--:-- Valerie Saunderson: This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Saks Off 5th is your secret to fashion's most wanted deals at up to 70% off.
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--:-- Valerie Saunderson: Go on, get a little out there, into the big heart of Nevada, where you can go off-road and off the map, on two lakes or on horseback. Dip into hot springs and dive into deserts. Climb a mountain or make your best effort. See thousands of stars in some of the darkest skies. Stake out haunted hotels. Can you make it to sunrise? There's always something new to see because we've got plenty of space to just be. Plan your trip at TravelNevada.com.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: Let's start it with a okay ready here we go you're listening to the Happy Pod on the BBC World Service I'm Valerie Saunderson and in this edition of the Trio trying to ease international tensions with a musical collaboration.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: We are all hoping from this fusion to sending some messages to the world. Bringing us together for the things we have in common as opposed to picking apart the things that we don't. Also, the kindness of the community is immense really so that they can enter that room like everyone else with their heads held high with dignity.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: The fairy godmother making sure everyone can go to the ball and why a musical first meant so much to fans. When they come to us and step onto stages in our countries, it gives us really a sense of belonging to this global K-pop community.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: We begin with three women trying to ease the tensions between their two countries through folk music. Hold Each Other Up is part of the album From China to Appalachia, a collaboration between the American folk duo Cathy Fink and Marcy Markser and Chow Bob Tian, a musician and singer from Beijing.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: While all the tracks are a fusion of traditional Chinese music and folk from the Appalachian Mountains. So could music be the key to mending China-U.S. relations?
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: The trio, with Cathy on the five-string banjo, Marcy on the cello banjo, and Chao Bob on the Chinese hammered dulcimer, or Yang Quinn, spoke to the Happy Pod's Harry Bly.
--:-- Harry Bly: Cathy and Marcy invited me to their jam session. My English was limited back to then, so I didn't quite understand what a jam session means. I brought my instrument to there, but I thought it might be some kind of delicious food party called a jam session.
--:-- Chow Bob Tian: From that jam experience, I first time played an old-time tune. I found the scale is quite similar to some kind of a Chinese pentatonic scale.
--:-- Chow Bob Tian: Chow has now had the opportunity to learn a lot of Appalachian tunes. Then she suggested something that we love to do as a band, which is a call and response.
--:-- Cathy Fink: And so my first line of Bell of Lexington goes... goes. And then Chell wanted to respond to that.
--:-- Marcy Markser: You know, we might do call and response for a while, then we'll play it all together. Let's play the A part together. One, two, three, four.
--:-- Harry Bly: I imagine you've learned a lot from each other, both in terms of music and technique, but also language.
--:-- Cathy Fink: And Cathy and Marcie, it was lovely to hear you joining Chow Bob in singing in Mandarin in the White Snake song.
--:-- Marcy Markser: When Chinese people come to our shows and they hear us sing in Chinese, even if it's not perfect Chinese, their appreciation is amazing.
--:-- Cathy Fink: And I feel like that's more of bringing us together for the things we have in common as opposed to picking apart the things that we don't.
--:-- Marcy Markser: One of the interesting things about this collaboration for me is that when we get together with Chao, I feel like we just relax.
--:-- Cathy Fink: and I know if I take off and go do something kind of wild, they're going to be right there with me.
--:-- Marcy Markser: It means so much to me. We love playing in front of audiences, but it's more like playing at home.
--:-- Harry Bly: Politically, the US and China haven't always got on. Even right now, there's this so-called trade war and I'm not going to ask you to comment on that because that's not what this interview is about.
--:-- Harry Bly: But what are your hopes for what this album can bring for the people, the people of China, the music lovers in China and the music lovers in the States?
--:-- Cathy Fink: We are all hoping from this fusion to sending some messages to the world, to the US side, to the Chinese side.
--:-- Marcy Markser: And if I talk about a fusion, I think we are trying to do a smoothie kind fusion instead of a salad fusion because the salad fusion you put different things into a bowl you still can see the different food but a smoothie fusion you really mix them into another thing it works well it blended well so that's the goal of of us
--:-- Cathy Fink: And also we want to send the smoothie kind of message to the world to let them know, even though we're different, but we are doing the same thing. We're doing one thing together and we can create a beautiful new thing and send it to the world.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: That's beautiful. Yes. Perfect. A smoothie. That's great. That's a great analogy. I love the smoothie. Yes, I do.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: The Chinese lullaby Nani Wan, performed by Kathy Fink, Marcy Markser and Chao Bob Tien, who were speaking there to Harry Bly.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: At around 16 years old, it's become a custom in some countries for pupils to go to a school prom, basically a giant party with everyone dressed up to the nines.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: It's a night of glitz and glamour at a time when students decide what to do next to continue or change school to go to college or to start working but buying a ball gown or suit to wear is costly and some pupils opt out of the prom because they simply can't afford it that's where stephanie lakin comes in a teacher for 20 years stephanie stepped in to get a dress for one of her students who otherwise would not have gone to the prom
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: From that experience she was inspired to set up a charity called Madrina in 2022 to offer free dresses and suits to those who might be left out
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: It's now given out a thousand prom dresses and many suits donated by individuals as well as shops and manufacturers.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: Stephanie, tell me more.
