← Global News Podcast
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: The cafe spreading the joy of dance
00:26:49
Happy stories and positive news from around the world - our weekly collection
Loading summary
Transcript1 lines
- [00:00]
Ryan Seacrest
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk. Ryan Seacrest here. When you have a busy schedule, it's important to maximize your downtime. One of the best ways to do that is by going to chumbacasino.com Chumba Casino has all your favorite social casino games like spin slots, bingo and solitaire that you can play for free for a chance to redeem some serious prizes. So hop on to chumbacasino.com now and live the Chumba Life. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary VGW Group. Void where prohibited by law. 18 + terms and conditions apply. All right, we're all set for the party. I've trimmed the tree, hung the mistletoe, and paired all those weird shaped knives and forks with the appropriate cheeses. And I plugged in the Bartesian Bartesian. It's a home cocktail maker that makes over 60 premium cocktails, plus a whole lot of seasonal favorites too. I just got it for 50 off. So how about a Cosmopolitan or a mistletoe margarita? I'm thirsty. Watch. I just pop in a capsule, choose my strength and wow, it's beginning to feel more seasonal in here already. If your holiday party doesn't have a bartender, then you become the bartender. Unless you've got a Bartesian, because Bartesian crafts every cocktail perfectly in as little as 30 seconds. And I just got it for $50 off. Tis the season to be jollier. Add some holiday flavor to every celebration with the sleek, sophisticated home cocktail maker Bartisian. Get $50 off any cocktail maker at bartisian.com cocktail that's B A R T E S I A N dot com cocktail hello, this is Roji from Sri Lanka, and you're listening to the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway, and in this edition, the cafe that's got a whole town moving. Let's get people dancing again and just be joyous because dancing is good for the soul. And it it makes people happy by offering free coffee to anyone who's dancing. A novel way to reuse discarded cigarette butts. I've made cushions, keychains, stuffed toys. And now we're learning to crochet to make these fruits. Why? Hundreds of people in Europe have been dressing as devilish creatures to celebrate the approach of Christmas. And I think it's fantastic to hear the screams of joy and how much they enjoy it. Making the ballet more accessible to children from all backgrounds. We start in the US State of Massachusetts, where staff at a coffee shop have been spreading happiness by getting their Small town dancing. It all began with an offer of a free drink for anyone who came in doing their favourite moves. A video of the first day went viral and it started a movement across the whole town of Middleborough. Now the community has put on a day of dance with other businesses joining in. Stephanie Prentiss spoke to Olivia from the Coffee Milano Cafe. We love interacting with our customers and knowing everybody's name and making everyone feel special. And at first it probably took about an hour for the first person to come in dancing. And then once, I think once one person did it, then other people were like, oh, what's going on? So I watched initial TikTok with. Is it 7.6 million? Yes, yes, yes. It's insane. I. With my boss and I was. When I got 4,000 views that morning, I sent him a screenshot and I was like, shocked that it had 4,000 views. So the fact now that it's now on TikTok, it's at, I think 8.2 million and it's crazy. And I think that it's like people love things that are making other people happy and just spreading joy. And I don't think it's about $3 coffee for free. I think it's just the fact that we are letting people express themselves. There we go. Hello, people. Enjoy the party. And I saw an array of dance moves. Some pretty impressive. Some pretty impressive ones. Can you tell me what you saw and what your favorites were? Oh, yeah. So the first person in the video is actually my sister doing the moonwalk and she did not expect that this was going to go viral at all. And she's highly embarrassed that she took her shoes off the moonwalk and now 8 million people saw that and then a lot of the other ones were regulars. But, yeah, I love all the other, like, the different moves that we can see and how different people from different generations dance as well. I thought it was cool to see people were inspiring other people to dance for sure. Like, I know when the group of girls came in and they were all dancing, one gentleman was. Saw them outside and was like, come on in and start dancing. And he got them going and then they came in dancing. Yeah, the people's expressions in the video, they actually look so joyful and so childlike. Yes. Everyone is smiling and that's all that we really wanted was to, you know, make our regulars