Stephen Barden talks to Ruchira Gupta, lifelong activist against human trafficking - especially the trafficking of women. This extraordinary woman not only founded a global organization to protect and educate sexually trafficked women and their daughters but, through her work with the United Nations, has driven changes in global laws on human trafficking and drawn up rules of behaviour for the peacekeepers themselves. In this episode we hear how she started on her campaign decades...

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From the frontlines of one of the world's most enduring humanitarian crises comes a story of extraordinary dedication. Dr Lex Takkenberg takes us through his extraordinary four-decade journey working with refugees and displaced persons, including thirty years with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). What begins as an academic interest in international law at the University of Amsterdam transforms into a lifelong commitment when Lex joins U...

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Ahmad Jaafil shares his story of extraordinary and persistent willpower, He talks matter of factly about his severe and rare eye disease and the horrendous struggle to try and save his sight- in Lebanon and then the USA. If you want to know, in painful detail, what it's like for a family to do everything and more to heal their young son, this episode will do that for you. And it's also a story of - fierce determination and huge will - of a young man who wen...

This is the story of Hajar - a young woman with Palestinian and Lebanese parents - who understands that her people are woven together - not just by ideologies or politics or even the yearning for a safe homeland but by their stories. The stories of their humanity, eccentricities, intimacy and tenderness. Stories that are embroidered into every part of their lives. Send us a text

Can standing on a rooftop in a refugee camp be the starting point of a journey toward empowerment and change? This episode of "Migrant Odyssey" features Manal, a dedicated social worker and the founder of the Kayani Foundation, that support Palestinian women and girls through the values of family. She takes us through the harrowing history of her family, the struggles of her parents, and the poignant memories of her grandmother, whose stories and a cherished memento profoundly shaped her path...

Life on the West Bank is upside down for Palestinians. They have little of rights on their land that they have lived on for centuries. The towns that they do live in cannot grow because they are being strangled by encroaching Israeli settlements. East Jerusalem, internationally designated as the Palestinian capital - is not. A journey that should take minutes takes hours and hours. The places where the are supposed to be safe - are not. It is, says today's guest Firas, like Maqlu...

This episode is extraordinary not just because Tareq - a young man from Gaza - has an extraordinary story to tell, but because as he tells it , one can hear each stage of his life unfiltered. He is able to express what Tareq the child felt long before his adult self understood the years' long blockade -seige- under which his city lived. And when we hear his story of when he first had to go to Jerusalem, we hear the shock of his treatment - as if it were happening...

Imagine navigating the complex layers of survivor's guilt while fostering a beacon of innovation amidst the ricochet of conflict. Join us as we welcome Rowan, a resilient Palestinian businesswoman and engineer from the West Bank, who shares an intimate portrayal of life under occupation. Her vivid narratives reveal the deep cultural and spiritual significance of Ramadan, the ingenuity required to thrive as an entrepreneur in the Middle East, and the unwavering commitment to humanity that defi...

Stellah Nikuze is the daughter of Rwanda genocide survivors. Born and brought up in the Kyaka 11 refugee camps in Uganda, she has emerged as a fierce advocate of refugees and the voiceless. Educated in classrooms with more than 100 children per teacher, she co-founded the Hodari Foundation which focuses on feeding, skilling and healing traumatised children in Uganda.. Now at university in Canada, Stellah turned that fierceness into working with the UN and other world bodies to fight for...

This is the story of Sofia - a Ukrainian refugee now living in Berlin. After living in Israel , she and her Israel husband went back to Ukraine a few months before the war with Russia in 2022, to be with her mother and grandmother.All too quickly she found her life turned upside down. This holder of a masters degree in international economics now works as a cleaner in Berlin and tells her story to Stephen Barden, with pain, with humour and fearsome grit. Send ...

Refugees seek refuge and shelter. Safety from being brutalised, from the trauma of witnessing and experiencing acts of terror and horror. But also a haven where they can retrieve their sense of humanity and self worth, without being spat on for their religion, skin colour or "foreign" accent in their new homes. Our guest today is Susanne Höhne, trauma therapist and psychologist specialising in treating women refugees. She tells Stephen Barden that trauma work is rarely suc...

This is the story of Zoya, born into a world of upheaval, chaos, and strife and raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon - as was her father and grandfather. Equally important, this is also the story of a young woman's journey to transform her harsh reality into a journey of resilience, compassion, and leadership Our conversation takes us from one place of conflict - Lebanon - to another in Ukraine, where she and her family sought refuge before the ...

This is the story of Janvier Hafasha – originally from the Rutshuru zone of north Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and now living in the Kyaka refugee settlement in Uganda. Janvier is one of nearly 400,000 people (according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) who have been terrorized out of Rutshuru, most of them fleeing to Uganda. Janvier is much more than a refugee. He is an extraordinary leader who, despite suffering almost unimaginable personal...

Ready to have your perspective shaken and stirred? Join me, Stephen Barden, as I sit down with Peter Ruhenstroth Bauer, the Head of the UN's Refugee organization in Germany. I hope this episode will help provide a global perspective of the massive migration of people in the world. I hope, too, it will break down those assumptions so many of us in the richer countries hold. Most refugees just want to live the good life in your country? Not true:they just want to be home, in peace...

Prepare yourself for a gripping narrative that will take you from the conflict-stricken areas of South Sudan to the mud-walled houses of Kakuma refugee camp, and ultimately to the heart of Germany. Our guest, Okello Joseph, shares his riveting journey of survival, struggle, and success in today's episode. His story is a testament to human resilience and the fierce belief of his value as a human being and film maker. Imagine leaving everything you know behind at the age of three. Not ju...

Journey with us as we peel back the layers of life in the world's largest refugee camp - Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, through the lens of one of its residents. Mohammed Selim Khan, a Rohingya refugee himself, unravels the life he has known since 1992, dealing with the loss of his parents and facing the daily struggle to survive. Not only does he wear the hats of a fire safety instructor and journalist in the camp, but Mohammed's captivating photos have earned him recognition in the Rohingya Phot...

This is Deng Dak Malual: Not yet 30 years old, 17 years in Africa's largest refugee camp, Kakuma; a fugitive from South Sudan. And so much more. Deng is a leading member of the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers. A relentless advocate and negotiator for his community. A team leader in a global social enterprise, reskilling and employing refugees as high effective digital specialists. In the spirit of this series, too big to contain. Send us a text