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: The kindness of the community is immense, really. People knowing how special that outfit was for them once and being willing to pass that on to a young person who, you know, is really struggling is just a beautiful thing.
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: I'm just like the middle person that shuffles the dress from the person to the person who needs it kind of thing.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: Well, I think you're the fairy godmother, really.
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: But how do you choose who should get the dress or the suit?
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: We have a referral system where so majority of our referrals come from schools. They book us in for a pop-up prom boutique in their school hall and they will invite the students who they think are at risk of not attending the school prom because of the cost of an outfit or a suit.
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: Parents can make self-referrals, charities will make referrals as well and so will children's services also.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: So we've worked with a range of different types of students this year. Some young carers, refugees who are in emergency accommodation. We've helped some students this year with severe mental health. We've worked with a collection of hospital schools.
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: And Stephanie, you mentioned parents. Have you had experiences with parents who have been quite overwhelmed by what you've done?
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: The pressure for a parent is just immense because you want your daughter or son to go to that prom feeling like a million dollars, just like everyone else.
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: So for some parents, you can see the relief on their face and just in their whole demeanour and body language.
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: And it's just this really special moment when they come out of the changing rooms and they found the outfit. and just yeah the relief for the parent is just so immense.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: And what have people said to you that's really stuck with you after the event?
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: Oh yeah they've been incredibly grateful.
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: I mean one story that I can think of that's come to mind was this young girl. She'd had a really rough 12 months. Her mom had a drug addiction and had sadly died before Christmas and this young particular girl was living with grandparents.
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: But unfortunately, one of those grandparents passed away at the start of the year. And she put on this dress and she came to me and she showed me her phone and she was like, oh my goodness, this is just what I had on my Pinterest board.
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: And I just burst into tears because, I mean, I'd never met this girl before. I'd literally spent, you know, probably about 15 minutes with her with these dresses but the fact that the prom was so important to her that she had got a Pinterest board with outfits and dresses that she wanted and I was part of that journey able to facilitate that was just such a special moment.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: And what did she look like on the night?
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: Oh she was yeah beautiful she had this beautiful it was very Cinderella because it was like a blue and she'd gone full-on princess and she looked incredible.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: Your motto is everyone should go to the ball. What's it like for you when you go to a prom and you see all these people dressed up and they're there because you found them an outfit?
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: It's a real special moment because I know that for a lot of the beneficiaries that we help, they were not going to that prom. The barrier of the dress or the outfit was the one reason.
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: A prom dress is a very different type of dress. And what I never want is for a young person to feel that they are restricted to attend a prom because of financial reasons.
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: Because like I said, there are dresses and outfits out there for a young person to wear so that they can enter that room, quite rightly, like everyone else, with their heads held high, with dignity and feeling satisfied that they've worked really hard, they've done their exams and this is the last party that they're going to have with all their schoolmates.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: And to be there and to see or to get photos of the girls or the young men who have got their outfits on, just looking so proud and just so happy to be able to go to the prom is huge.
--:-- Stephanie Lakin: Stephanie Lakin, is there someone making a difference in your community? We'd love to hear from you. Get in touch with us. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: A high school graduate in the US state of Georgia was heading home from his graduation ceremony when he made an unexpected stop, one that's now changed his life.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: A moment caught on camera has since gone viral, drawing millions of views and an outpouring of support. Our reporter Carla Conti has the story.
--:-- Carla Conti: It was graduation night at Mill Creek High School in the city of Dacula in Georgia. Caps flying, diplomas in hand. But one 18-year-old, Michael Baker, had other plans.
--:-- Carla Conti: Instead of heading to a party to celebrate the event, Michael went straight by the fast food restaurant where he works to pick up dinner.
--:-- Carla Conti: I wouldn't even clocked in. I just put gloves on and said, which I need help with, basically. That's Michael.
--:-- Carla Conti: When he noticed his co-workers struggling to keep up with the evening rush, he didn't hesitate.