happy and to keep spreading joy. So have you got any future plans to do maybe a different twist on this? Could people do it with their kids, with their pets? Yeah. So we actually were talking about that we were talking about maybe like bring your dogs in and, you know, dance with your dog or just how we could do various different things to kind of make it more niche and have its own twist on it. So it seems like you've made your regulars very happy. You've gained a lot of social media followers. What would you say? Yes. Yes. What would you say to any other businesses thinking about doing this? I think that it's a great idea. And Today we have 15 other businesses in downtown Middleboro also partaking in it. We have an ACT store in place that's doing an antique stores and the eyeglass store and the liquor store. Everyone is doing their own little twist on it. And I think that whether it's something for free or a discount, let's get people dancing again and, you know, set this atmosphere where people are able to be themselves and express themselves and just be joyous because dancing is good for the soul and it makes people happy and it's worth it for sure. Olivia from the Coffee Milano Cafe talking to Stephanie Prentice. Around the world, more than a billion people smoke, and discarded cigarette ends are the most common type of litter on earth. The filters are made from toxic plastic that takes a long time to break down. But an organization in India has found a rather surprising way to recycle them and turn them into toys. Code Effort says it has recycled around 5 million cigarette butts since 2019. It now pays 2,500 people to pick them up and has installed 200,000 dedicated bins. Chavi Sajidov went to their offices near Mumbai. So this is an open courtyard with a tin roof shed. I'm seeing sacks piled up on the left side, a poster that says, what begins on our streets can end in our seas. The sacks, no surprise, are stuffed with cigarette butts dirty and bent up from the trash bins and curbs of India. They have two main components. The paper that holds the whole cigarette together from the outside and the filter, which is this fibrous stuff. And when people don't finish the cigarette, sometimes the butt also contains leftover bits of tobacco. Ramanand is one of the longest serving employees at Code Effort, and he's demonstrating the first step after collection sorting. So he's picking up the matchsticks or there's feathers, leaves. The paper wrapper is collected and recycled for use as mosquito repellent sticks. The tobacco is composted and distributed to local nurseries. But the focus here is the stuff inside the cigarette butt, the fiber in the filter. And once it's separated into a big pile. It's chopped up into tinier bits. So I'm looking down a very, very large mixer grinder. It's got a four ring blade in it, very large. After cutting, the shortened fiber is washed in a bacterial solution to rinse off and dissolve toxins. And the fluffy white mass that comes out is now white and clean. And this wet fiber is next dried in a spinning drum. All the water is disposed of sustainably. This is the last stage of the process. In India we call it dunai machine. So this is for carding and softening the fiber so that the fiber looks like the one that you saw there, the fluffy cotton type. And from here it's loaded into bags and taken to the homes of the village women who work with it. In a big living room with a huge carpet and a small child who's playing with pom poms. And there's a basket next to her with the crocheted stuffed eggplants and oranges. The little girl's name is Tanishka. She's three. Her seven year old brother Chirag is here too and they're playing with toys and pom poms all made with the now cleaned and carded fiber. Their mother, Barsha is crocheting a green yarn into what will be a stuffed pearl. Before this I was a security guard. When I had my first baby, I had to leave work. So then I joined this organization. Now from home I can both work and take care of my child. I make these pieces. I do housework, drop the kids to school, get other stuff done. As she works, the lady of the house, Poonam, comes and sits cross legged with her. Poonam is a code efforts pioneer. I've made cushions, keychains, paper bags, paper envelopes, stuffed toys. And now we're learning to crochet to make these fruits for an order. We finish our household chores by about 11. Then we work until about 5pm the pairs take time, but I can make three or four oranges or eggplants or apples in a day. By this time Poonam and Barsha are joined by five more women from the neighborhood. I asked Poonam how she felt working with the fiber from cigarettes. It's fine, it's safe, it's cleaned. I think it's a good thing. People smoke cigarettes and just throw the butts away and create litter. Parabos gets them collected and recycled. It cleans our environment. This is a good thing. So many people are