Global News Podcast: The Happy Pod: Monkey rescue mission

Hello, this is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service with reports and analysis

from across the world. The latest news seven days a week. BBC World Service podcasts are

supported by advertising. Hi, I am Wyrmwe in Kenya and you're listening to The Happy Pod.

I'm Eli. Me and my band just played a blast in brief. You are listening to The Happy Pod.

Hi, my name's Isis and this is The Happy Pod. It certainly is. This is The Happy Pod from

the BBC World Service. I'm Jackie Leonard and in this edition, uploaded on Saturday, July the

first, the successful campaign to stop 100,000 wild monkeys being captured and exported from

Sri Lanka to China. The campaign was brilliant. It was fast. It was efficient. It was global. It was

a strike team of conservationists from around the world. We'll be in Australia. And a motorcycle

policeman ended up pulling him over saying, what are you doing speeding and going through red

lights? And he said to the policeman, he said, well, I started with two passengers and now I've

got three. What do you want me to do? That's ish. Born in a taxi and looking for the taxi driver

and the young author who wants to inspire her readers. Live in the spirit of the power of your

name. I want people who read this book to feel like their name is special. Also in this podcast,

the largest school meals program in Africa. For me, being able to go home and sleep knowing

there's 140,000 kids that were able to be impacted positively. It just gives me so much

excitement and fulfillment. Now, our editor insists on quite a high threshold for animal stories to

get into the happy pod. So this one is a proper news story. That is the sound of toke macaques.

And now after a successful campaign by conservation and animal rights groups,

Sri Lanka has scrapped plans to allow the export of 100,000 of them to China. Sri Lanka have been

considering a proposal to allow a Chinese firm to capture wild macaques with a plan to send them

to zoos in China. The campaign group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA,

was one of the 30 petitioners that objected to the proposal. And PETA primate scientist,

Dr Lisa Jones Engle told us why. The toke macaque is a wonderful macaque. They go anywhere from

being kind of golden, blondie to orange and red to a little bit of brown to olive. The males are

about the size of a really big house cat. They're probably best known for this fabulous hairdo that

they have, which is this combination of a pompadour and a bit of a fade on the side, a look that only

the toke macaque could carry off on anybody else. This would be a ridiculous hairstyle. But on them,

it makes them absolutely fabulous to look at. Their styles are also highly social animals. Troops

can be anywhere from about eight to 50 or even more animals. The girls, the females always stay

in the troop that they're born. So there's really strong relationship between the females, moms,

grandmoms, grandchildren, aunties. Now these monkeys are sometimes considered pests in Sri Lanka,

aren't they? So what was your major objection to the export? Would not sending some of them

to zoos have been an answer to that conflict? Absolutely not. The toke macaque is a critical

player in the ecosystem in Sri Lanka. They've been there longer than the humans have. They belong

there. They don't belong in the zoos in China, and they wouldn't have stayed long in those zoos. They

would have gone directly into biomedical research. People did the background research. There were no

zoos in China who could accept 100 thanos and monkeys, but there were certainly facilities in

China that could accept 100,000 monkeys, and those facilities are the biomedical facilities.

Exporting of those animals to China was a death sentence. So yeah, some people say,

ah, they're pests. They raid my crops. They come into my compound and they take my fruit.

I'm sorry, these macaques are just doing what any good macaque does, which is to

be part of the environment, to take advantages of the resources that are there, to live

commensally together with humans, and they've done that for millennia.

And what can you tell us about the campaign by various different groups to prevent the export

of these monkeys? The campaign that took place was brilliant. It was fast. It was efficient.

It was global. It was a strike team of conservationists from around the world,

led by the Sri Lankan conservationists. They could get there. They could get to the government.

They could get to the folks and say, think about what you are considering doing,

thinking about the cost to our country's reputation. Think about the cost to our environment.

Think about what is going to cost these animals. And that resonated with people. That resonated

with the authorities. It resonated with the public. It resonated with the world.

