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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 Who Feels No Pain

Marisa de Toledo and family

24/02/2015

The Woman Who Feels No Pain

BBC World Service - Outlook, The Woman Who Feels No Pain

The Brazilian woman who has never experienced pain

Marisa de Toledo from Brazil cannot feel pain; Fatuma Ibrahim helps child soldiers in South Sudan rebuild their lives; & Richard Linklater, director of Oscar-nominated 'Boyhood'

Marisa de Toledo from Sao Paolo state in Brazil is 27-years-old, has a husband and 3 kids, and leads a normal life, apart from the fact that she feels no pain at all, and never has.  Congenital insensitivity to pain is an extremely rare condition - it's estimated that perhaps only 50 people worldwide have it.  Outlook's Gibby Zobel went to talk to Marisa to see how it affects her, and her family. 
 
Following the death of her son Philip in 1992, Harlem jazz musician Marjorie Eliot took quite an extraordinary decision: every Sunday, she would remember him and celebrate his life through Jazz music, offering free jazz concerts in her apartment.  For the past twenty two years she's being doing just that.  Outlook's Matthew Nelson went along to one of her Sunday sessions to meet Marjorie and hear her story.

For the last month or so, Fatuma Ibrahim has been helping children released by a militia in South Sudan after up to four years fighting in their ranks. Around 3000 are due to be demobilised by the Cobra Faction of the opposition South Sudan Democratic Army as part of a peace agreement with the government, which also stands accused of having underage soldiers in its army. Fatuma is a child protection specialist from Kenya; she works with the charity, UNICEF, and she's been telling me about the youngsters who became involved with the militia in South Sudan. 

Hollywood had their annual love-in last weekend with the Oscars, and one of the big films apparently snubbed at the film awards in America was 'Boyhood'. Directed by Richard Linklater, it was filmed over 12 years. The main subject is Mason, played by Ellar Coltrane, who was just 6 when filming started. The film also features Linklater's own daughter Lorelei as Mason's sister.The BBC's Francine Stock talked to Richard Linklater about the film.


Picture: Marisa de Toledo with her family.
Picture Credit: Maria Laura Cesar

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