just wasting time. We are sitting at home being productive Making something interesting and earning a little to take care of our expenses also. I mean, that feels nice. What isn't used to make toys is turned into paper and I saw some bookmarks and notebooks made from it. It's highly fibrous and it's very nice for ink pens. They also supply their fiber to a company that makes tree free paper for office stationery. Javi Sajdurv in India and you can hear more on that story on people fixing the world wherever you get your podcasts. At the end of the summer, the UK was hit by riots that were amplified by comments on social media. But the violence also brought communities together as people helped out with repairing the damage on the HappyPod. Back then we heard about an amazing fundraising effort to restore a public library in Liverpool that had been set on fire. $320,000 was raised and this week Spello Library reopened. The night before, public libraries across England were illuminated to share the light. And in Liverpool, children celebrated with a lantern parade. Katie Hazeldine went along. Tell me about how you felt when you found out that the library had been burnt. Not very happy because it's somewhere that people like to go. I was very sad because that's a library I always go to and I love reading. Why are you so excited? Tell me what you'll enjoy about the library. I probably enjoyed, enjoyed the way that it's so calm because I get annoyed lots easily by the noise and the rough. A huge blue light up there, accompanied by its cub leads this procession from Goodison Park. The Stealing Sheep marching band are who you can hear bring in the party atmosphere with their light up instruments and hundreds of schoolchildren and their parents are joining them carrying lanterns to bring back the light to spell library which was torched during those riots in the summer. Are you excited for the library to reopen? Yeah, I'm getting emotional. When I first burnt down, I was being crying my eyes out. That's the only library we go to. That report by Katie Hazeldine. Well, Alex McCormick, who we spoke to about her fundraising in August, said it was emotional to see the library reopen. I just think it's amazing that we've managed to get to this point in such a short amount of time. The initial target was 500 pounds and the initial intention was just to replace the books that had been burned. So never in my wildest dreams as I think it would go as far as it did. The level that it reached and it got so far and wise was just unbelievable. I think I'm feeling overwhelmed more than anything else, but also so proud of everyone who's been involved and who continues to be involved as Spello continues to grow. On the back of this I think everyone around the world has got a connection to a good story. Everyone's got a book that they love. And if all of this hasn't proved how much we need these spaces and how much we as a society value them, then I don't think anything will. Fundraiser extraordinaire Alex McCormick and still to come on the Happy Podcast, Brad was calling out people that wasn't there. I was seeing patterns in rocks that weren't there. And I said, Brad, like I'm in a bad way. And he was like, okay, me too. Five minutes sleep the ultimate relationship test 53 hours of extreme cycling Good sleep should come naturally, and with a new Natural Hybrid mattress, it can. A collaboration between Leesa and West Elm, the Natural Hybrid is expertly crafted from natural latex, natural wool and certified safe foams to elevate your sleep sanctuary and support a greener tomorrow. Breathable organic cotton and moisture wicking Jomo wool consistently provide cool and comfortable slumber. Every purchase helps fuel Lisa's work with shelters and those in need. Visit Lisa.com to learn more. That's L E S A.com hello, it is Ryan and we could all use an extra bright spot in our day, couldn't we? Just to make up for things like sitting in traffic, doing the dishes, counting your steps. You know, all the mundane stuff. That is why I'm such a big fan of Chumba Casino. Chumba Casino has all your favorite social casino style games that you can play for free, anytime, anywhere with daily bonuses. So sign up now@chumbacasino.com that's chumbacasino.com sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW group void wear prohibited by law 18 terms and conditions apply. All right, we're all set for the party. I've trimmed the tree, hung the mistletoe, and paired all those weird shaped knives and forks with the appropriate cheeses and I plugged in the Partition Artisan. It's a home cocktail maker that makes over 60 premium cocktails, plus a whole lot of seasonal favorites too. I just got it for 50 off, so how about a Cosmopolitan or a Mistletoe Margarita? I'm thirsty. Watch. I just pop in a capsule, choose my strength and wow, it's beginning to feel more seasonal in here already. If your holiday party doesn't have a