The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs

Summary

Global News Podcast: The Happy Pod - Saving Thailand's Street Dogs and More

Release Date: April 5, 2025
Host: Rachel Wright, BBC World Service

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Introduction

In this episode of The Happy Pod, BBC World Service's Rachel Wright brings a collection of uplifting and inspiring stories from around the globe. From heartfelt reunions to groundbreaking achievements and innovative solutions to environmental challenges, this edition highlights the resilience and kindness inherent in people worldwide.

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Saving Thailand's Street Dogs

Host: Rachel Wright
Primary Speaker: Niall Harbison

Rachel Wright opens the episode by introducing Niall Harbison, a dedicated individual living on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand. Niall has transformed his life by dedicating himself to rescuing and rehabilitating stray dogs, turning what began as a personal mission into a significant social movement.

Key Points:

• Niall's Journey: Recovering from alcohol poisoning, Niall found purpose in helping abandoned street dogs. This mission not only saved the lives of thousands of dogs but also turned him into an online celebrity through his Instagram updates.
• Rescue Efforts: At his rehabilitation center, Niall focuses on feeding, grooming, treating, and sterilizing dogs to prevent overpopulation. His efforts extend to sterilizing up to 7,000 dogs monthly.
• Community Impact: Niall emphasizes the importance of education and legislation in supporting his mission, aiming to reduce the global street dog population by half.

Notable Quotes:

• Niall Harbison [04:50]: "I was always an alcoholic and suffered from depression, but I moved to Thailand to get away... But then I had an epiphany. I have to do something meaningful in my life."
• Niall Harbison [05:37]: "The ultimate plan is ridiculous and I'll probably fail. There's 500 million street dogs in the world and in my lifetime I want to half that."

Visual Transformation:
Rachel describes meeting Tom Cruise, one of Niall’s rescued dogs, who was once severely injured but now thrives thanks to Niall’s care. Tom Cruise's transformation symbolizes the positive change Niall brings to the lives of these animals.

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Reuniting Childhood Sweethearts After 85 Years

Host: Rachel Wright
Primary Speakers: Jim Davidson, Betty Davidson, Alistair Davidson

In a heartwarming story, Rachel Wright recounts the reunion of Jim Dougal and Betty Davidson, childhood sweethearts from the late 1930s who had lost touch after Jim's family relocated. Thanks to Jim's son, Alistair, their paths crossed again after more than 85 years.

Key Points:

• Reunion Effort: Alistair Davidson spearheaded the effort to locate former classmates by publishing an old school photo, leading to the emotional reunion.
• Emotional Impact: Both Jim and Betty expressed immense joy and nostalgia, reflecting on their shared past and the decades that separated them.
• Legacy of Connection: The story underscores the enduring nature of childhood bonds and the impact of dedicated efforts to reconnect loved ones.

Notable Quotes:

• Betty Davidson [07:48]: "We walked up to school together. I was quite surprised, actually, and it was... nice to get in touch after all these years."
• Jim Davidson [08:55]: "Dougal was absolutely incredible to witness... it was like those two children were back in the room 89 years later."

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Creating Pakistan's First Hand-Drawn Animation Studio

Host: Rachel Wright
Primary Speaker: Usman Riaz

Rachel Wright shifts focus to Usman Riaz, whose passion for Japanese anime inspired him to establish Pakistan's first hand-drawn animation studio. Usman's journey from a music scholar to an acclaimed animator highlights his dedication to his craft.

Key Points:

• Career Shift: Usman left his scholarship at Berkeley College after a visit to Studio Ghibli in Tokyo, deciding to pursue his true passion for animation.
• The Glass Worker: His film, a homage to anime, was long-listed for the 2025 Oscars. It tells a coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of war, emphasizing the futility of conflict.
• Production Challenges: Establishing the studio involved training a team from scratch, drawing 1,477 individual cuts and 2,500 drawings over six years to bring the film to life.

Notable Quotes:

• Usman Riaz [12:06]: "I just felt like it needed to be made."
• Usman Riaz [13:20]: "I drew 1,477 individual cuts... it took six years to train everyone and get everything up and going."

