Lives Less Ordinary

• Kidnapped at four: How I found my way home

  After being kidnapped, a promise to return to his mother helped Antonio Salazar-Hobson through his darkest hours.Antonio Salazar-Hobson was four years old when he was kidnapped from his Mexican migrant worker family in Arizona by the white couple who lived next door. From Phoenix, he was taken more than 300 miles away to California, where he grew up suffering terrible abuse. Throughout his ordeal, he replayed the memories he had of his family over and again - especially of his beloved mother Petra - and swore to himself that one day he would make it back to her. As a teenager, he sought out other Mexican-American families to hold on to his roots, and threw himself into left-wing activism on behalf of workers like his family back home. There, he met renowned labour union leader Cesar Chavez who encouraged him to study and become a lawyer; it was an encounter which would change the course of his life. After going to college, and finally escaping his abductors, he began to track down the family he'd been stolen from so many years before.This programme contains references to child sexual abuse and suicide.Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Zoe GelberLives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.   Got a story to tell? Send an email to [email protected] or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784   You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

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• The penguin that followed a teacher home

  While visiting friends in Uruguay, British teacher Tom Michell saw a penguin covered in oil and tar on a beach. Tom cleaned the bird as best he could and then tried to release it. The penguin refused to return to the wild, it just followed Tom around. So he took it home, smuggling the animal across the border into Argentina where he lived and worked at a boarding school. The penguin became a part of his life, and the school's life - with a remarkable influence on everyone who came into contact with it.Later Tom entertained his children, friends and family with tales of the penguin. He put those stories into a bestselling book, The Penguin Lessons, now the subject of a film starring British comedian Steve Coogan.Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.    Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. These are stories that stay with you.    Our guests come from every corner of the globe: from Burundi to Beverly Hills, New Zealand to North Korea, Rajasthan to Rio. And their stories can be about anything: tales of survival, humour or resilience. From the mind-blowing account of the Japanese man trapped in his own reality TV show, to the Swedish women rescued from lions by a tin of spam. It’s life’s wild side, in stereo. Lives Less Ordinary is brought to you by the team behind Outlook, the home of true life storytelling on BBC World Service radio for nearly 60 years.   Got a story to tell? Send an email to [email protected] or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Hetal BapodraYou can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

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• Meeting the monster: My 14 days with Joseph Kony

  In Judith Obina Okumu's imagination, Joseph Kony was a monster. As leader of the Lord's Resistance Army he'd fought a decades-long war against the government of Yoweri Museveni – displacing and destroying hundreds of thousands of lives across Northern Uganda in the process. But one day, a visit from a stranger would challenge Judith to face her fears. In her role as assistant private secretary to President Museveni, Judith was introduced to Joseph Kony's mother, Nora Anek. After three years of gaining her trust, Judith asked Nora if she would go to meet her son at his forest hideout and persuade him to engage with peace talks. What Judith didn't know was that the President wanted her to go too. She was convinced it was the last journey she'd ever make. But after 14 days of talks, Judith and Nora helped broker peace in Northern Uganda. Lives Less Ordinary is a weekly podcast from the BBC World Service that seeks out the most incredible true stories from around the world. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.  Each episode, a guest shares their most intimate and defining personal story. Listen for real-life accounts, unbelievable twists, and inspiring journeys, which prove just how extraordinary the human experience can be.Lives Less Ordinary is brought to you by the team behind Outlook, the home of human storytelling on the BBC World Service for nearly 60 years.Got a story to tell? Send an email to [email protected] or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Anna Lacey

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• The Grandmother of Juneteenth, still battling for change at 98

  Opal Lee is now affectionately known as the Grandmother of Juneteenth. She led the campaign for the 19th June, the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas were finally told that they were free, to be declared a national holiday. As President Biden signed the bill into law, Opal stood beside him. She had very personal reasons for wanting all Americans to think about freedom and the damage that racism can do.In 1939 on the 19th of June, just days after she and her family had moved into a predominantly white neighbourhood in Fort Worth, Texas, their house was destroyed by a white mob. Opal was just 12. The family never spoke about the event again.Opal went on to work as a teacher and counsellor in school, and then set up a food bank and later a farm to help those struggling to feed their families. She also organised local events to mark Juneteenth in Texas. In 2016, when she was 89, Opal came up with the idea to walk to Washington to ask the President to declare the day a national holiday. The campaign, and their petition, grew slowly at first and then a seismic event, the murder of George Floyd by a police officer, galvanised people and created a new sense of urgency to bring about change. Now armed with a petition complete with 1.5 million signatures, Opal's campaign was successful.Opal Lee is now 98, she’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and she’s been given the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian honour.Archive used from CBS NewsPresenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Andrea Kennedy and June ChristieGet in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

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• The man who woke up in the future

  When Dr Pier Piccioni woke up after a car accident, 12 years of his life had been erased.Dr Pierdante Piccioni is an unwilling time-traveller. Twelve years of his life were completely wiped from his memory after he suffered brain damage in a car crash in 2013. When he woke up in the hospital the next day, he thought it was 2001 and could not recognise his wife or his now adult sons. Reeling from the shock, and no longer able to practise medicine, Pier tries to find the man he had been. Searching through thousands of emails he discovers that he had a dark side. This is the amazing true story of a man out of time, who, unable to retrieve his past, endeavours to find love and a future in a strange new world. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Edgar MaddicottGet in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784(Photo: Dr Pierdante Piccioni. Credit: Sylvain Lefevre/ Getty)

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