bartender, then you become the bartender. Unless you've got a Bartesian because Bartesian craftsman. Every cocktail perfectly in as little as 30 seconds. And I just got it for $50 off. Tis the season to be jollier. Add some holiday flavor to every celebration with the sleek, sophisticated home cocktail maker Bartisian. Get $50 off any cocktail maker at bartisian.com cocktail that's B A R T E S I A N dot com cocktail in countries that celebrate Christmas, children are often told they must be good if they want to receive presents from Father Christmas, Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas. In some parts of Europe, there is even a folklore character who is said to punish those who misbehave. The Krampus. In the central and Eastern Alps, the tradition is celebrated with the Krampus run when crowds gather to watch hundreds of people dressed in grotesque demon like costumes running through towns scaring children. Yusuf Kutaya went along to one event in northern Italy. As the sun brushes its last golden strokes on the Dolomites and the cold air creeps further into my windproof jacket, you think that cows are approaching. But at a closer look, I can see an army of grotesque figures, tractors and flames coming closer. It is the beginning. Beginning of the Krampus Nacht or Krampus Night. The Krampus is a grotesque creature of Alpine folklore. According to legend, it is half goat and half demon. The Krampus is believed to accompany St Nicholas on his visits to children. According to legend, children who behave receive gifts, while those who misbehave are punished by the Krampus. In Dobiaco, A town of 3,000 people in northern Italy, this night is taken seriously. 10,000 spectators descend to watch 600 of these krampuses running through the town. At the end of the march, there's a person dressed as half bishop, half Santa Claus who's accompanied by young children representing angels who hand out sweets to well behaved spectators. Participants dress in hairy black or white costumes that resemble the body of a gorilla. They wear bells the size of watermelons on their hips and hold either a flaming torch or birch sticks. Participants wear demonic masks with horns looking like ibexes and teeth like lines. Meinhard Fauster is the organizer of this ritual and makes these masks out of aluminum. Meinhardt is also the brains behind the Dobiaco Krampus run. He has performed as a krampus for almost 20 years. I asked him where he gets his inspiration for the masks. He said the influence is twofold. I get my ideas from old American films because these days movies are too computerized. In the older movies, ideas came from the head, not from artificial intelligence. The other perspective is my own imagination, which then is coupled with what I see in classic films. Managing 600 demonic creatures in a small town is no easy task. Meinhard says that most of the participants are regulars, so they know the drill, know their limits and are mindful of their own safety and that of spectators. And he says there's one thing he enjoys. Every year, I look forward to the mouth wine, because one part of the parade ends in the Christmas markets. So after the parade, everyone gathers around in the markets to enjoy malt wine. The tradition is mostly celebrated in Germany, in Austria, in Slovenia and in parts of northern Italy. However, the tradition is now spreading to the UK and the United States. It was even brought to the big screen in the 2015 horror film Krampus. So whatever I do, I'll be good, for goodness sake. Josef Kitaia in northern Italy. Many partners love sharing their hobbies with each other. But would your relationship survive spending more than two days together with just a few minutes? Sleep well. Earlier this year, Danny Shrewsbury and Bradley Shenton entered the grueling Badlands Ultra cycle race through the mountains of northern Spain, completing the nearly 800 kilometres in 53 and a half hours to win the pairs title. And despite hallucinations and a crash, they say it's brought them closer together. They've been speaking to my colleague Caroline Barker. I did it the year before, I've already done it as a solo person and Danny was like, maybe we should do it together next year. And I was like, it's quite hard. It was quite funny in the run arts to it, because I, like, absolutely loved Danny's optimism about everything and just, I know what's coming. It's really hard for me to say, Danny, I'm getting the dynamic now. You're obviously competitive. Definitely. I think that's the side of me that knew that I would get through this, whatever, because I wouldn't want to let Brad down, especially because I know that he'd already done it once and that I was putting him through it again. But also, yeah, the competitive mindset that I've got. I just knew that I'd keep going and even if I wasn't okay, I'd pretend I was okay. After three hours, we are going down this hill and it's like, me then