Global News Podcast: The Happy Pod: Relief and joy: Pakistan cable car rescue

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. That 56 seconds, it took me to swim that gold medal win. I looked for

that feeling for 30 years and I never found it. A podcast about the people behind the medals.

On the podium from the BBC World Service. Find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Bonjour, I'm Jeremy from Switzerland and you're listening to the Happy Pod.

Hi, I'm Eugenia from Fritem Silvion and this is the Happy Pod.

Hello, I'm Lorna. If you want to hear my award-winning joke, keep listening to the Happy Pod.

This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service.

I'm Jackie Leonard and in this edition uploaded on Saturday the 26th of August,

the relief in Pakistan after six school boys and two adults were rescued from a cable car

which was left dangling over a ravine when a cable snapped.

After being rescued, I feel like I've got a new life. When I return to school,

I will take the longer route along the riverside but will never use the cable car.

The volunteers in Switzerland protecting livestock from wolves and wolves from people.

The goal of our missions is to keep both the livestock and the wolves alive at the end of the

season and so far we never lost any single animal.

From India, the mother and son who passed their 10th grade exams together.

He said, Mummy, you passed your exam. I had tears in my eyes.

Also in the podcast.

Some of the best things about the Women's World Cup

and the funniest joke at the world's biggest arts festival.

It was a daring rescue in northern Pakistan that caught the attention of people around the world

this week. Six school pupils and two adults trapped in a cable car, dangling 300 meters up

after one of the cables snapped. Once everyone had been brought to safety,

we caught up with our Pakistan correspondent, Kari Davis, to reflect on an extraordinary mission.

The first reaction everybody had was this enormous sense of relief.

And released really because everybody had been so tense. You can see the images of the

six children and two adults who were on board the cable car. And you can see quite literally how

tense they have to be because they're hanging so precariously. So the fact that they'd all

managed to make it back down to earth, I think amongst that as well, there seems to be a sense

that quite a few of the school boys understandably were sort of stunned because all of this happened

when they were just on their way to school. This was a relatively normal school commute.

It might not be for most people how you'd get to school, but this is for them not that unusual.

Something like this became a window for the world to see how other people live. Quite a lot of us

would have seen that cable car and been absolutely astounded that for a whole load of kids,

that's a normal start to their day. Yes. And I think a lot of people would see in those images

and thought, well, I would never get into something like that. But I think if you bear in mind how

remote the areas that these children are living in, and how normalized getting into a cable car

that has just been built by a local mechanic to try to make things more accessible just becomes

completely normal. And also bear in mind that we've been told by locals that that cable car had

already done four journeys that day. And it was on the fifth one that the cable broke to suddenly

find themselves not just hanging precariously and surviving this 15 hour ordeal, but then coming

back down to earth, coming back into an enormous crowd of people that had been waiting and watching

and willing them on, but also coming back into an international news story where people around

the world had been watching what had happened to them. It's just pretty extraordinary.

I thought today was our last day, and perhaps it would be my final moment in life.

After being rescued, I feel like I've got a new life. When I return to school,

I will take the longer route along the riverside, but will never use the cable car.

Carrie, you've been a reporter a long time. You've reported on all sorts of stories,

and I know that this one isn't about you. But what is it like to be there to witness

and to report on something with such a positive outcome?

You're right. I think a lot of stories do have negative sides to them. I'd say it's quite nice

sometimes when you've got a story that you're able to smile on air about, because often they're

quite rare. So it's always lovely to be able to show people's excitement and joy and how people

can pull together, and that there can be this kind of common sense, not just in Pakistan,

but around the world, of relief, joy, and happiness, that something that could have

gone very terribly wrong has actually ended up for the best, and everybody is back and safe.

It can be nerve-wracking when just one member of your family is awaiting exam results,

so spare a thought for Monica Kasbetalange and her teenage son, Montan, in India,

who passed their 10th grade exam at the same time.

Now in her 30s, Monica didn't get the chance to complete her education when she was a teenager.

BBC Marathi correspondent Rahul Rasubhe covered the story of the studious mother and her son.

His colleague BBC reporter Amruta Duve in Mumbai told us more about her.

Monica is a young mother. She has two children, and she works as a sanitation worker in the city

of Pune. As a kid, Monica loved going to school, but when she was in grade eight, she had to cut

short her education because her parents could not afford it, and then she was married off very young,

and years later, she decided to appear for grade 10th exam along with her son, Montan.

The results were declared online because that's the norm these days, and Monica was so scared

that she decided that she won't be checking the results on her own, and Monica's son, Montan,

told her that, Mom, you passed. Can you believe it?