What would be your solution to the conflict between people and the monkeys living alongside them?

Empathy, a willingness to accept that we are just one animal on this planet,

and an acknowledgement that we have to share. Because when you look at a tokmakak,

you look at that crazy hairdo, you look at those big ears, you look in those eyes,

and you see an animal that looks a whole lot like you.

That was Dr Lisa Jones Engle of PETA, and her Twitter handle is Macactivist, which is quite

good. Now, we need your help. This might sound a bit niche. Yes, it is a bit niche. Were you,

or a relative of yours, driving a taxi in Sydney in the late 1960s? And if so,

do you remember the Turkish couple who welcomed their baby boy into the world in your back seat?

Iskaba was that baby boy, and he wants to hear from you or your family. There is an added dimension

to this story, because as he understands it, the taxi driver had himself also been born in a taxi,

but his mum didn't survive the birth. Isk told us more about his very unusual birthday.

On the morning of my birth, my dad was ready to go to work. Mum said you better not be going to

work today, because I feel like I'm going to have the baby this morning. And he said to her,

don't be silly, the doctor said you've still got two weeks, and she went a bit crazy at him.

She'd already had three at this point, she probably knew. She'd already had three at this

point. And so she knew what was coming. And he spoke to the lady there that looks after all the

pregnant women and said, can you call an ambulance? Because I think my wife's about to give birth.

My dad went back three times to the lady and said, look, where's the ambulance? Where's the

ambulance? And on the third occasion, he saw a taxi and he just thought, oh, get a taxi,

flagged the taxi driver down and said, look, can you take us to the hospital? So mum and dad

popped in the back of the taxi with the taxi driver and off we went. Yeah, she didn't make it as far as

the hospital, did she? Unfortunately, I came out not long after we got into the taxi. So

obviously the taxi driver at that stage knew what was going on and put his foot down and the

motorcycle policeman ended up pulling him over saying, what are you doing speeding going through

red lights? And he said to the policeman, he said, well, I started with two passengers and now I've

got three. What do you want me to do? So we ended up getting a police escort to the nearest hospital.

And they'd ushered my mum and me into the hospital and my dad was left there with the taxi driver

trying to thank the gentleman and my dad had $30 in his pocket and he just gave it to the taxi

driver and he said, look, take it $30 in 1969 was probably about a week's wages, if not more.

And the taxi driver just said, look, I don't want your money. He said, I'm just happy that that mum

and baby are healthy and everyone's okay. He goes, I just remember back to 26 years ago when I was

born in the back of the taxi. But unfortunately, my mum didn't survive. And yeah, and I get quite

emotional with all this story all the time, for some reason. It's an emotional story. It's a huge

story. Yeah, I'm just happy that everyone survived. So you could imagine what he was going through,

like how much that would have brought up for him as well. Absolutely. So at what point did

you start trying to track him down? So my mum's been at me forever. She's just saying, like,

we got to say something before it's too late, you know, before he's gone or before I'm gone,

she's just always said to me, can you try and find him? So what do we know about him?

So his name, Bob Peterson, he was a taxi driver in Western Sydney. So he lived in either Mount

Draught or Green Valley. And apart from him being born in a taxi at that stage, we didn't know anymore.

What would it mean to you and to your mum if you did get to meet him? It would give closure to that

side of the story and as just to be able to say, thank you. That was Ish Kaba in Australia. And if

you are Bob Peterson, the taxi driver who drove Ish and his mum to hospital, or if you know him,

let us know the usual address globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. To Kenya now, which has committed to

reaching four million children with the largest subsidized school meals program in Africa,

the $8.6 million project is beginning in the capital Nairobi and is a collaboration involving

