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Factual: Life Stories

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives.

Outlook: Murdered Blogger's Wife Speaks Out

Bonya Ahmed speaking at the British Humanist Association.

09/07/2015

Murdered Blogger's Wife Speaks Out

BBC World Service - Outlook, Murdered Blogger's Wife Speaks Out

Bonya Ahmed witnessed her husband Avijit Roy's murder in Bangladesh.

Bonya Ahmed's life was torn apart in February when she and her husband were attacked by men with machetes on the streets of Dhaka. She was badly injured but her husband Avijit Roy died. Avijit was well-known for promoting a scientific and secular view of life and his views made him enemies in his home country Bangladesh. Despite the trauma, Bonya has vowed to continue her husband's work and recently visited London to deliver a speech called Fighting Machetes with Pens at the British Humanist Association. 

Beatboxing is the art of making a musical rhythm using only your mouth. It's traditionally been a male dominated scene with its roots in hip hop, but today two of the best and most well-known beatboxers are women - Steff la Cheffe comes from Switzerland, and Bellatrix from the UK.

When she was thirteen Ashley White took part in America's prestigious annual 'spelling Bee' competition. It involves students competing with each other in front of an audience to gain the title of the nation's best young speller. In Ashley's year a successful documentary film called Spellbound was made about the contest. Ashley was brought up by her single parent mum in a tough Washington DC neighbourhood. The film shows her as bubbly and full of grit and determination to do the best she can.  But by the time the documentary arrived in cinemas in 2002, Ashley was pregnant and homeless.   

The British director Asif Kapadia won multiple awards for his film about the Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna. His new film Amy is another documentary, this time about the award winning British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse who died from alcohol poisoning at the age of 27. Asif drew on hundreds of hours of footage of Amy herself as well as interviews with family and friends to make his film.

Photo: Bonya Ahmed.  Credit: British Humanist Association

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