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The First Recorded Sound of a Shark

Host: Rachel Wright
Primary Speaker: Dr. Lauren Smith

In a fascinating scientific breakthrough, Dr. Lauren Smith, a marine biologist, discusses the first-ever recorded sounds made by sharks. Traditionally believed to be silent creatures, this discovery challenges existing perceptions of shark behavior.

Key Points:

• Sound Mechanism: Sharks produce clicking sounds by snapping their jaws together, a surprising finding given their lack of swim bladders or morphological adaptations typically associated with sound production in fish.
• Implications: This discovery opens new avenues for understanding shark communication and behavior, highlighting how much remains unknown about marine life.
• Future Research: Scientists are now keen to explore whether other shark species also produce sounds, emphasizing the vast potential for future discoveries.

Notable Quotes:

• Dr. Lauren Smith [14:03]: "The fact that they're actually being recorded to make sounds is really interesting. It sounds like they're literally making these sounds by like snapping their jaws together."

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Discos to Help Overcome Grief

Host: Rachel Wright
Primary Speakers: Georgina Jones, Leah Sian Davis

Rachel Wright introduces a novel approach to coping with grief through dance. Georgina Jones and her friend Leah Sian Davis have established grief discos in the UK, providing a space for individuals to process their emotions through movement and music.

Key Points:

• Personal Motivation: Both Georgina and Leah turned to dancing as a means to cope with profound personal losses, finding solace and healing on the dance floor.
• Event Structure: The discos begin with an opening ceremony and a permission slip that encourages attendees to embrace all emotions, leaving grief and shame behind as they dance.
• Community Building: These events foster a supportive community where people can connect without the pressure to verbalize their grief, promoting collective healing through shared experiences.

Notable Quotes:

• Georgina Jones [25:44]: "We tell people to leave it on the dance floor. Somebody said to me... it's an event that I didn't know I needed because it fills, it helps us deal with all the heaviness."
• Georgina Jones [26:14]: "We belong."

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Breaking Barriers in College Basketball: Bailey Cinnamon Daniel

Host: Rachel Wright
Primary Speaker: Bailey Cinnamon Daniel

In an inspiring sports story, Bailey Cinnamon Daniel becomes the first player with one arm to score in a NCAA college basketball game. Overcoming significant personal and societal challenges, Bailey's achievement serves as a beacon of perseverance and ambition.

Key Points:

• Early Challenges: Bailey faced rejection and societal biases, feeling isolated due to her disability and racial identity. Basketball became her sanctuary and a place where she felt accepted.
• Historic Achievement: After being cut from her high school team, Bailey persevered, leading to her historic basket at Lesley University, which marked a significant milestone in college sports.
• Future Aspirations: Bailey aims to become a forensic psychologist and coach in disability sports, with aspirations that extend to playing in the elite WNBA.

Notable Quotes:

• Bailey Cinnamon Daniel [17:02]: "Getting cut not only knocked down my confidence... But it knocked down how I thought of myself as a person."
• Bailey Cinnamon Daniel [19:31]: "If she's doing it, then maybe I can do it, too."

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Innovative Solutions to Water Scarcity: Tunisia’s Dudar Startup

Host: Rachel Wright
Primary Speakers: Omar Louzia, Aziz Kawesh

Addressing the global challenge of water scarcity, Rachel Wright features Omar Louzia and Aziz Kawesh, founders of the Tunisian startup Dudar. Their innovative approach involves creating high-protein animal feed from beetles, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional protein sources.

Key Points:

• Environmental Impact: Agriculture significantly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Dudar aims to reduce this footprint by providing a low-environmental-impact protein source.
• Product Development: The startup produces dried mealworms and protein powder from beetles, intending to expand into pet food and human consumption in the future.
• Societal Benefits: By offering an alternative protein source, Dudar seeks to alleviate hunger and malnutrition in regions heavily affected by climate change.

Notable Quotes:

• Omar Louzia [22:07]: "Tunisia is one of the countries that suffer most from water scarcity. We're presenting here an alternative source of protein."
• Aziz Kawesh [23:45]: "Trying to set up an innovative company is an adventure. It's full of challenges... People are quite curious about these new things."

