We have over 5,000 small older farmers in Kenya, 60% being women. And the reason why we also focused towards that is because they are quite marginalized. I can see you're very proud about that. Yes, I am. Actually for this one who is not owning the farm and having to see losses and that's where they work all day, it's devastating. So it's just good that we also keep them in mind. Now for these 5,000 farmers that you're working with, what kind of difference has this made so far?
The change that we've seen has been incredible. We've seen increasing yields of over 40%. We've seen reduction in losses at least 40%. For us when we see increased yields, when we see reduced crop losses, when we see improved livelihoods, lives changed, young girls like myself being able to access education and basic needs. I don't think there's something that can be more encouraging than that.
And you can hear more about Esther and the other innovations that were shortlisted on People Fixing the World. That's wherever you get your podcasts. Next, some of the biggest museums in Europe have invited Asian celebrities to record audio guides for their exhibitions. Bonjour, this is Karen Mop. I'm pleased to take you through the exhibition with this audio guide. We can explore the evolution of French fashion together.
Yes, that canto pop singer is just one of the number of East Asian stars being used to attract tourists to major museums in Europe. Our China media analyst, Kerry Allen, explained who was involved and why. There's a Chinese actress and singer called Jou Jou. She's actually appeared in some international films like Cloud Atlas and the Netflix series Mark Apollo. She's now going to be an audio guide in Mandarin for the Borghazy Gallery in Italy.
She's an audio guide for an exhibition that's launched at the beginning of July, which features the French American artist Louise Bourgeois. And so you can hear her if you're a speaker or listener of Mandarin, telling you about the various artworks and the emotions that they capture. So that's one artist. There's also a Hong Kong singer and actress called Karen Mok. She's lent a voice to English Cantonese and Mandarin audio guides for an exhibition at the Hong Kong Palace Museum.
And then yeah, the big, the big name that's attracted a lot of K-pop fans, so fans in China, also South Korea and all over the world. The band New Jeans have recorded an audio introduction for the Korean Gallery at the British Gallery. And even if you can't speak Korean, there have been people who are just so excited about this. They've been downloading the audio app.
Because there's money involved, isn't there? So for the actual galleries and museums, it's a very good way of actually making a little bit of extra profit. It is absolutely. And I think long term, you know, there have been these perceptions from some people that museums, art galleries can be kind of dull. But these are exhibitions that feature artworks, fashion.
And these are stars that are very attractive to young audiences. So it's a way of more or less having a friend in your ears when you go around these exhibitions. And you almost feel like you're getting a voice from back home, being able to communicate a similar understanding of the kinds of things you're seeing. I get why people are would be interested in fans of the big artists. But why do you think that the big artists are lending their voices to the museums?
Because like you just said, they can't be being paid huge sums of money to record these audio guides. So I'm guessing it's more like a kudos thing for them. A lot has been written on how actually it's a big interest. And those that we know about who are doing this, New Jeans, Karen Mark and Joul Joul, that they've all spoken previously of their interest in art in particular. And so that's one of the reasons that for them it's interesting.
I know it's quite early days, but do you sense that there is a real tangible boost in the numbers for the actual galleries? It's too early to say to speak about the Chinese and the Hong Kong artists that are doing this, but certainly with New Jeans launching their Korean audio guide for the British Museum. And the Museum's app has skyrocketed tenfold in downloads since it was launched.
Well now to an extraordinary story about a little girl who saved her mother's life. When Lisa Davis passed out on her bedroom floor in South Wales, her five-year-old daughter Poppy stayed by her side all night. Then in the morning she walked to school to tell her teacher that she couldn't wake her up. Nelly Bird spoke to them both. Oh, I love you. Oh my hero, yeah. Yeah. Oh, I love you.
Poppy is a lively and typical five-year-old girl. But earlier this year she did something completely remarkable. Dad Ryan was at work and she was home alone with her memlesia. You've been feeling and well for a few weeks after having an operation. I collapsed on the floor. She killed it beside me in the night and slept beside me. So in the morning then she waited for the school to open. She got her wellies on and she got a little crow nun and she was in a princess dress.
