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Outlook

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: The Woman Behind the Mask

Dana Vulin

22/10/2014

The Woman Behind the Mask

BBC World Service - Outlook, The Woman Behind the Mask

Dana Vulin wore a compression mask for two years after being burnt in an attack

Dana Vulin wore a mask for two years after being burnt in an attack. Plus, adopting orphan gorillas in the DRC, novelist Nina Bunjevac, and deaf DJ Tapson Tshabalala.

Dana Vulin from Perth in Western Australia was attacked in her own home by a woman who wrongly believed she was having an affair with her husband. The attacker threw methylated spirits over Dana and set her on fire. Dana was in a coma for two weeks and suffered agonising burns over more than sixty per cent of her body. During the last two and half years, she's had over a hundred operations and has worn a special garment and compressive mask to protect her damaged body and face. Two weeks ago on prime time TV, Dana removed the mask.

Andre Bauma is a ranger at the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The area is home to around a quarter of the world's mountain gorillas, a critically endangered species. The gorillas are sometimes targeted by poachers, so when their mothers are killed, Andre and his colleagues adopt the babies.

Tapson Tshabalala is deaf and communicates only through sign language. But he insisted on registering at an audio production school to study music - he is now a DJ in South Africa, playing to young crowds in clubs. 

Nina Bunjevac has turned her family story into a graphic novel called Fatherland. In 1977 her father blew himself up. He was part of a militant Serbian nationalist group staging violent attacks on Yugoslavian government targets in Canada. He was killed whilst trying to plant a bomb in the Yugoslavian consulate in Toronto. Ever since, Nina has been piecing together the circumstances around his death and the impact of his actions on her family.

(Photo: Dana Vulin wearing her compressive mask)

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