--:-- Carla Conti: He put on an apron, over graduation sash and medals, and got to work.
--:-- Carla Conti: It was a moment of quiet determination, and it might have gone unnoticed, if not for one impressed customer who happened to be watching.
--:-- Carla Conti: There's not a lot of people who are like that. That's Maria Mendoza, whose own daughter had just graduated from the same school.
--:-- Maria Mendoza: 13 years of school, you graduate. The last thing I would think is somebody go to work.
--:-- Carla Conti: She couldn't quite believe what she was seeing, so she filmed it. A teenager, freshly graduated, skipping his own party to help out at work.
--:-- Carla Conti: She posted the clip to social media, and it went viral. More than 4 million people watched, commented, and shared their admiration for the teenager who chose duty over a night off.
--:-- Carla Conti: Motivated by the overwhelming response, Marie and her daughter Jasmine started a crowdfunding campaign to help Mike Hale go to college.
--:-- Carla Conti: They set the goal to $5,000, but donations kept coming. And in just a few weeks, they raised more than $200,000.
--:-- Carla Conti: For Mikel, this was life-changing. He said he was just doing what he thought was right and did not expect to be rewarded for it.
--:-- Carla Conti: I like helping people and not expecting anything bad from me. That's just me.
--:-- Carla Conti: He'd originally planned to take a gap year to keep saving for college. But now he's already applied to a technical school and hopes to start this autumn.
--:-- Carla Conti: He'll be studying automotive technology with the goal of becoming a mechanic and one day opening his own shop.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: Kyla Conti. Coming up in this podcast. If you get rejected, don't let that stop you from doing what it is you love doing. If you're doing it for the love of doing it, you'll find people that also love what you're doing the artist putting a positive spin on rejection go on get a little out there into the big heart of nevada where you can go off road and off the map on two lakes or on horseback
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: Dip into hot springs and dive into deserts. Climb a mountain or make your best effort. See thousands of stars in some of the darkest skies. Stake out haunted hotels. Can you make it to sunrise? There's always something new to see because we've got plenty of space to just be. Plan your trip at TravelNevada.com.
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--:-- Valerie Saunderson: According to a nationwide survey conducted by GeneSight, nearly 9 in 10 Americans who've been diagnosed with depression or anxiety believe that mental health medications are somewhat or very effective.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: However, despite that belief, more than half of those individuals say they have avoided taking medication due to concerns about potential side effects.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: That's why Dr. Whitney Brown, a family and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner based in Alabama, often recommends genetic testing to our patients as part of their treatment journey.
--:-- Dr. Whitney Brown: As part of my treatment plan, I offer the GeneSight test, which analyzes how a patient's genes may influence how they metabolize or respond to certain mental health medications.
--:-- Dr. Whitney Brown: It gives me insights and takes out some of the guesswork that can be associated with prescribing them.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: If you or someone you love is facing challenges with depression or anxiety, talk to your doctor about how genetic testing may help.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: To learn more, visit genesight.com.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: That's genesight.com.
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--:-- Valerie Saunderson: Next to a groundbreaking performance that's brought joy to African fans of one of the world's biggest music genres, K-pop.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: ESPA have had a string of international hits, with tracks like Girls and My World making it into the top ten in the US, Japan and parts of Europe, as well as South Korea.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: And now they've become the first major K-pop girl band to perform in Africa, headlining at the Mawatsin Festival in Morocco.
--:-- Lola Shrur: It's one of the biggest nights in the K-pop calendar. Thousands of fans from across the world packed out London's O2 Arena for SM Town Live.
--:-- Lola Shrur: So SM Town is finally back in Europe. The concert series which showcases some of the most popular K-pop stars in the world.
--:-- Lola Shrur: The group everyone wanted to see was Esper, who've just made history as the first K-pop girl group to perform in Africa.
--:-- Lola Shrur: They told me what it meant to them. Definitely a place I've always wanted to go, and I never expected that we could perform there for even a festival.
--:-- Lola Shrur: So it was a very exciting experience for us and we hope we can go back one day.
--:-- Lola Shrur: It was really happy and a historic moment for us.
--:-- Lola Shrur: Is it really nice to actually get out there and perform to your fans in person as well?
--:-- Lola Shrur: Yeah, it's crazy, especially when it's somewhere that we have not really been before nor are we familiar with, so it was a very surreal experience.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: For years, K-pop bands have prioritized performing in America. But with Espa's performance in Morocco and SMTown Live in London, it shows that the K-pop genre has truly exploded and is reaching more fans than ever.
--:-- Rita: Hi, my name is Rita and I'm 25 years old. And I'm from Morocco. I'm a huge K-pop stan since 2014.
