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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: Kidnap, Tunnel Life and Elephant Talk

Romania's "sewer children"; elephant language

21/06/2014

Kidnap, Tunnel Life and Elephant Talk

BBC World Service - Outlook, Kidnap, Tunnel Life and Elephant Talk

Boko Haram took my daughter; Indian auction brothers; Romania's sewer kids; elephant talk

Father of kidnapped schoolgirl explains how he chased Boko Haram into the bush. Plus, India's auction brothers, Romania's abandoned sewer children, and elephant talk.

It's just over two months since members of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram abducted over 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in north-eastern Nigeria. The father of one of the missing girls told Matthew Bannister how he chased the militants on his motorbike, in a desperate attempt to retrieve his daughter.

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

For more than 40 years, Peter Gaspar cast light on Brazil's iconic buildings and monuments. Known simply as 'the Illuminator', his last project before his death earlier this year was to design the lighting for one of the stadiums being used in the football World Cup. Our reporter Gibby Zobel met him just a few days before his death at the age of 73.

Hundreds of children are thought to live in tunnels underneath the Romanian capital Bucharest.  Many have become drug addicts and 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 and hear the stories of those living there.

American biologist Joyce Poole has devoted part of her life to the study of elephant communication. For over 20 years, she has been recording thousands of hours of elephants' voices. Helped by her Norwegian husband, she has now made the recordings available online.

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