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Shark Sounds and Grief Discos

Host: Rachel Wright
Additional Segments: Brief insights into shark sound research and grief discos add depth to the episode, showcasing the diverse range of positive and intriguing stories covered.

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Listener Stories and Closing

Rachel Wright concludes the episode by sharing a heartwarming listener story about the kindness of a stranger returning a lost phone, reinforcing the theme of human goodwill and connection that permeates The Happy Pod.

Closing Remarks:

• Invitation to listeners to share their own stories.
• Credits to the production team: Harry Bly, Rachel Bulkley, Adrian Bhargava, and Karen Martin.

Notable Listener Story:

• Rebecca from Colorado: "I dropped my cell phone on the sidewalk... A stranger found it and offered to mail me my phone. I offered to pay him back, but he said no."

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Conclusion

This episode of The Happy Pod weaves together stories of personal triumph, innovative solutions, and the enduring power of community and connection. From saving vulnerable animals to breaking personal boundaries and fostering emotional healing through dance, the podcast underscores the positive impact individuals can have on the world around them.

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Stay Connected:
Subscribe to The Happy Pod for your daily dose of good news and inspiring stories. For more information or to share your own stories, contact [e-mail].

Transcript

[Rachel Wright]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.

[Niall Harbison]

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[Rachel Wright]

This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. I'm Rachel Wright and in this edition.

[Tom Cruise]

You'Re moving faster every day. Tom Cruise. I can't keep up with you, mister. You're a flying machine. You're a flying machine. Look at him go.

[Rachel Wright]

I meet this man who's helped thousands of stray dogs in Thailand. Two childhood sweethearts reunited after more than 85 years. All these years has passed and then suddenly we got in touch again and.

[Jim Davidson]

I looked at the text and I thought to myself like history, like, what are you talking about? And then that's when it clicked in my head for a second. I was like, okay, maybe this is kind of a big deal.

[Rachel Wright]

An historic moment in college basketball. Meet the first player with one arm score during a game. We begin with the story of a man in Thailand who's become an online celebrity. After sharing his stories of the abandoned street dogs he's fed, rehomed and treated, Niall Harbison lives on the island of Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand. His story begins when he himself was in a bad place. Recovering in hospital from alcohol poisoning, he decided to turn his life around and began to befriend some of the island's many stray dogs. And that became his mission to fix the global street dog problem. At his rehabilitation centre on the island, he works tirelessly to improve the dogs lives. Feeding, grooming, treating and sterilising, which doesn't sound that pleasant, but Niall says that will save many more dogs from being born on the street. While on holiday in Thailand myself last month, I went to visit him and met some of his four legged friends.

[Tom Cruise]

Oh, here he is. Hello mister. His tail is wagging, which is a good. That's my finger. Mr. You can see his back leg is really not, not doing fantastic. He's in a lot of pain. We can fix you. Mister, you're gonna go to the doggy spa. A full health checkup, nice food. What more could you want than that? Mister, it's your lucky day.

[Rachel Wright]

This is one of Niall Harbison's daily updates on his Instagram page about the trials and tribulations of his dog rescue centre on Koh Samui. That dog he's just met with very short legs and a big head. He's named Tom Cruise. When he was first found, he was covered in oil and blood sucking ticks with a back leg just hanging off his body. Over the past three years, Nile has fed, treated and rehomed thousands of dogs.

[Tom Cruise]

Lovely to meet you. Jump in there.

[Rachel Wright]

He picked me up from outside a supermarket in a truck emblazoned with his Happy Doggo logo and took me up Hope Avenue to what he calls the land.

[Tom Cruise]

So down here, we're just walking past now, the dogs will probably start barking. I'm sure most people have been to a dog charity. It can be quite depressing. It can feel like a prison where, you know, the dogs are going crazy and it's noisy and it's. I wanted it to be the opposite of that. It's possible. Now dogs are still, you know, they'll bark and they'll fight a little bit, but we wanted to make it nice for the dogs and for the people. So.