Nairobi County and Food for Education, a Kenyan not-for-profit organization that already supplies

meals to primary school children in the city. What really makes me happy is cooking food and

it satisfies the children at school, especially when you serve them the food and you can see the

smiles on their faces. Why Rimu Nyandia from Food for Education told us about the reaction from

pupils. They love it because some of these kids are used to only accessing a meal that's very

carb-heavy, so this will probably be potatoes and rice, but because we are offering a balanced diet,

we really enjoy the meal, which means the kid can now get to focus on performance and being

productive in class. What we track very carefully is there's increased enrollment in schools we're

currently in, so you'll find before Food for Education goes to our school and after the

head teachers will come back to us and tell us the enrollment has gone up to up to 20 percent,

but there's also an element of performance where we're trying to collect as much data to be able

to understand how our kids performing now that they are able to focus on school and there has been an

up to 10 percent increase in examination results. What about you? What is in it for you personally?

I think knowing that I was able to impact a child's life and these, for me, being able to go home

and sleep knowing there's 140,000 kids that were able to be impacted positively, it just gives me

so much excitement and fulfillment in life. That was why Rimu Nyandia of Food for Education.

Who's your pick for the all-time greatest African goalkeeper? See if your choice made the list

on Match of the Day, Africa Top 10. Let's get into it. Starting next week.

Time now for the most important part of the pod, your part. James from Columbus in Ohio in the

United States sent us a video of his dog Aowyn. She's a character from Lord of the Rings, by the

way, the name not the dog, howling along with the firetrucks going by his apartment.

Graham sent us this scratchy recording.

He says that takes him back to the 60s in Nigeria when his father would tune his shortwave radio

to the BBC World Service for news at 6am, and yes it made me nostalgic too, and Lindsay sent us this.

Okay, I thought that was a cow, but I was wrong. So Lindsay, what is it?

It's a board game. You know, when you open, when you slide the lid off of a board game box,

it pulls air with it, like, you know, because it's a kind of a little vacuum in there.

And so you pull the lid of the board game box up and you can hear this like release and groan

and burp of like air inside the board game box when you're pulling the lid off. And that particular

board game is the best one of my collection for making that unique noise. And why is it that you

have such an affection for this noise? I think for me, board games, I mean, I grew up playing

board games with my family and my friends, you know, it was just something that we did to come

together and have a bit of fun, you know, because life, life is long and it's hard and you shouldn't

take yourself too seriously. So I think it's really important to play. And board games are a space

where you can do that with people. And for me, every time I hear that noise, every time I pull

the lid off of a board game box, I know that I'm about to have a really, you know, a really good

time playing board games with either my loved one, you know, whether it's my husband or friends,

you know, it's always a good memory in the making. Are you fiercely competitive?

Actually, I'm a really sore loser. I get that from my mom and her mom, my grandma,

we're all like really sore losers. So I tend to navigate towards games that are

like you work as a team, you know, you're collaborating with others so that you all

have the same goal. Like in the board gaming community, we call that a cooperative game.

So I'm a much more of a cooperative gamer because if I lose, oh man.

Lindsay, who's a sore loser? Now to an author, Isis Damali, whose first book has been published,

celebrating the story behind her name, the goddess of healing and magic was originally named Asset

in Ancient Egypt, but is known today by her Greek name Isis, Queen of the Throne. Now for some,

the name Isis has different connotations and associations, but thousands of women and girls

in Egypt and around the world proudly share the name with the Egyptian goddess of the moon,

fertility, healing and magic, a celebration of wisdom, strength and femininity.

The author, Isis, by the way, is nine. Here's part of her book.

On the cushion was a beautiful lady with long flowing black locks, just like my mom's.

Her skin was golden brown and so smooth. I was shocked and rubbed my eyes to make sure it was

real. Welcome. What is your name? She whispered. My name's Isis.

She and her mum, Subira, have been talking to us Isis first on the Egyptian goddess.

The goddess Isis is the goddess of magic, healing and protection powers. She has a song called Horus

and she was the sister of Seth, Osiris and Nessus. Okay, you know a lot about the goddess Isis.

