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Outlook: The Cuban dad who became a lifeline for Chernobyl's children

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Manuel Barriuso and his young sons Sebastián and Rodrigo Barriuso sit on a wall by the sea in 1992

04/03/2021 GMT

The Cuban dad who became a lifeline for Chernobyl's children

BBC World Service - Outlook, The Cuban dad who became a lifeline for Chernobyl's children

Manuel Barriuso was a medical translator in an historic humanitarian operation

Manuel Barriuso went from literature professor to medical translator to help victims of Chernobyl. His sons Sebastián and Rodrigo made a film about his work called Un Traductor.

In 1990, Manuel Barriuso was a professor of Russian literature in Havana when one morning he was ordered to the city's paediatric hospital. Unknown to him, a plane-load of seriously ill children – all victims of the devastating Chernobyl nuclear disaster – had arrived in Cuba for free treatment in a historic humanitarian program. And Manuel – who had no medical background – would be one of their translators. He had to abandon Tolstoy and Chekov and learn about oncology to translate life and death conversations between medics, sick children and their distressed parents. Manuel's sons Sebastián and Rodrigo have turned their father's story into the award-winning feature film, Un Traductor. They tell their remarkable story to Emily Webb.

YouTuber Jonna Jinton lives in the remote north of Sweden, along with her pet dog and cow. She has a unique passion: trying to revive a traditional Scandinavian herding call known as kulning. This interview was first broadcast in 2019.

Picture: Manuel Barriuso with his sons Sebastián and Rodrigo Barriuso, 1992.
Credit: Courtesy of Rodrigo & Sebastián Barriuso

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