[Rachel Wright]

Yeah, so it feels happy.

[Tom Cruise]

Yeah, and it is. It's more like a rehabilitation center where we can get the dogs back on their feet. I mean, the thing is, they come in bad, but dogs have unbelievable spirit, as most people know that they might be sick, but within a day or two, we can turn their lives around. We rely really on, you know, medicines and doctors and vets, but actually a nice, safe place, food, love, just a little bit of attention that, that can fix an awful lot. It's not going to fix, you know, cancer or a broken leg, but it, it, it does help an awful lot with the street dogs.

[Rachel Wright]

She's looking forward to us. Look at that tail wagging. That's one happy doggo.

[Tom Cruise]

Butterscotch is unbelievable.

[Rachel Wright]

So Nile and I climbed into the pen with Big Mac and Butterscotch. Hang on a minute.

[Niall Harbison]

Sorry.

[Tom Cruise]

Big Mac is chewing the wire. Big Mac. He's not chewing.

[Rachel Wright]

No, no, he's just rubbing. It's fine. I just needed to get your light. Okay, let's go.

[Tom Cruise]

I was always an alcoholic and suffered from depression, but I moved to Thailand to get away, really from the grey, cold English Irish winters to try and help my health. But that sort of backfired because I ended up in hospital here from nearly drinking myself to death. But then I had a sort of epiphany. I was like, I have to do something meaningful in my life. And that's when the street dogs came in. So I just started feeding one or two on my way home on the bike. And then it's grown into this. It's just more and more dogs and we sterilize dogs. We're building a hospital where we sterilize 7,000 dogs every month. So I'm trying to try to make a difference for the street dog.

[Rachel Wright]

You have built up an enormous following on social media, on Instagram and Twitter. How does that make you feel that you've done that?

[Tom Cruise]

Well, actually, people like a bit of good news, you know, and that's hopefully why they're starting their day with that, because there's a quite a bombardment of bad news. So the. Yeah, it's a little bit of hope in their day.

[Rachel Wright]

What is your ultimate plan?

[Tom Cruise]

The ultimate plan is ridiculous and I'll probably fail. There's 500 million street dogs in the world and in my lifetime I want to half that. So that's 250 million street dogs. So it's, it's bonkers to try and do that, but we're going to try and do it through sterilization. Education and legislation need to get government support. We're on the way, but there's just so much to do.

[Rachel Wright]

Meanwhile, remember Tom Cruise who came in with a completely useless back leg? He looks almost unrecognizable, clean, tick free and dressed in a colourful bandana. And what's more, he's running boy.

[Tom Cruise]

Mr. Tom Cruise.

[Jim Davidson]

Look at that leg go.

[Tom Cruise]

Mr. It's back in action today. It's back in action. You're moving faster every day, Tom Cruise. I can't keep up with you, Mr. You're a flying machine. You're a flying machine. Look at him go. If that's not the happiest dog in Thailand, I don't know who is.

[Rachel Wright]

Niall Harbison of Happy Doggo on the island of Koh Samui to the Scottish Borders for this next story. Back in the late 1930s, Jim, Dougal and Betty Davidson walked to school together, hand in hand. But they lost touch after Jim's family moved away. These two childhood sweethearts have now been reunited after more than 85 years. Thanks to Jim's son Alistair and his efforts to trace all the children in his dad's old school photo. The Pair met again recently and this is what Betty had to say about the encounter. I used to knock on the door for him in the morning and. Or he knocked on mine and we used to walk up to school together. I was quite surprised, actually, and it was. Yeah, it was nice to get in touch after all these years. My childhood sweetheart. All these years has passed and then suddenly we got in touch again and Jim was also thrilled to have reunited after all those years. We lived on opposite side of the road, you see, and I.

[Niall Harbison]

We used to go to school together, used to play together and.

[Rachel Wright]

Yeah, something amazing, really something that. She's the last one standing, really, and so am I. It's just incredible, really. Absolutely incredible. It was a tiring couple of days, but it was well worth it.

[Niall Harbison]

And she was.