My daughter was disdictive. It's got flowers on it. So she identified that. She went out out of my door then and she went in through the school gates because I live right behind the school. And she went into the classroom and told her teachers that mommy's on the floor and she can't wake her up. I was in my room and then she's my name on the floor because of Conric Herod. What was the leg going to school by yourself?
It's just so scary. You know, you got a lump in your throat and you think, oh God, what did she go through? I just can't categorically know what she went through but I did find selfies on my phone and that she'd take that morning. So yeah, I think she was okay. I think she was alright because I was still there. So I think to her because she is only five. I think, you know, with me being on the floor, I was still there anyway.
Lisa was rushed to hospital. She was in septic shock and her body was shutting down. After a month fighting for her life, she woke up from her coma. She is my hero and she saved mommy's life. We always addressed my children and I think, you know, I never thought that she would do anything that I wish she did and I'm really glad. Still to come in this podcast, Indonesia's Hid JaB wearing metalheads.
At first, it's hard. It's hard to get support from our parents, like they said. It's satanic music, evil music. Music. This is the story of how a group of people brought music back to Afghanistan by creating their own version of American Idol. The joy they brought to the nation. You're free completely. No one is there to destroy you. The danger they endured. It felt my head should be cut off. I'm John Legend. Listen to Afghan Star on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Music. If someone told me I could take an exam in skateboarding when I was younger, I would have jumped at the chance or possibly tried to Oli at the chance. Now though teenagers in Northern Ireland are the first in the world to be offered the chance to pass a test in the sport, Alex Ritson has been investigating. It's really easy from my perspective because I've already been skating, but for someone who hasn't been skating, it might be a little bit harder.
You have to do a few tricks and then just knowledge about the sport as well. That's Theo Hamilton. He goes to a boarding school in East Belfast. And when I say boarding school, I mean an ordinary school where one of the options for GCSE, the big set of UK exams you take at 16, to the envy of his friends, is now skateboarding. They think it's pretty cool. They think it's their bit of prize that it's like something that I could do in the school as well.
We have a skate school which they teach the junior school of Campbell College. It's great. It's all the brainchild of teacher and skater Jared Purvis who have the idea during the Covid lockdown and managed to persuade the local exam board to let him put together an official course. Made loads of phone calls from the reception the whole way up, telephoned the right person that was I can speak to about it. He sent me templates for similar sports with the assessment criteria and stuff like that.
And then I just sort of pretty much put my own knowledge to a template and sort of formulated and made the skateboard GCSE curriculum from up. You must have had to convince an awful lot of skeptical people along the way. Actually believe it or not, no, actually they I don't know what happened. I just got the right man who was in charge at the right time and he was not skeptical at all.
I think to be honest it probably helped that I think he had recently watched the Olympics were skybrown on the metal. And I think he once he'd saw that he just knew that this was you know this was a real sport and that any preconceived notions were dull and void. What's involved in this course pretty much all of the basic things that you would need to know to be classified as you know a skateboarder like you need to know how to take your how to fix your own skateboard.
Everyone knows every skater if you want to skip part would have an idea of how to do that. And then basic maneuvers not like really advanced tricks just sort of all the basic core essentials the building blocks for taking it further. They can video themselves and make a video of like sort of all these different tricks you know them doing them and that's also proof of them doing all the tricks. Tell me the nice I love the names.
Well there's a there's a slasher there's a drop in there's a rock to fakie there's all. Where does this take you though? What's the career after this? It's just it's hard to say because like in my local skip park I have a load of people with different careers. You know they could either follow their dreams. It's it's very hard. You know you need to be very talented like any sort of sports individual but you know they could follow their dreams and go and try to make it and
get the competitions and get sponsors and become a sort of more professional athlete in that sense. And in the end this makes you happy. Yeah. Oh yeah literally last night I was teaching this girl in my advanced sort of children's class.
And she's been trying to Ollie for a while and she can only but she can't it's a mental block of like trying to jump over something doing it like on a certain time constraint with something approaching and you have to do it at the right time to clear it and do it nicely without falling off. And last night she did it and you're there for those people. You're just like and you know like I sort of get the hype again like feels like when I did it for the first time.
And a skateboarding isn't your thing other options are increasingly available around the world chess is a mandatory school subject in Armenia for all children over the age of six and teenagers in the US state of Hawaii can spend their school hours learning to surf.
