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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: Outlook Weekend: Pick of the Week

Raven Wilkinson, Doaa al-Zamel, Murong Xuecun

02/08/2015

Outlook Weekend: Pick of the Week

BBC World Service - Outlook, Outlook Weekend: Pick of the Week

African-American ballerina Raven Wilkinson, Syrian refugee, Chinese author Murong Xuecun

Raven Wilkinson, pioneering African-American ballerina; Doaa al-Zamel, Syrian teenager in migrant boat disaster; Murong Xuecun, Chinese dissident who handed himself in to police

Last month, there was a lot of excitement in the world of ballet, when Misty Copeland became the first African-American principal dancer at the prestigious American Ballet Theatre company. One of those celebrating was Raven Wilkinson. She was one of the first African-American ballet dancers to get a place with a major company back in the 1950s - the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. 

Doaa al Zamel from Syria has won an award for bravery after the most horrendous experience trying to reach Europe. She's just 19. Three years ago, her family fled the violence at home and tried to make a new life in Egypt. But it wasn't working out and Doaa and her fiancé, Bassem, also a refugee - decided that they needed to uproot themselves again. So in September 2014, they paid their life savings - $5000 - to board a fishing boat carrying hundreds of people to Europe. Just 11 made it.

The author Murong Xuecun is one of China's leading dissident voices and one of its most popular novelists. Last year - while travelling in Australia - Murong announced via the internet that he was going to turn himself over to the police for contributing an essay commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protest. 

"Condom man" is a familiar sight around the Bhutanese capital city Thimpu. His real name is Tshering Nidup and once he has finished his day job as a public health worker, he hops into his customised white van and drives around town handing out free condoms in his personal mission to halt the spread of HIV and Aids.  

Brandon Neely from Alabama in the USA is the World Livestock Auctioneer Champion. He talks us through his fast-paced chants.

(Photo: Left to right, Raven Wilkinson, ex-ballet dancer. Credit: Getty Images; A deflated rubber dinghy washed up on a beach. Credit: Getty Images; Murong Xuecun, Chinese author. Credit: PR company)

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