[Rachel Wright]

She was fantastic. And she still got that glint in her eye and a touch of the fair hair that I remember her right. She really was. She was terrific. Laura Maxwell spoke to Jim's son Alistair.

[Alistair Davidson]

Dougal was absolutely incredible to witness. I think, without wanting to sound like a cliche, in. In the mom at the end, before we left, I took a photo of the two of them and they kind of reenacted a photo that Betty had had from 1936 of the two of them and her sister. You know, in that instant, it was like those two children were back in the room 89 years later. So absolutely incredible.

[Georgina Jones]

What inspired you to try and track down everybody in the old school photograph in the first place?

[Alistair Davidson]

Well, after my mother died about a year ago and my brother Ian and I, we wanted to kind of give our dad things to look forward to. So the three of us went up to Ironmouth back in October last year, and as part of that, I'd arranged for a copy of the school photo to be published in a local newspaper. Obviously, given his age, I kept joking about, I reckon you're the last one standing, dad, and all the rest of it. And we kind of had this joke then. I. Rather than joking about it, why don't I actually set out to find out?

[Tom Cruise]

God, you're a braver man than I.

[Georgina Jones]

Am, Alastair, because you wanted to cheer your dad up. It could have gone really badly wrong. He could have been the last man standing.

[Alistair Davidson]

Well, he could have been, you know, he's 96, going on 97.

[Georgina Jones]

He sounds great, by the way. He sounds really fit and strong and so does Betty.

[Alistair Davidson]

Yeah, they're incredible. It's hard to believe that they are 96 years old. Very hard to believe.

[Georgina Jones]

Are they keeping in touch? Are they gonna stay in Touc.

[Alistair Davidson]

They are keeping in touch, I think, you know, they've spoken in the last couple of days. So they, they are going to keep in touch. They certainly are now.

[Rachel Wright]

To a man whose childhood love of Japanese anime cartoons led to the creation of Pakistan's first hand drawn animation studio, Usman Riaz grew up in Karachi and never dreamed he could turn his passion into a career. So instead focused on music, winning a scholarship to Berkeley College in the us. But after being invited to visit the famous Studio Ghibli in Tokyo, he gave it all up to make the Glass Worker, a homage to the anime films of his childhood that was long listed for the 2025 Oscars. Usman's been speaking to Mobine Azar.

[Usman Riaz]

I walked into the administration office with a signed paper saying I'm dropping out and I had a full scholarship. So I felt a little scared. But also this is what is meant by a leap of faith. And when I walked out, I felt all of this weight lift off of me and it felt like the universe saying, okay, now run. The Glassworker is a coming of age story about two children from separate walks of life. One is an apprentice glassblower learning from his father in their artisan glass shop, and the other is a gifted violinist struggling to find her own unique voice on the instrument. And the film follows both characters through their formative years as a growing threat of war strains their relationship. I wrote the film when I was 23, so it's like a time capsule of the way I was thinking in the early 2010s. Ultimately what I'm trying to say with the film is, and it's a naive approach, but I believe that war is not the answer to anything. Ultimately, it's the people who are caught in the conflict that suffer regardless of whoever the victor is.

[Tom Cruise]

Usman didn't know it would take 10.

[Georgina Jones]

Whole years to bring that idea to life.

[Rachel Wright]

But before he could fully get to work on the film, he had to.

[Tom Cruise]

Set up a hand drawn animation studio in Pakistan.

[Usman Riaz]

I think in order to do something that has never been done, you need to have a very, very strong vision. I said, this is the film I want to make. This is exactly what it has to be like. This is what I want to do and I'm ready to go to the ends of the earth to achieve this. At the end of the day, I just felt like it needed to be made. Apart from storyboarding the film, which was a lot of fun, I would say the most fun I ever had was in the Initial phases when I didn't know what it was, when I was just sitting at my desk and I had my upright piano behind my desk. And as I would draw that, while I would wait for the paint to dry, I would turn around and write a piece of music that was inspired by the painting I just made.

[Tom Cruise]

And actually, is it better you drew every frame?