He said, Mommy, you passed your exam. I had tears in my eyes. I didn't know if to cry or to smile.

I've never experienced this happiness when I was in school or when my kids were in school.

She's a widow as well as a single mother, and she has work as well. How did she

have the time to study for this exam? This actually started during the pandemic,

during the COVID lockdowns, and this is when both kids were doing online lessons,

and she used to listen to these classes, and she used to love what she was hearing,

and that's when she started getting interested in it, and she decided that when her son will

be appearing for grade 10, she will also study along with him, so they don't have to spend

separately on the books. Her son, Montan, helped boost her morale, and he says he enjoyed studying

with his mom. I used to come home after school by 5.30, have tea and snacks,

and then we used to study together, solve math songs, study science. It was fun.

She had so many doubts, but never gave up. Both Monica and Montan passed. Montan's

growing slightly higher than his mom did. Tell us a little bit about reaction to this story.

She has been phenomenal. People have been appreciating her. They have been encouraging her.

Till now, we have 97,000 views for this story on Facebook, and 60% women engagement,

because this is something really inspirational. A single mother trying to find her way and trying

to run her household in India. Sanitation workers don't get paid much. She managed to do this.

And what's next for her? So she really wants to continue her education and let's hear what

Monica says about her future. It's my dream to get educated. I couldn't do much till now,

but I'll learn as much as I can. Not for anyone else, but for myself. Our knowledge always remains

with us. Monica Casbetolange, congratulations to her and to Montan. Once upon a time, there was a

big bad wolf. Wolves have long had a pretty bad press and their re-establishment in Europe hasn't

been entirely without controversy. In Switzerland, reports of attacks on livestock have soared and

the authorities have relaxed the rules for hunting the protected species. So how can humans and wolves

better share the countryside? Opal, the organization for the protection of alpine pastures, is trying

to help. Jeremy Moulin is its director. The goal of our missions is to try to keep both the livestock

and the wolves alive at the end of the season and take the guard of the livestock during the night.

So when the shepherds go to sleep, they can really rest and we use volunteers to do night shifts

around the livestock and take care of them and make sure that the wolves stay away from them.

And what sorts of people are getting involved in these these shepherding night shifts?

We have all kinds of people. I would say we have biologists, photographers, we have also hunters

that come to help people from all around the society. So it really includes all kinds of people,

very often people that don't have really the same ideas about the wolf. It can be very bad things

and it can be very positive things, very romantic stories about the wolf and it brings them together

as well. They can just do a night shift together and they can exchange ideas and they try to find

solutions together. And this I think creates some kind of collective intelligence that is very important

for our project. The idea of sitting in the dark on a hillside where there are predators seems

a little bit frightening and a little bit dangerous. What do they actually do?

Of course they are wild animals so there's always a bit unpredictable part but since a few decades

now there have not been really any attacks on humans in Europe and also there's a risk of being

bitten by a beaver when you go to swim in a lake. So you have to consider this risk but it's not

really a big risk. We provide the volunteers with different tools, different gears. We give them

thermal vision binoculars so you can see the animals in the night and we also have powerful

spotlights that we use when the wolves, when they march too much then so far in all cases just by

whistling, by screaming or by using the spotlights would scare the wolves away. And what do the

farmers think about this? Is it working? It's already the third year that we are doing this and

until now at least the success is 100% and we never lost any single animal. Of course with the

farmers the collaboration are very very good so it's people who really need help and who need to

find a solution so yeah they're very happy about these collaborations. Jeremy Moulin of Opel.

Now you might have noticed that some very talented women have been playing some very good football

over the past few weeks. The Women's World Cup ended with Spain winning the title for the first

time in front of over 75,000 fans at Stadium Australia in Sydney. Their success brought the

curtain down on a successful competition which showcased women's football to millions of new

viewers around the world. The Happy Pod team turned to our very own football commentator

Nigel Adelie for his rundown of the main positives to take away from this year's Women's World Cup.

People. It's reported that the global television audience was around two billion, 79% more than

the previous tournament in France only four years ago. Fans. Stadiums were full as well. Over two

million tickets sold. Supporters made huge sacrifices to attend a tournament which for some

was thousands of kilometers from home. The average attendance across the 64 games was over 30,000.

Another record shattered.

Africa. For the first time in a men's or women's world cup, three African sides qualified for

the knockout phase. Morocco helped to oust European giants Germany. South Africa won a dramatic match

with Italy while Nigeria exited the tournament without losing a game after outplaying England

for long spells but falling in a penalty shootout. New teams, new stars.

