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Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers.

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From Our Own Correspondent: Syria and Kenya

Syria and Kenya

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Syria and Kenya

Pascale Harter introduces insights from BBC correspondents Ian Pannell and Claudia Hammond

Pascale Harter presents despatches from BBC correspondents. Ian Pannell meets a Syrian booklover waiting for Godot - and freedom; Claudia Hammond's left in the dust by some Kenyan schoolchildren.

Pascale Harter introduces wit, insight and analysis from BBC correspondents around the world. In this edition:


"For me, Godot means freedom"

In cyberspace, in the rest of the region and in many of the world's biggest cities there's a constant undertone of news from Syria - much of it bad. There are questions over how meaningful the current ceasefire there is. And questions over how much  a small group of international observers can really monitor.  But one thing about the country is for certain; violence is still engulfing people's lives. Ian Pannell recently met a Syrian booklover turned rebel who laments not just the loss of life - but also of his own personal library.


Left in the dust - by a crowd of racing schoolkids

In the run-up to the London Olympics, there's been rekindled interest in the astonishing success of East African, and particularly Kenyan, athletes in the middle and long-distance running events. What's the secret ingredient in their victories - genetics? Relentless high-altitude training? Community spirit? A culture now obsessed with sport? Or more simply, a lack of other alternatives? Claudia Hammond joined in a school sports day in Iten valley, Kenya, to try and find out. She even joined in a race - but was humbled by a field of 8-year olds.

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