[Usman Riaz]

I drew 1477 individual cuts. Those are individual shots that you see in the film. And then within those shot compositions, I drew about 2,500 individual drawings for the film and then did a lot of the animation work alongside a brilliant team that we all trained ourselves. Nobody did animation in Pakistan, essentially, apart from a few enthusiasts that were just as excited to come onto the project. But we kind of trained everybody else coming in. It took six years, really, to train everyone and get everything up and going.

[Rachel Wright]

Have you any idea if anyone at Studio Ghibli has. Has ever seen it?

[Georgina Jones]

Are you gonna send it to them?

[Usman Riaz]

I would love for them to see it just to understand what I've tried to do and how much their work means to me. But also, I'm absolutely terrified of them watching it as well. I'm not scared of anything. I am scared of that.

[Rachel Wright]

And you can hear more of Usman's story on Outlook wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Now, here's a question. What noise does a shark make? Well, that recorded for what's known to be the very first time is the sound of a shark. It was captured by scientists at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and the clicking is made by the shark's teeth. Dr. Lauren Smith is a marine biologist and a shark scientist and told us more.

[Georgina Jones]

Historically, we've always thought that, no, sharks don't make sounds. And that's it. They don't actually have sort of mechanisms by which they would normally be able to make sounds. With bony fish teleosts, what they tend to do is they have morphological adaptations whereby they use their swim bladders to actually create a vibratory sound for various different reasons. But sharks don't have those kind of physiological characteristics and they don't have swim bladders and they don't have any kind of morphological differences around their gill area or anything like that that could make them be able to create a sound either. So the fact that they're actually being recorded to make sounds is really interesting. It sounds like they're literally making these sounds by sort of snapping their jaws together. But, you know, absolutely just fascinating. And of course, the question will be, you know, are we then going to be able to the sounds being created by other shark species. To be honest, this discovery just highlights the fact that how little we do know and that there's plenty of surprises still out there in sharks and in the oceans.

[Rachel Wright]

Shark scientist Dr. Lauren Smith. Coming up, meet the women organizing discos to help overcome grief.

[Georgina Jones]

There's a lot of guilt around grief and shame and lots and lots of difficult emotions. So we, we take that and we leave that on the dance floor. We tell people to leave it on the dance floor.

[Rachel Wright]

You're listening to the happy pod next to a determined athlete who's turned teenage rejection into a groundbreaking achievement. Bailey Cinnamon Daniel, who was born with one army, developed a love of basketball and played for her high school team for three years. Despite being dropped, she went on to play in college and has become the first player with one arm to score during a game in the third division of women's college basketball, the NCAA. Bailey, who's now 22, has been speaking to Shabnan Yunas. Jule.

[Jim Davidson]

Getting cut, it not only knocked down my confidence, but it knocked down how I thought of myself as a person, like as a human being in society and everything. Because, you know, having one arm, I've always wanted to find, like my group, my community, my people who I can relate to. And I never could relate to anybody growing up because, you know, I was in a predominantly white area. So, you know, being a black girl was a standout on its own. And then on top of that, I also have one arm, so nobody is really going to relate to me, you know. So then when I started playing basketball, I have now gotten the chance to have my group of people. So when he cut me in the moment, I thought, man, like, I'm so out of place right now. A lot of my time was taken up with basketball and I made most of my friends do basketball. And I felt safe when playing basketball because I never felt different because nobody ever treated me differently. I will say that it definitely did make me very upset, but I think I was more angry. So then that anger kind of built to, oh, like I have to prove this man wrong.

[Rachel Wright]

Well, fast forward three years, and after sending her resume out to every university coach across America, Bailey made history by scoring her first basket for Lesley University in a college game.