It wasn't just the African teams who came to the party. Jamaica overcame huge logistical issues

before the tournament to stun the legendary Marta and her Brazil team by knocking them out in the

group stage. Colombia won their group which included a remarkable victory over Germany

and they also took England all the way in the quarter finals. And although Haiti and Panama

went home early, they showed enough to indicate they'll be better next time.

Goalkeepers.

The quality of the number ones in this tournament was a game changer.

England's Mary Erps finished on the losing side in the final but won the golden glove as the best

keeper in the world after a string of brilliant saves. Zakira Muscovich was immense as Sweden's

stubbornness knocked out the tournament favourites USA and Becky Spentra of Jamaica defied Germany

on the way to three clean sheets in the group stage.

A new era.

USA won the previous two World Cups and had never finished lower than third in the eight previous

tournaments. Germany once dominated the European game but neither got anywhere near the business end

of this World Cup. Instead, Sam Kurz Australia embarked on a fairytale run to the semi-finals.

England enjoyed their best ever tournament and Spain, despite missing a number of big names,

took the title with a style which suggests they could become the ones to beat for a generation.

And the celebrations when they touched down in Madrid were long and loud.

That report by Nigel Adderley.

Still to come in this podcast.

The women helping Freetown Sierra Leone deal with extreme heat.

I could feel stigma all around me nearly died three, four times. I had this secret.

This is lives less ordinary, a podcast dedicated to remarkable personal stories.

I started having a strength in me. Each week we hear tales of the unexpected.

Walk in the shoes of some extraordinary people. It's something quite wonderful.

Search for lives less ordinary wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Now to more of your sounds and this week there is a musical theme. Sam Oppenheim

from the US sent us this. He loves the anticipation of an orchestral concert.

I love the sound because as soon as I hear those instruments tuning I know I'm in for some great

classical music.

And that was the Jackson Heights Community Orchestra tuning their instruments in Queens,

New York. Thank you for that, Sam. And hi, I'm David Judge from Denver, Colorado.

And my favorite sound is hearing my piano students on their very first lesson.

Play at C major scale. I teach them to how to ascend the C scale.

And descend the C scale.

And then I tell them pause after the first, second, fourth, sixth, and seventh notes of the scale.

And invariably the joy on their face as they recognize the song and say,

I can play this piano brings me so much happiness.

And so, David, for those who don't know that song is...

It's Joy to the World, a very famous Christmas song that I would say 95% of my students know

what it is when they first encounter that as they practice their C scale.

I can't think that I am the only person who is realizing for the very first time

that that song is actually a scale.

I taught many years before I knew that and I had a wonderful

client of mine out of the blue. She sent me a YouTube video that Morgan Freeman had done

and he talked about how his mother taught him this. So I use it now in my lessons.

Now, you weren't always a music teacher, were you? Why did you make the change?

I was a certified public accountant. I worked in the banking business and I was miserable.

And my wife, she just put out some flyers. I don't have a background as a teacher. I just started

teaching as those first people called in and sort of eased out of the accounting world and

into the music world. And so I tell everybody, I'm a much poorer person financially because

of what I'm doing, but I've added probably 10 years to my life just because of the joy that I

find in teaching. I would not change a thing. Thank you, David, and do keep your sounds coming.

Now, some of the other interesting things that we saw this week.

India successfully landing a spacecraft on the moon with the first ever touchdown at the Luna

South Pole. Chandrayaan 3 will deploy a rover to look for water ice, which could help to establish

permanent Luna bases. China has just celebrated the Chishi Festival, sort of similar to Valentine's

Day. In the city of Kunming, they put on a kissing competition. The winning couple,

who kissed like they really meant it for about half an hour, have been married for 10 years.

A baby giraffe has been born at a zoo in Tennessee, with none of the usual spots,

just an all-brown coat. Such things are incredibly rare. Bright's zoo is inviting the public to

help in naming her. And bravo, fans of Malaga in Spain, who protested about their football club's

lack of recruitment following their relegation, by going to the airport and greeting random and

very baffled strangers as if they were new signings with selfies, chanting, and autographs.

And I will share a video of that on social media with the hashtag the happy pod.

Now, let's hear about someone taking on the challenges of dealing with extreme heat.

Very high temperatures can be exhausting and debilitating, especially for older people,

small children, and people who work outdoors. Eugenia Kugbo is the heat officer of Freetown,

Sierra Leone, and her mission is to improve the lives of her fellow citizens as temperatures rise

in her city. What is really challenging about this situation is that within the informal

settlement, 90% of the houses are built from corrugated iron sheets, and these are known for

their heat trapping qualities. And within the formal settlement, 90% of the houses also are

built from cement, and they are also known for their heat trapping qualities. So the level of

heat stress intensifies, and the ability and resources to deal with this becomes a challenge.