--:-- Rita: I've followed this amazing world for 10 years now. and seeing Aespa come to Morocco is truly one of the biggest moments of my life as a fan.
--:-- Hiba: Hiba, a Moroccan fan of Aespa, told me why their performance made her happy.
--:-- Hiba: This performance holds a lot of emotional weight for me and I think for many K-pop stans in Africa.
--:-- Hiba: It's not just about seeing our favourite idols live, it's about feeling seen. because for so long, African fans who have supported K-pop for years and years were just from afar, watching from outside.
--:-- Hiba: We created fan bases, we were streaming songs like everyone else and showing our love online without any direct acknowledgement, really.
--:-- Hiba: So when a group this big, like ATEEZ and SBOP, when they come to us and step onto stages in our countries, it feels like a bridge is finally being built for us and it gives us really a sense of belonging to this global K-pop community.
--:-- Giselle: Giselle, Purina, Winter and Ningning's latest record, Dirty Work, racked up over one million pre-orders before its debut.
--:-- Giselle: is a song that we all were very happy with from the start, like from the demo.
--:-- Giselle: And so we were excited to go on and make this our title song as well.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: Is it K-pop summer now? Well, I don't know. Is it? I hope so. That'd be fun. If it is a K-pop summer, London's O2 was the season's first big stage.
--:-- Lola Schroer: Lola Schroer reporting.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: Now to a dancer whose own family history has inspired him to help improve access to clean water.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: Johannes Radebe is best known for appearing on Strictly Come Dancing here in the UK and in his native South Africa, as well as on the US version Dancing with the Stars.
--:-- Alice Adderley: As Alice Adderley reports, he's been visiting a township in his home country to see how new toilets and running water have transformed people's lives there.
--:-- Johannes Radebe: I want to see how it works, right? come show me just oh I pull up and great pull up and great.
--:-- Alice Adderley: The sound of dancer and choreographer Johannes Radebe he took a break from performing to visit two projects in South Africa where he was born.
--:-- Alice Adderley: He was there to see how clean water decent toilets and resources for hand washing are changing lives in a village and school in Limpopo the northernmost province.
--:-- Alice Adderley: Although Johannes had clean water at home when growing up in Zamdala, south of Johannesburg. His mother would fetch water for her family from a river when she was young.
--:-- Alice Adderley: It's a story he remembers well, but never explored the issue further until now.
--:-- Alice Adderley: In Limpopo, less than a third of people have piped water inside their home Many people still use water taken from rivers and springs and it often contaminated
--:-- Alice Adderley: The job of fetching water is often done by women and girls
--:-- Alice Adderley: Together the Mamburo community laid a 400 pipe and 20 taps with the support of the charity WaterAid and a local partner.
--:-- Alice Adderley: Since getting clean water, people's health has improved.
--:-- Alice Adderley: Johannes spoke to California Ramathamela, a mother of four, who used to spend hours queuing for water.
--:-- California Ramathamela: For me it's very hard to comprehend because of course this is not my situation but you're trying to tell me that in order to just get water you had to wake up at 12 o'clock at night.
--:-- Alice Adderley: Yeah at night. And the only time you can have access to the water is at one o'clock in the afternoon.
--:-- Alice Adderley: Because of 11 hours. 11 hours. Oh cute.
--:-- Alice Adderley: Next Johan has visited a secondary school in the Vembe district which has seen an improvement in its grades since the 1,100-odd pupils have been able to access the taps and toilets.
--:-- Alice Adderley: Before the facilities were built, around 50 pupils a day were missing school because they were suffering from diarrhoea.
--:-- Alice Adderley: There were only four chemical toilets available for boys and four for girls.
--:-- Alice Adderley: Here's the acting principal, Richard Davhana.
--:-- Richard Davhana: The main thing that was reported by the nurses was diarrhea. And we could deduce from that that it was because of this hygienic condition.
--:-- Richard Davhana: After these new facilities, now the numbers have gone down. Now we have got 10 per day.
--:-- Richard Davhana: So this has positive impact to our school. Even the results, we are seeing a gradual change on the results of the learners.
--:-- Alice Adderley: One of the pupils, Richie Zee, told Johannes how her life has changed for the better.
--:-- Richie Zee: There's no need for us to stay in the queue anymore because we have many toilets.
--:-- Richie Zee: Even when a girl is in period, it was hard to come to school because there were no doors at the old toilets. But now I can just go and help myself.
--:-- Richie Zee: After helping myself, I've got to wash my hands and washing basins.