[Jim Davidson]

In the game, I didn't realize how big of a deal the shop actually was because in my eyes, I just saw it as me shooting a basketball. I didn't see it as, you know, a one arm basketball player shooting a basketball. So when the shot went in my first thought was, okay, I just have to get back on defense now. Like, I thought the game was still going to go on. And then that's when our coach called a timeout, and everybody was super happy. Everybody was thrilled. I was personally very happy as well. So I came back to my room, and I got a text from my coach, and he told me, like, you know, I'm so proud of you. You've overcame so much this season. And, you know, I'm happy that I got to witness history tonight. And I looked at the text and I thought to myself, like, history, like, what are you talking about? And then that's when it clicked in my head for a second. I was like, okay, maybe this is kind of a big deal. I don't look at it in a sense of, oh, I'm going to be the first person to do this, or I'm going to be the first. I was just doing it because that's something that I've loved, and that's something that I've always loved to do, and I love playing basketball. But it was, I guess, uncommon in the grand scheme of things to NCAA to, you know, have somebody with one arm be able to not only play, but to also be able to make a basket in a game and do it twice.

[Rachel Wright]

And, Bailey, are you beginning to realize now that your impact and what you're doing right now is going beyond basketball and you're becoming a role model? Like, you said that you didn't see people like yourself doing what you're doing now when you were growing up, but now there'll be other girls out there who are looking up to you. How does that make you feel?

[Jim Davidson]

It's hard for me to still wrap my head around the whole concept of me being a role model. I am super happy that I am able to contribute to, you know, not normalizing a concept that you have to look a part to play a sport. I think anybody who puts their mind to anything can really accomplish not just sports, but anything they really do put their mind to. And I just hope that, you know, somebody who's going through somewhat of the same either, like, mindset or physical disadvantages that I'm going through right now sees, you know, me playing basketball. I hope that they take, you know, the time to look at it and tell themselves, you know, if she's doing it, then maybe I can do it, too. And it doesn't even have to be, you know, sports. Whatever you want to do, I say do it. Because there were so many people who sat there and told me that I would not be able to make it as far as I have now. And if it wasn't for me betting on myself and betting on my future and what I wanted it to become, I think also the switching my anger to now, having that anger displaced into something that was actually workable to get to and that I actually was able to accomplish. So I'm happy that my story is out there and I'm happy if anybody who looks like me even watches me for a second, even, and tells himself, you know what? If she's doing it, then I can too.

[Rachel Wright]

And Bailey is planning to become a forensic psychologist and coach disability sports, but hasn't ruled out playing in the elite wnba. You can hear more inspiring athletes on Sports Hour wherever you get your BBC podcast. For many countries, water scarcity is a big problem and can impact farming and food supplies. But one small business in Tunisia believes it's found a solution. Omar Louzia and Aziz Kawesh are the founders of the startup Duda and have created an animal feed from a type of beetle. It's very high in protein and has a low environmental footprint. Omar and Aziz have been speaking to our reporter Marion Straughan about their hopes for the future and began with the meaning behind their company name.

[Niall Harbison]

First one, it means worm in Tunisia, and that's what we're breeding. Have an easy pronunciation that everyone pretty much in the world can easily pronounce.

[Rachel Wright]

How do you use the worms then?

[Niall Harbison]

So we do the reproduction of the worms that later become beetles and you have either some dried meal worms, some protein powder, or even like hopefully having some pet food in the future as well.

[Alistair Davidson]

Tell us what drove you to create.

[Niall Harbison]

This company important for our society to do something about climate change. Our home country, Tunisia, is one of the countries that suffers most from better scarcity. We could witness more and more difficulties for the agriculture sector, hunger and malnutrition with climate change. They kind of work hand in hand, like they cannot be disconnected. If we look at agriculture and land use, they're responsible of like 15 to 20% of green gas emissions in the world. Especially cows and sheep produce a lot of methane through their digestion. And so that has a big impact on the climate change and the heating of the planet. If you look at Africa, a lot of people are starving because they cannot afford to buy these products. So we're presenting here an alternative source of protein. And if we look at soybeans, for example, that is being used as a big source of protein in the world, it represents 6 to 7% of global agricultural land, and we're trying to replace that. We're trying to free up more space at the moment.

[Rachel Wright]

This is for animal feed, but you.

[Alistair Davidson]

Hope it will also be for people in the future.

[Niall Harbison]

Exactly. Globally, we have more than 2 billion people that already eat insects. Asia, parts of Africa, even like in Latin America, a lot of people already eat insects.

[Rachel Wright]

I will now ask Aziz then, what have been your highs and lows in this process?

