Global News Podcast - The Happy Pod: Inspiring my daughter to donate a kidney

Episode Date: July 13, 2024

When listener Sophia decided to donate a kidney to a stranger through a domino transplant scheme, her teenage daughter Katie objected. But years later, Katie decided to do the same - inspired by the chain of goodness her mother started, and the joy of meeting organ recipients at the transplant games. Also: Big Ocean - the first K-pop band whose members all have hearing impairments. As the Paris Olympics approach, we look back at the amazing story of two athletes who chose to share gold in Tokyo. Wild horses return to Kazakhstan for the first time in over two hundred years, thanks to a zoo breeding programme. The innovative system helping grow crops in arid regions with less water. And the children who got to perform at London's famous Royal Opera House.Our weekly collection of happy stories and positive news from around the world.

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. If you're hearing this, you're probably already listening to BBC's award-winning news podcasts. But did you know that you can listen to them without ads? Get current affairs podcasts like Thank you. Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts. This is The Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson and in this edition, uploaded on Saturday the 13th of July,

how one listener's decision to donate a kidney to a stranger inspired her daughter to do the same. I just remember thinking, I can do this. This gives meaning to life, you know? Like, I'm helping, I'm contributing. No matter which way you do it, it's like this chain of goodness that, like, spreads out into the world. The K-pop band breaking barriers.

The words from a fan that I remember the most were, thank you for coming into the world. All three members have hearing impairments. Plus, it is truly the last wild horse on the planet. If all goes well, we could welcome the first baby Cevalski horses born in the Kazakh steppe after hundreds of years. The zoo breeding project returning a once endangered species to the wild. Also in this podcast, an innovative way of growing crops in arid soil using less water.

And as the Paris Olympics approach, we hear the amazing story of two athletes who decided to share gold in Tokyo. We are sportsmen. We want to win. We don't care. But when you are in that moment with somebody that you love, a real friend of you, it's just something that comes out from the heart. When one HappyPod listener donated her kidney to a domino transplant scheme, she never imagined the effect would extend to another generation. Sophia Good, who's just been competing in the US transplant games for the second time, got in touch to tell us how the whole process inspired her daughter, who decided to donate her kidney to a stranger earlier this year. I spoke to Sophia, who lives in Camas in Washington State,

and to her daughter, Katie Sibley, who's in San Diego in California. Katie was 15 and she's 28 right now. So it was that many years ago. And I was a single mom at the time. Katie was a difficult teenager. I'm driving home from work and I hear a story about a woman who had wanted to give her kidney away to a stranger. And I just remember thinking, I can do this. This gives meaning to life. You know, like I'm helping, I'm contributing. And so I remember coming home, talking to Katie about it. And I was like, Hey, I heard this thing. I think I really want to do this. And she was like,

you can do whatever you want when I'm 18. But right now you were the only parent I have because her dad had passed away. Right. And you have to wait. And I was like, okay, I'll wait. But, and it was stuck in the back of my brain. And then you fast forward to 2014. Katie turned 18 in January. So I just celebrated my 10 year kidney doniversary. And it's like imprinted in my brain. The last thing I saw is Katie's bawling, just crying her eyes out as I'm being wheeled back into surgery. So Katie, tell us more about how you felt about this. Oh my God, I was like, no way. Are you crazy? Like, are you actually crazy? Like, who gives away organs? It's like something you, you know, because I didn't even think you

could do that. You just like, so don't get it. I didn't get it at all. So you went ahead with it, Sophia, when Katie was 18. And it was an extraordinary gift, not just to one person, was it many people benefited? Yep. So I'm a non-directed donor, which means I didn't have an intended recipient. And a lot of times what happens, so let's pretend that you need a kidney and your loved one wants to give it to you,

but they're not a match, but they say, hey, I'm still willing to give if a kidney comes up for my loved one. You throw the extra kidney in there and you start a chain. And so it was four people plus my recipient who received a kidney that day. Big bang for your buck. And later, the idea of Katie giving a kidney too, that came up later, didn't it? When you were at the US transplant games in San Diego, which I have to say I have never heard of until now.

So the transplant games happen every two years here in the United States. And then the years that they don't happen in the United States, they happen internationally. So the ones in San Diego were my first games and Katie lived there. And so she came to cheer me on at the different swimming events because that's usually my sport of choice and stuff. She ran the 5K with me. And while we were walking after the 5K, she said, you know, if I was going to be part of a community, this is a pretty good one. And I remember being so excited and thinking, yeah.

So Katie, why did you go ahead with it? That experience was so cool. I don't think you can explain to somebody what being at the transplant games is like and how powerful it is. Because to have living donors and recipients all in one place at the same time and the exchange of like stories to one another is like so powerful and so cool. And I still just I really wanted to do it because I could because somebody like me, who's like super normal, like super normal, like I work as a bartender, I love going to baseball games, but I could totally do this thing that would alter my life, somebody else's life, and maybe would inspire somebody else to do what I'm doing

as well. And so it's like, no matter which way you do it, it's like this chain of goodness that like spreads out into the world. And Sophia, you've just been at another transplant games, haven't you? Yes, this was my second games. And so I am meeting people who have double lung transplant. I'm meeting heart recipients. I am meeting, it makes me cry every time. And I remember them just swimming with so much joy because they could. This is the lesson to really, really just approach this life with so much joy. Sophia Good and her daughter, Katie Sibley. A fantastic story.