When did you find all this stuff out? Well, it was when I was doing research with my

tan tan. I call her tan tan, which is basically grandmother in Trinidad.

And yeah, we were just trying to find out loads of facts about the goddess Isis,

so the book's more intriguing. Okay, so what was the inspiration to write this story in the first

place? Well, I was inspired because I love my name and I'm very interested in the Egyptians.

So I thought, why not combine the two and make a book? And what's the message from your story?

What do you want your readers to get out of it? Well, as the goddess Isis says, she says,

live in the spirit of the power of your name. I want people who read this book to feel

like their name is special and I also want them to think, hang on, I don't exactly know what my

name means, let me check. And do some research of your own into the roots of your own name?

Yeah. The illustrations are absolutely lovely. Tell us about when you first saw the illustrations.

Well, when I first got the book, I was happy because I felt like all the lighting and yeah,

I just liked how she did a lot of detail into the goddess Isis, to the head crown, to her sandals.

And it wasn't just the goddess Isis that she gave such beautiful detail to,

it was the little girl Isis as well. Yeah, it's me. Tell us about what your friends have had to say.

Well, my friends, yeah, they're really proud of me. And usually a lot of people from my scores

like, oh, wow, that's Isis. Your book's really cool. I read it. Do you think you've inspired them?

Do you think any of them now have literary aspirations? Well, yeah, actually, because my friend

Tiana, she was making almost songs about her name and stuff like that.

And Sabira, you must be so proud. Yes, I am, actually. I am. Isis is a visual creator. So

she draws what she wants to say. So even with the first process of, you know, Isis meets Isis,

she drew Isis in the sort of like chamber or, you know, if you call. And she drew her sitting on

the throne and I was like, oh, you know, what's this? And she's like, I'm writing a book. And I

was like, well, you've only drawn. You've only just done a drawing. And she was like, well,

the writing's coming. So yeah, I never, never thought to imagine that we'd be here. So I'm

super, super proud of that. So you're obviously already inspiring art in other people. But tell

us about your next book. Have you got any plans to write another one? Well, yes, I'm working on

another book about bullying and self love for anyone who may be struggling at school. So Isis

you are a published author. Yep. Before you are even 10. Yeah. Oh, I just realised like, yeah.

So as a published author before even reaching double digits, what is your advice to people

who would like to try writing a book themselves? Well, I would say believe in yourself and never

stop writing. I would say write until the pen breaks. Author, Isis Damali. And we also heard

from her mum, Subira. Isis meets Isis is illustrated by Brian E. Dick and published by

Conscious Dreams Publishing. Now some of the other things that caught our eye this week,

starting with a 13 year old skateboarder. This is the end of your idea. They're going to give it all.

And to replay everybody, the first female 720 ever caught in the history of the universe.

Here it is. In Utah. One, two, bow. Thank you.

Arisa True from Australia became the first female skateboarder to land a 720 in competition. And

for those of you who have literally just heard of that, it's a trick that involves making the board

go through two full 360 degrees spins in the air. And it's not easy. And that happened in the state

of Utah in the USA. In the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, a fresco has been discovered of a meal,

including what looks like a pizza. The Italian culture ministry says the flat bread depicted

in the fresco may be a distant ancestor of the modern dish, but apparently it lacks some of the

classic ingredients like pineapple or something. And this is an excellent scientific discovery.

You know, sometimes when you're speaking to a baby or a small child and you realize you aren't

speaking the same way you do to adult people, you slipped into baby talk. And it turns out that

bottle nose dolphins do the same thing with their calves. Dolphin mums in Florida were found to use

a higher pitch and greater range when communicating with their babies. 16 year old Eli Crossley has

appeared on the happy pod before he has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair. And

the last time we heard from him, he was telling us about a smart suit that his mum helped design

in hopes of transforming his life and others. Now Eli is also a musician. And he said he hoped

the new tech would help him perform. I feel like it's very comfortable. And I hope it will help me

in fulfilling my dream to hopefully one day play at Glastonbury with my band. Now Glastonbury is a

pretty big deal. It's one of the world's largest live music festivals. And when Eli said he wanted

to play there with his band, ask you, he had no idea how soon it would happen.