Well you're never too old to learn something new maybe skateboarding or surfing for me sounds good but it's not just humans who like to learn a study published in the journal plus biology suggests that chimpanzees may also like to constantly improve their skills. Terry Egan has this report.
Of all the non-human animals chimpanzees are some of the most adept at using tools the researchers here looked at 70 wild chimps of various ages using sticks to retrieve food at Thai National Park in Ivory Coast. They analyzed video recordings of the primates collected from the site over several years focusing on how the animals became more skilled at using the sticks to extract foods such as larvae and nut kernels.
They examined the way the chimps inserted the sticks use them to prod cavities employed them to stir or pound or deployed them in a spoon like way. Mathieu Malurb led the study humans we are able to learn new things but with technical abilities using technologies using tools this is something that was thought to be very unique to Jimmins and what we bring here with our studies to show that chimpanzees are also able like to learn when they are adults and to be flexible with their to use behavior.
The researchers said the motor skills of the chimps were well developed by the age of six and they were easily able to grip the tools in different ways but they also noticed they were skilled at compensating for the limitations in their hand movements by using alternative grips so as to apply pressure and precision.
Perfecting these skills say the researchers involves far more than just physical development and the chimps continue to learn over a long period constantly adapting and improving their techniques just as we strive to do. Earlier we heard how Harry's kindness changed Ooters life but even small actions can make a huge difference as we heard from one of our team.
Hi happy pod it's your colleague Tracy at home in southwest London and I have a story that made me smile this week. I was shopping in a supermarket and when I went to the till the cashier asked me a question but when I went to reply I struggled to find my words. It's one of my unpredictable multiple sclerosis symptoms.
I paid and was walking away when she called me back and was waving a pose of right freezers. I automatically said they aren't mine with a huge smile she said they are yours and given them to you. I left the shop with a beaming smile it made my day my week my month. Our friend and colleague Tracy Gordon and if you have a small act of kindness that you like to share with us do send us a voice note or an email the address is global podcast at bbc.co.uk.
And now to a heavy metal band with a difference voice of batch of prod there are female trio who were hijabs and come from Indonesia and they found success after overcoming hostility in their home village where people said they were making music for the devil. They've just become the first Indonesian band to play at Europe's largest music festival Glastonbury in Western England. Stephanie Prentice has been finding out more about them. Hello we are FI-O-V voice of band.
Known for their heavy metal style Islamic heads govs and socially conscious lyrics voice of batch of prod to an old female trio who formed in a village in Indonesia where their music caused concern. They come from West Java which is among the more conservative provinces and includes denominations that forbid music and singing. At first it's hard to get support from our parents especially because they didn't know anything about metal music like they said it's satanic music, evil music.
But we prove that we are okay to play music and still be a good girl. They kept making music through high school ignoring the suggestion of one of their families that they undergo in Islamic healing ritual and now they've made history performing at Glastonbury music festival in England alongside global stars like Colclay and Dua Lipa. The band said they want to tackle topical issues like female empowerment but performing wearing a traditional hijab has made them a target.
Many people wear religion to kill their music. They said it's not acceptable for a Muslim like us to play heavy metal music. They only see metal as a symbol of the darkness. As well as advocating for their right to express themselves the band said they want to challenge the stereotypes that Muslim women are demure or weak or that Muslims in general are militants, something that hecklers shouted at them when they sang in the United States.
And now as well as taking their music all around the world the band have another goal back where they started. We build studio in our hometown now. That's one of our biggest dream. A dream she hopes will inspire Indonesia's next generation of musicians. The music a voice of Bachelot ending that report by Stephanie Prentice. And that's all from the happy pod for now. We would love to hear from you though if you have any stories to share with us that will make us all smile.
Our email address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. This edition was mixed by James Piper. The producers were Holly Gibbs and Rachel Bulkley. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Chris Barrow. Until next time, stay happy. Goodbye. This is the story of how a group of people brought music back to Afghanistan by creating their own version of American Idol. The joy they brought to the nation. You're free completely. No one is there to destroy you. The danger they endured. This fit my head should be cut off.
I'm John Legend. Listen to Afghan Star on the iHard Radio app or wherever you get your podcast.