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True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives.

Outlook: 05/05/2010

05/05/2010

BBC World Service - Outlook, 05/05/2010

Gaza's prosthetic limb centre; India's transgender 'hijras'; Card counting in the casinos

Gaza's prosthetic limb centre; India's transgender 'hijras'; Card counting to beat the casinos

Gaza's Artificial Limb Clinic
After decades of conflict, doctors in the Gaza strip estimate that there are at least six thousand amputees living in the territory. An increase in cases after last year's major Israeli offensive left Gaza's Artificial Limb and Polio Centre struggling to cope. There's a shortage of much needed prosthetic limbs and the blockade of the Gaza strip makes it difficult to get new parts for them.

India's Transgender Community
Laxmi Narayan Tripathi is one of the highest-profile members of India's transgender community - a section of Indian society also known as 'hijras'. Laxmi has been in the headlines after being thrown out of an exclusive members' club in Mumbai - despite being there as an invited guest at a private party. Laxmi believes that the incident shows that, despite moves to improve the recognition of minority communities by Indian law, discrimination against hijras is still widespread.

Josh Axelrad
For a time Josh Axelrad beat the odds and triumphed over the casinos. He gave up a low level job in the New York financial district to become part of a blackjack card counting gang that won millions of dollars from casinos across the USA. When Josh left the gang to pursue a career as a writer he developed an addiction to online gambling which led to big losses and an appointment with Gamblers Anonymous. He's written a book about his experiences called "Repeat Until Rich".

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