Eli told us all about his band and what it was like playing their first gig at Glastonbury.

We're called Ask You. I am the singer. We've got two guitarists, Jay Guru, Murphy and Will Ponds.

Then our drummer, Freddie Wernatan, our bassist, Alfie Lewis. They're all amazing musicians.

They're all really, really good at their instrument. It was pretty much a similar reaction for most of

them. So Will, he only joined the band about a year and a half ago. So he hasn't really played a gig.

So I told him and he kind of said, but Eli hadn't played a gig yet. And his first gig was Glastonbury.

Exactly. I thought I said to him, I said, well, playing Glastonbury, mate, so

better get used to it. And how would you describe your sound?

I'd say we're a bit of everything. I'd say we have some pop, some rock, some small amounts of jazz.

That song was called Last. Thanks so much. And tell us about the gig itself.

So we played at a place called the Rabbit Hole, which is one of the smallest stages,

but it's really, really cool. And it was awesome. We got around 1,500 people in the end,

which was absolutely amazing. I kind of was a bit shocked. I still can't believe how many

people actually came to see us. The atmosphere was amazing. Everyone was so supportive and everyone

was going crazy. And when you looked out from the stage at all of those faces, did you have any

moment of doubt? Did you have any stage fright? Just talk us through that moment.

Yeah, well, of course I did. As a musician, you can't not have stage fright. I think it's

our first proper gig. Obviously, there's definitely going to be a lot of nerves there.

It kind of happened as soon as I went up. I was kind of like, Oh my goodness, there's a lot of

people. What do I do? Thankfully, the audience just want you to do well. So I think that was

kind of really nice. And in the end, I just, I was kind of, I kind of just got got used to it

and gotten the flow. Obviously, you are in this band. You have played Glastonbury already.

What further musical ambitions do you have? Is there an album coming? That is an album,

yeah. An album is the eventual aim. We're hoping to release a single soon. So on a scale of one

to 10, Eli, what would you give it? 15. That was Eli Crossley. Now, before we go, last week, we

talked about the benefits of napping. And a listener called Roger in Edinburgh in Scotland

emailed in to say he had no problem going to sleep in the day, but felt terrible when he woke up.

He said, I've tried napping different amounts of time, but nine times out of 10. I feel like I have

really bad jet lag when I wake up. So avoid daytime naps, even though I'd like to take them.

Could you get Jason back to tell us how to wake up? Yes, yes, we could. We went back to sleep

expert Jason Stephenson in Australia for that advice. Doe Jason. This one's a simple, very

simple one. It's called box breathing or square breathing. This helps to awaken our body and

it promotes also a sense of calm and alertness. In the mornings, just take a stretch first,

stretching, put your arms up, point your toes, wriggle your fingers and toes, just getting

that oxygen and the blood flowing throughout the body. And then simply breathe in through the nose

two, three, four, hold two, three, four, breathe out through the mouth two, three, four and hold

at the bottom two, three, four and breathing in again two, three, four and that's it. Very simple

box breathing. It will awaken us and get us get us going. I might have gone with a brisk

wakey, wakey and an espresso, but he's the professional. So thanks, Jason.

And that's it from us for now. But remember, if you'd like to send in your happy sound to the

happy pod, like I did, send an email to globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. And anything else you'd like to

contribute to really, you'll also find us on Twitter at global news pod. This edition was

mixed by Charlotte Tajimska, the producers were Tracy Gordon and Anna Murphy. The editor is Karen

Martin. I'm Jackie Leonard and until next time, goodbye.

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.