Danny. It's super bright, chalky, dusty, and there was a huge dip. I hit it and just was like, whoa. But didn't shout out properly. Dani hit it and fully went over her handlebars and broke the bike. But knowing each Other so well as you do. How do you, like, deal with potential tension points like that? Don't get me wrong. In the second day, when you're, like, super tired, you just kind of, like, get angry, but you're angry at the situation. You're not angry at each other. You're kind of just like, I'm so tired. And we would. Fortunately, we didn't have, like, low points at the same time. I was, like, so close to quitting and just, I'm so done with this. And Danny just goes, have a caffeine gel and shut up. So sometimes you have to get a bit sassy with each other. But it worked. One big thing is, like, what came with the crash, it meant that it's snapped my light off. I'm, like, totally relying on following Brad in the dark. He might not have called out that dip, but after that, I can't call out the dips of the daylight, but I can in the night. The sleep thing, though, was it 10 minutes in total over the whole time you had. It was actually crazy. We hallucinated, like, no tomorrow. But the thing is, we're both so stubborn about giving up. Brad was calling out people that wasn't there. I was seeing patterns in rocks that weren't there. And I said, brad, like, I'm in a bad way. And he was like, okay, me too. Five minutes sleep. But it took one of us to actually own up how tired we were. When you're sleep deprived, five minutes feels like a whole night. Doesn't it? Fall sleep on the side of the road as well. I managed to snore and wake myself up within five minutes, so I think that's quite impressive. By the end of it, we both couldn't remember much. But doing it as a pair, you remember different things, so you kind of, like, trigger each other to remember certain bits. So honestly, coming through something like that, you have a friendship or a partnership, like, for life, because it's. You go through something special. And I think even a lot of the solo riders, they ended up in little groups, didn't they? And they kind of end up getting through it together. And you can't explain in that moment what you've gone through. But, like, especially doing it as a pair, you can just look at each other and be like, wow, we've actually done it. What do you do next? How do you top it? We're really competitive against each other. And we were like, should we just sign up solo and just race each other doing it again? This time I won't give Him a caffeine gel. Let's do it himself. Danny Shrewsbury and Bradley Shenton talking to Caroline Barker for Sports Hour. Ballet and opera are often seen as the domain of the wealthy or academic elites. But here in the uk, efforts are underway to try to make them more open and accessible, especially for children from all backgrounds. The Royal Ballet and Opera House is opening its doors to schoolchildren who wouldn't normally get the chance to experience these creative arts. The happy pods. Lul Hassan has been finding out more. This place is beautiful. The normally serene and sophisticated Royal Ballet and Opera, in the heart of London's Covent Garden, was filled with the laughter and chatter of thousands of excited children from all over England. They'd come to see the first performance of the ballet version of Cinderella, the fairy tale about a downtrodden young woman who is suddenly blessed by fortune and ends up marrying a prince. And the young audience also got a glimpse behind the scenes, finding out how the enormous, intricate sets are moved and changed during the intervals. For many children, opportunities like this are not common. But thanks to money from donors, the theatre has hosted seven such schools events this year, including ballet and opera performances of Alice in Wonderland and Hansel and Gretel. These children from a school in Rotherham in the north of England, spoke about what the experience meant to them. I think my favourite part was weathered. Two sisters were like, fighting over the scarfs and trying to put makeup on them. Mine was when the fairy godmother came out. I found it really difficult at the start, but as it got to, like the fairy godmother bit, I started to understand. I think it just shows how, with all the costumes, how dance can really just tell a story. It doesn't have to have any words or anything. Gillian Barker, director of Learning and Participation, explained why it's important this tradition continues. These are extraordinary places, extraordinary experiences, and I believe everyone should have that opportunity. And I think it's particularly important for people who don't live close to a local theatre, who can't experience the magic of a place like the Royal Ballet and Opera to be able to come to London and see this quality of work. The reaction of the children spoke for itself. Kevin O'Hare is the director of