[Niall Harbison]

I'd say that trying to set up an innovative company is an adventure. It's full of challenges. You need to learn how to manage, to bring innovation in a way that you advocate and promote for what's right and still make it happen. With their current constraints, really build a business that's sustainable from day one. That was probably the difficult part for me. The most important thing, you make sure that you always put your values at the forefront. People are quite curious about these new things and I think there is a willingness to learn about what's possible to do differently.

[Rachel Wright]

Omar Louzear and Aziz Kawash, the founders of insect protein startup Dudar. We've heard of Dancing for Joy, but how about dancing through grief? Here in the uk, two women have set up a grief disco which proved so popular, it's onto its third event. Georgina Jones found comfort through dancing after the death of her baby son Oshan nearly two years ago. And she came together with her friend Leah Sian Davis, who lost two of her siblings within weeks of each other 11 years ago. Through movement and dance music, they found that there are others who also enjoy dancing through their grief. Georgina and Leah spoke to Emma Barnett.

[Georgina Jones]

It came to me really, from what I needed very soon after our Shan died. I just had this desire to dance. I had this need to be on a dance floor. I've always loved music, house music, a regular Twiza. So I just had a desire to dance and me and Leah did that together. So we would go out, we would dance and I would feel lighter, I would feel better and more. More human, more alive.

[Rachel Wright]

And the idea, Leah, of bringing people together to do it, not just doing it with a friend, how's that been? And. And what was the first one like?

[Georgina Jones]

Seeing people come together on the dance floor is. Is a beautiful experience. You know, the house music is about union and, yeah, people connecting beyond words, really, because sometimes people don't want to necessarily just talk about their grief. It's a really, you know, full body experience, grief. So having somewhere with other people together, connected, dancing is. Is how we're supposed to be really, as humans. I Mean, we've done it for, for centuries.

[Rachel Wright]

That's y.

[Georgina Jones]

We belong.

[Rachel Wright]

Georgina, tell us about the, the permission slip and the kind of structure of a grief disco that you've created.

[Georgina Jones]

We open with an opening ceremony, so we welcome everyone into the space and we actually give people a physical permission slip. And on this permission slip, it says you can be heartbroken and hopeful, joy, joyful and sad. All is welcome on our dance floor. And we talk about this duality, this sense of feeling, feeling heavy with grief, but also the benefits of dancing and what that can do to us. And we can have grief and joy. We invite people to not feel guilty around it because there's a lot of guilt around grief and shame and lots and lots of difficult emotions. So we take that and we leave that on the dance floor. We tell people to leave it on the dance floor and they do. And it's just such a wonderful. That tends to really hit people the most, that permission for joy. And yeah, somebody said to me the other day, it's an event that I went to that I didn't know I needed because it fills, it helps us deal with all the heaviness. And it's so difficult to maybe put into words, as Leah said, but having that opportunity to be in a place that's joyful as well, to be in a place where there's music, you can speak to people that totally get it, that know how you feel, especially because when you are grieving, sometimes the answer to how are you today? Isn't pretty. But we haven't got the, we haven't got the capacity sometimes to deal with that. So you button up and you say, yeah, fine. But when you come to the grief disco you're. You're invited to, just say, yeah, this is how I feel.

[Rachel Wright]

Georgina Jones and Leah Sean Davis. Before we go, a couple of weeks ago, we covered the story of the kindness of strangers. Well, we've received some emails from the listeners. Here's one from Rebecca from Colorado in the US that says, I dropped my cell phone on the sidewalk one time. This was before smartphones existed. A stranger found it dialed ICE in my context in case of emergency, and he offered to mail me my phone. I offered to pay him back for the postage, but he said no. When I received the package, he had his return address on it, so I mailed him a cheque. Anyway, thanks, Rebecca. And that's all from the happy pod for now. We'd love to hear from you. As ever, the address is globalpodcastbc.co.uk and you can now watch some of our interviews on YouTube. Just search for the happy pod. This edition was produced by Harry Bly and Rachel Bulkley. It was mixed by Adrian Bhargava. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Rachel Wright. Until next time, goodbye.