07/04/2009

Human stories from behind the global headlines. With George Arney.

On today's programme: Lesbians in South Africa; meet the Afro-Bolivian King; and the cow that changes lives.

Lesbian in South Africa
South African lesbians are increasingly at risk of being raped, according to a new report by the charity Action Aid. It's described as 'corrective rape', as men do it in the belief that it will somehow 'cure' the women of their sexual orientation. A black lesbian tells us her story and how she survived a gang- rape.

Afro Bolivians
Back in the sixteenth century, a group of slaves was shipped across the Atlantic from Africa to Bolivia, where they were put to work in the silver mines. Today their descendants form a distinct ethnic group, the Afro-Bolivians, who even have a king. For Outlook, Andres Schipani has been to the remote region where they live.

Milk and much more
George Arney talks to Helen Kongai, an organic farmer from Uganda who travels all over her country teaching other women how to improve their lives. Her own life was turned around by a cow, which was given to her by a British charity that specialises in distributing livestock to needy people in Uganda.