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Factual: Life Stories

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: Romania's 'Sewer Children'

Nicu and Catalina

18/06/2014

Romania's 'Sewer Children'

BBC World Service - Outlook, Romania's 'Sewer Children'

How hundreds of drug-addicted children seek refuge beneath the streets of Bucharest

Matthew Bannister meets reporter Paraic O'Brien, who travelled to the Romanian capital Bucharest to meet the drug-addicted children who have sought refuge in the city's sewers.

Hundreds of children are thought to live in tunnels underneath the Romanian capital Bucharest. Many have become drug addicts and many have Aids. Few outsiders have entered the cramped and claustrophobic tunnels, but reporter Paraic O'Brien from the UK's Channel 4 News recently squeezed himself down there to film them.

We meet American soul singer Sharon Jones, who had an early career as a prison guard, and last year returned to live performance after intensive cancer treatment.  The new album from Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings is called Give The People What They Want.

Brothers Anwer and Arshad Saleem tell us about their struggle to revive their family auction house, The Russell Exchange in Calcutta. Their story is the subject of a documentary film: The Auction House: A Tale of Two Brothers. 

Ciudad Caribia was conceived as a socialist utopia by the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Reporter Irene Caselli visited the city to find out more from resident Margarita Fornica.

As the countdown to this summer's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow continues, we hear from athlete Jason Rogers from St Kitts and Nevis about the music that inspires him.

(Photo: Romanian 'Sewer child' Nicu holding picture of Catalina. Credit: Radu Ciorniciuc, Channel 4 News)

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