--:-- Alice Adderley: After visiting the facilities, Johanna spoke to some of the other pupils and even did some dancing with them.
--:-- Alice Adderley: Johannes explained why the visit was so important to him.
--:-- Johannes Radebe: Everybody deserves that, gentlemen. Don't ever forget that, OK? Everybody deserves water.
--:-- Johannes Radebe: I think it's a basic human right. You know what I'm saying? Don't ever feel that you're privileged. It is something that people must, must have.
--:-- Alice Adderley: That report by Alice Adderley.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: Being rejected at some point for something is a fact of life and for those trying to make it as artists it can be an all-too-regular occurrence.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: Every year here in London, around 18,000 people strive for a coveted place at the Royal Academy's summer exhibition, the world's largest art show open to applications.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: But only 1,500 make the cut. So one group of rejects are embracing the fact their work isn't on display.
--:-- Jacob Evans: Jacob Evans has been to meet some of them.
--:-- Jacob Evans: Thousands of people submitted their artwork to this year's exhibit, but with less than a 10% chance of getting in, many had to accept missing out.
--:-- Jacob Evans: But while their work isn't hanging on the walls of central London, a few kilometres north is a new haven for artwork that didn't make the cut.
--:-- Jacob Evans: It's called Rejects, and it's run by Artfriend, an independent gallery founded by Shona Bland.
--:-- Shona Bland: Three years ago, my boyfriend, who's an artist, posted on Instagram that he'd been rejected by the RA Summer Show.
--:-- Shona Bland: He was obviously incredibly disappointed. People normally only post when they're accepted, so it was kind of interesting to see all the comments come in under his reject post, and basically it was like a load of other really incredible artists saying, oh, I've been rejected too, oh, we're all part of this rejects club, and I was like, wow, this is like an exhibition waiting to happen.
--:-- Delphine Le Bourgeois: I've applied for many, many years. Got rejected many, many times.
--:-- Delphine Le Bourgeois: I only got in once when Grayson Perry was on the jury.
--:-- Delphine Le Bourgeois: What keeps you motivated to apply again?
--:-- Delphine Le Bourgeois: I think, well, the prestige and, yes, again, the footfall. But also now that Shauna has started this reject exhibition, you get the chance to apply to the reject exhibition as well, which is, like, kind of pretty cool.
--:-- Delphine Le Bourgeois: I mean, I'm French, so I always think about all the impressionist artists who are well-known now and famous. They got rejected by the establishment, and then they did the Salon des Refusés, which is a reject in France, and I'm not comparing myself to them, but I think it's pretty cool to be a reject in that respect.
--:-- Jana: Jana is from Manila and now based in London. She applied for the first time last year and again this year.
--:-- Jana: I feel like every rejection is like, you know, what people say, like a redirection. Like if I didn't get rejected from the RA last year, I wouldn't have met Shona from Artfriend. I wouldn't have met all the Artfriends.
--:-- Jana: It's not a bad thing. Like it's just, like I was saying, like redirection.
--:-- Craig Keenan: Craig Keenan is from the southwest of England and has been accepted into the Royal Academy on several occasions
--:-- Craig Keenan: I tried for years and years to no avail and then finally when I did get in I was overjoyed super super buzzed about it and then since then I've not I've been rejected again but I think it's definitely something that I don't take to personally anymore at first I took it quite personally I was a bit like oh what am I doing wrong or like what should I change or whatever but I feel like it's a little bit of a lottery a little bit of a gamble and if any young artists are listening in what advice would you have to them
--:-- Craig Keenan: I think you have to embrace the fact that you will be rejected that is just a given you know the art world is truly truly subjective so you know somebody might love something that you do and someone stood right next to them might hate what you do it has no bearing or reflection on the quality of what it is that you're doing.
--:-- Craig Keenan: It just means that different people see things differently. So I'd say prepare yourself for rejection and almost embrace that somewhat.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: If you get rejected, don't let that stop you from doing what it is you love doing. If you're doing it for the love of doing it, you'll find people that also love what you're doing.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: Great advice there from Craig Keenan, ending that report by Jacob Evans.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: And that's it from the Happy Pod for now. We'd love to hear from you about someone who's made a difference in your community. As ever, the address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: And you can now watch some of our interviews on YouTube. Just search for The Happy Pod.
--:-- Valerie Saunderson: This edition was mixed by James Piper. The producers were Holly Gibbs and Rachel Bulkeley. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time, bye-bye.
--:-- Asma Khalid: America is changing. And so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere.
--:-- Asma Khalid: I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. I'm Tristan Redman in London. And this is The Global Story.
--:-- Asma Khalid: Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. So
