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Episode details

World Service,26 Aug 2019,53 mins

Building a hospital on a rubbish dump

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Edna Adan Ismail is a healthcare pioneer in Somaliland. She was married to the former Prime Minister, but her first love was nursing and midwifery and she refused to give it up. For many years Edna fought to build a hospital in her home city of Hargeisa, and through sheer force of will and a lot of donated cement, finally managed it in 2002. She's now in her 80s, but still works 14 hour days teaching doctors and delivering babies. Jo Fidgen hears her story. Levi Bettwieser is an American photographer on a mission to save every abandoned roll of film in the world. When possible, he reunites them with their owners. Li Xiaomu is a writer and aspiring politician in Japan who has taken an unusual route to celebrity. He arrived in the country 27 years ago from China, and found work as a dancer and cleaner in Tokyo's red light district. His knowledge of the area made him a useful guide for people looking for entertainment, and he was soon giving highly lucrative tours. He published a best-selling book about his experiences, and his life has since been dramatised in a Jackie Chan film. Picture: Edna Adan Ismail with trainee medical staff Credit: Courtesy of Harper Collins

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