Original version

BBC World Service Online

Migrated podcast image for: Outlook

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: 'I am his eyes and he is my hands'

Haixi and Wenqi

16/04/2015

'I am his eyes and he is my hands'

BBC World Service - Outlook, 'I am his eyes and he is my hands'

Jia Haixia is blind, Jia Wenqi has no arms but together they have planted 10,000 trees

Two Chinese men - one blind and the other without arms - on their partnership to plant 10,000 trees; Irish travel writer Dervla Murphy; India's child army against trafficking

Jia Haixia is blind and Jia Wenqi has no arms but together they have overcome their disabilities by becoming each other's eyes and hands. Between them they've planted 10,000 trees in ten years - transforming a barren landscape near their village in northern China. 

In 1963, Dervla Murphy left her tiny village of Lismore in Ireland to fulfil a childhood ambition to cycle all the way to India.  It was the first of many epic journeys on a shoestring which she turned into best-selling books. Now in her eighties, Dervla has been to destinations as far apart as Siberia, Peru, Cameroon and Tibet. Her latest book tells of spending months living in Israeli settlements and refugee camps in the Palestinian territories.

Benjamin Clementine is a 26-year-old singer songwriter.  The son of Ghanaian parents, he grew up in poverty in the north London suburb of Edmonton. He had a troubled childhood and spent several years living homeless in Paris, where he started playing and singing on the streets to make a living. His debut album is called At Least For Now.

When she was 13 years old Anoyara Khatun was trafficked from her home in the Sunderbans region in the north of India to the city of Kolkatta. The experience made such a big impression on her that once she was returned home she vowed to fight the trafficking of other young people. She now leads an army of children - going door to door in rural villages warning of the dangers. Outlook reporter Rumella Dasgupta went to see her at work.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Outlook

'I am his eyes and he is my hands'

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service