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

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

Outlook: Cécile Kyenge: Italy's First Black Cabinet Minister

Cecile Kyenge

01/05/2014

Cécile Kyenge: Italy's First Black Cabinet Minister

BBC World Service - Outlook, Cécile Kyenge: Italy's First Black Cabinet Minister

Cécile Kyenge on her journey from the DRC to high political office in Italy.

Cécile Kyenge, Italy's first black cabinet minister, talks about her life with 37 siblings in the DRC and overcoming the racism she faced in public life.

Cécile Kyenge was brought up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, part of a family of 38 children. She travelled to Italy to study medicine, got involved in politics and, in April 2013, became the country's first black cabinet minister. She faced abuse and prejudice from some of her fellow politicians. Cécile has now written a book about her life called Ho Sognato una Strada, or, in English, I Dreamed of a Path.

Twenty years after the suicide of the rock star Kurt Cobain, his band Nirvana have just been inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. Since his death, his wife Courtney Love has pursued her own musical career, with the band Hole and as a solo performer and actress. Courtney's been telling the BBC's Jane Garvey about her early days in rock music.

Fabien Cousteau is the grandson of the famous underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau who died in 1997. Fabien's father is also a distinguished oceanographer. Now Fabien is about to try to break the record Jacques set over 50 years ago by spending 31 days living as an 'aquanaut' on the sea bed off the Florida coast. 

British writer, poet and wild swimmer Andrew Fusek Peters discovered that plunging into freezing waters in remote locations can help him to deal with depression. He explains how this works in a memoir called Dip: Wild Swims from the Borderlands.

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