the Royal Ballet. I mean, it's fantastic to hear the screams of joy and how much they enjoy it. It's that immediacy of their reaction that's so brilliant and that's what you miss when you're doing normal shows. Kevin O'Hare says opportunities like this can truly shape child's life. What can seem like just a memory can actually be the moment someone decides what they want to spend their life doing. Every child should have the opportunity to come and see what theatre can offer and that little spark. And it could be, yes, what they're seeing, the dance has been amazing, but they could be looking at the orchestra and seeing the instruments they're playing and thinking, gosh, I'd like to do that, or how we put it all together. And again, that can spark an interest. And I thought of, oh, could I do that? Could I be involved in that? So what did the children think of their first Royal Ballet experience? Spectacular. Interesting. Amazing. Brilliant. It was mesmerizing. It was really nice. Fantastic. I feel like it was a magical experience. I've never really been interested in Bali, but then when I seen them doing it, it actually looked fun. That report by Lul Hassan in the last episode, we asked for things that made you happiest or Inspired you in 2024. One Response really made a smile. An email from Roji in Sri Lanka saying how the HappyPod had helped her through a tough year. She summed up exactly why we do what we do. So something that's made me really happy in 2024 is, in fact this very podcast, the Happy Pod. What I really like about the Happy Pod is the fact that it doesn't shy away from people facing difficult situations and also from problems that feel so huge that they're beyond solutions. What it does focus on is how people keep going in the face of these problems and how they persevere and the little things that people do to improve their lives and the lives of people around them. So that really reminds me to be grateful for everything that I have, and it really motivates me to keep going as well. Personally, I feel like trying to change the world is a bit of an overwhelming thing for me, but I did realize that sometimes all it takes is just a little act of kindness, and that can mean the world to someone, even if it's just one person. And at the end of the day, that's worth doing. Thanks, Roji. And we'd love to hear what made you happiest or inspired in 2024. From everyday family things to stories from around the world, send us an email or voice note to globalpodcastbc.co.uk and that's all from the Happy Pod for now. This edition was mixed by Derek Clark and produced by Holly Gibbs and Rachel Bulkley. Our editor is Karen Martin. I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye. Yoga is more than just exercise. It's the spiritual practice that millions swear by. And in 2017, Miranda, a university tutor from London, joins a yoga school that promises profound transformation. It felt a really safe and welcoming space. After the yoga classes, I felt amazing. But soon that calm, welcoming atmosphere leads to something far darker. A journey that leads to allegations of grooming, trafficking and exploitation across international borders. I don't have my passport. I don't have my phone. I don't have my bank cards. I have nothing. The passport being taken, the being in a house and not feeling like they can leave. World of Secrets is where untold stories are unveiled and hidden realities are exposed. In this new series, we're confronting the dark side of the wellness industry, where the hope of a spiritual breakthrough gives way to disturbing accusations. You just get sucked in so gradually and it's done so skillfully that you don't realize. And it's like this. The secret that's there. I wanted to believe that, you know, that whatever they were doing, even if it seemed gross to me, was for some spiritual reason that I couldn't understand. Revealing the hidden secrets of a global yoga network. I feel that I have no other choice. The only thing I can do is to speak about this and to put my reputation and everything else on the line. I want truth and justice and for other people to not be hurt, for things to be different in the future, to bring it into the light and almost alchemize some of that evil stuff that went on and take back the power. World of secrets. Season 6 the Bad Guru Listen, wherever you get your podcasts, it is Ryan Seacrest here. There was a recent social media trend which consisted of flying on a plane with no music, no movies, no entertainment. But a better trend would be going to chumbacasino.com it's like having a mini social casino in your pocket. Chumba casino has over 100 online casino style games, all absolutely free. It's the most fun you can have online and on a plane. So grab your free welcome bonus now@chumbacasino.com sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary VGW group void where prohibited by law 18/ terms and conditions apply.