So you are the heat officer, which innovations are you most proud of so far?

In terms of the indoor, we have been working in partnership with an institution called Mia,

and they just developed this new technology, a very lightweight material, and the reflectiveness

of the material can provide up to six degrees of cooling effect. And we've seen a major success,

residents that benefited have reported immense change in terms of how they feel, how well they

can sleep now, and the level of cooling effects that they are feeling inside compared to when

the installation wasn't done. And so in terms of the outdoor solutions, one of the things that we've

done is to prioritize women within the informal settlement, because most of them are outdoor

workers. So what we've done is to implement shade colors in markets, because these women

trade on the street every single day exposed to heat stress. A lot of them talked about

suffering from headache and sunbonds. So we did a pilot in three towns, Begets Open Makets,

and we installed shade colors and solar lights. And the shades instead of absorbing the heat,

they reflect the heat. But also the solar component helps to accuse of the sun's energy

during the day and provide light for the women. And we have seen major improvement and just

seeing the joy on their faces and knowing that I was able to do something for my city, for my

community, for women is something that has inspired me to keep on doing what I do, just

knowing that we can make that change, implementing the solutions together.

Eugenia Cargbo, heat officer of Freetown Sierra Leone, and from Sierra Leone to Scotland. Over

3,000 acts have been vying for the attention of hundreds of thousands of visitors who flock to

Edinburgh for the festival fringe every August. And from amid that tough competition, Launa

Rosetreen was awarded the Dave Funniest Joke of the Fringe. She told us her reaction.

I let out a squeal that only a pig could make. And I was just so bewildered. I've known about

the edge fringe, like best joke of the year, since I was a student. I couldn't believe that I was

getting to sit amongst those incredible people. For a lot of us, the very idea of standing in

front of a room full of people who expect you to make them laugh is absolutely horrifying.

How did you decide, yep, that's for me? So I think, ever since I was really little,

I've always loved making people laugh. When I was quite young, I would be the idiot quite a lot

amongst my family because I knew it would make them laugh. And it just brought like so much joy

to make people laugh is just what a privilege to be able to do. It's the best feeling ever.

It is really scary. But I remember a teacher telling me once that the feeling of nerves in

your belly and butterflies is exactly the same feeling as excitement. So whenever I get nervous,

I just think that and I try and let the adrenaline keep me going. So you say this has always been

a part of your life, but you had actually got a fairly sensible path laid out in front of you

and then decided to go and become a clown. Yeah, I was a radio journalist. I honestly,

the amazing people I met. So I was working in the BBC offices and producing programmes. And

one day I just thought, oh, I really need to be doing comedy. Like I need to give this a shot.

Because if not now, then when and also I'll just regret it if I don't give it a go. So I left to

go to clown school in France, which my mum was, you know, mildly concerned about because I spent

my savings that I'd earned in my first ever job, my proper job. I spent it on clown school.

But I didn't regret it. It was it really felt like the right decision, a big scary leap. And also,

I don't think I even still know what clown school is. So it was really like a leap into the unknown.

Now, Laura, to be fair, looking at some of the jokes laid out the top 10 jokes,

charitably, they don't all look hilarious written down, do they?

No, I mean, the jokes that win this award are Christmas cracker jokes, basically. They're

jokes that work in the context of a few lines that like the best joke of the fringe isn't one that

can be isn't a pun. It is one that can be summarised in a few words. It's a joke that you have to be

in the room for because that's what live comedy is about. So your joke, your winning joke is delivered

by a character, isn't it? So build up your joke for us and drum roll, deliver please.

I'm a character comedian. So all of the characters that I do are basically canvases for these really

ridiculous jokes. I get away with saying some awful puns because I can just shove them into

characters and it's acceptable for them to say rather than whether you're doing like normal

stand up. So my joke is part of a set. She's like a film noir kind of good girl gone bad.

She's a really mysterious woman, so sexy. She wanders into a bar at 4am and she's talking to

all of these bar men, the audience of the bar men. And she's got loads of cigarettes in her

mouth. I have hundreds of cigarettes that I keep dropping out of my mouth and putting another one

in. And I'm explaining about my life and talking about all of the things that I've been getting

up to to try and fill the holes in my life. I say, I started dating a zookeeper, but it turned out he

was a cheater. That was Lorna Rosetreen. And that's it from us for now. Remember,

if you would like to be part of the happy pod, you can email us the sound that brings you joy.

As ever, the address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. This edition was mixed by Chesney Forks Porter.

The producers were Anna Murphy and Tracy Gordon. Our editor is Karen Martin. I'm Jackie Leonard.

And until next time, goodbye.

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.