And if you have a story you think will inspire others or make us all smile, do send us an email or voice note to globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. And now to a band with a difference. That's Glow by Big Ocean, South Korea's first K-pop band, composed entirely of singers with hearing impairments. They recently released their debut album and performed live, incorporating sign language in their routines and supported by technology and AI. The Happy Pod's very own Holly Gibbs spoke to Hyung Joon Kim from the BBC's Korean service about the challenges

the three band members have faced. Big Ocean performs without in-ear monitors, which artists typically use to hear the melody and beat clearly and also they told me that they experienced some moments when a cochlear implant fell off during a live performance and most of all because they couldn't hear their own voices it's very difficult to hear the exact pitches when they sing. And there is some crucial technology that allows them to perform together 그리고 그들은 함께 공연을 할 수 있는 중요한 기술이 있습니다. 춤에 관한 것에 대해서는 그들은 소리가 다르게 느껴져요. 그래서 한 멤버의 멤버 찬현은 그들의 소리에 따라 각 멤버가 비트에 대응을 합니다.

그들은 비트에 대한 숫자를 보여주는 큰 디스플레이를 사용하고, 그리고 그들은 또한 손가락을 사용합니다. displays showing numbers to indicate beat and they also use a wristwatch. The smartwatch you see here is vibrational. The rhythm of the song is transmitted individually to each of us, making it easier for us to perceive the beat even while dancing. Since it's hard for me to hit the exact pitch, I received vocal training. There's a device that shows that pitch. I sing while looking at the screen and we also use AI to correct the deficiencies. And what sort of reaction have they had from K-pop fans in South Korea and beyond? The response has been enthusiastic so far. Before their debut, actually, the members

often heard prejudiced remarks like like can people with hearing impairments sing or can they perform live or do we need to know sign language to attend their fan meetings something like that and remember a touching response from one of their fans I interviewed that the fan has also has a hearing disability and she told me that Big Ocean gave her hope and empowered her to pursue her dreams. She mentioned watching their performance made me excited because sign language is such an important part of our community. And the response has been overwhelmingly positive. The words from a fan that I remember the most were, thank you for coming into the world.

I think our fans also know that it's not an easy challenge. There have been sounds coming in throughout my life, you know. I feel like I have my own view of sound. I want to share music from a different dimension that doesn't exist in this world. And do you think that they are paving the way for other K-pop bands with similar conditions to them? Each year, many idol groups debut, but only a few survive. So for idols with disabilities like Big Ocean, the challenges can be even greater. But yeah, I think they can be a great model.

Holly Gibbs speaking to Hyojung Kim about Big Ocean. Now with the Olympic and Paralympic Games about to start in Paris, we've been dipping into the archives to bring you some extraordinary happy stories about those taking part. And where better to start than with an example of how love and friendship led to two competing athletes putting their competition aside. Gianmarco Tamberi from Italy had been a favourite to win a high jump medal in Rio in 2016, until seriously injuring his ankle just 20 days before. He was told he might never jump again, but fought his way back to fitness with the help of friend and fellow high jumper Mutaz Ezebashim from Qatar. So when they were neck and neck in the Olympic final in Tokyo and offered the chance to secure their dreams of being the very best in the world,

they instead chose to share the gold. Gianmarco told Ed Harris and Eliza Skinner why. We can remember this moment forever in our life, both of us, why one of us must go out from this track with a cry and with the sadness. so we deserve both this gold medal because we passed through an terrible injury we did this competition without any any mistake because we both jumped to 37 without any mistakes i was lucky enough to be there so the the marshal calls you over what's supposed to happen is called a jump off where the bar comes down again it's like a penalty shootout in soccer and yeah the first person who makes a mistake then the other guy gets the gold medal just talk us through exactly what happened the marshal calls

you over what does he say and then what do you and mutas say he told us something like okay guys now to jump off and we put the bar over or, and he didn't say nothing. And Moutad stop him and he say, can we have two gold? He answer, uh, yes. If you both decide you can have two gold.

We look at each other like, man, it's me and you, you know, and we hug each other. We give a high five and we hug each other and start crying and being crazy in the track together. And I had another attempt left for 239.

And if I have to go back in that moment, I will decide to do this kind of thing. Because it's just amazing. I mean, me and Mutaz, we were a very big friend before that moment. And now we are like blood brothers. We speak every single day together. We share everything. We are just really real brothers. We speak every single day together. We share everything. We are just really real brothers. And that moment is more magical than being alone. When you win alone, you're like proud of yourself. You know that you have done something. You know that you are the number one,

but there is nobody around you that is feeling the same emotion. and you can't have this synergy with somebody. It's amazing. So it sounds like you have this relationship, which I think would be very surprising to a lot of people who think that athletics is all about winning and competition. And I think that the same mindset would not be able to understand willingly sharing your medal with your friend. I mean, I will never say I will share a gold medal. I will never. I mean, we are sportsmen. We want to win.

We don't care about these things. But when you are in that moment and you, it's just, I don't know how to explain it. It's impossible, probably. You have to be there with somebody that you love, a real friend of you, and you look at each other. It's that stare, that moment, eyes to eyes. It's just something that comes out from the heart. What was the reaction like when you went back to Italy?

Airport was full of people with television, with all friends of mine came there. There was singing and my family and men. You can't understand and for three months every single place i was walking in they were clapping to me wherever i went if i walk in the street the people were i don't know the name with the car and the thing that i like more i mean it's not the celebrity thing because i never really care about it. But they stopped me and they say to me, thank you. Thank you because you believed until the end and you gave me the chance to believe in my life.

And I say, wow, it moves something inside me because I know what it means. Because I was searching for somebody to follow in those years. And now they followed my story. They followed my success. And it's just amazing. I mean, it makes you proud to have believed until the end. And you can hear more from Gianmarco Tamberi and other amazing athletes on the podium from the BBC World Service.

That's wherever you get your podcasts. Coming up in this podcast, we meet the children who got to sing at London's famous Royal Opera House. It's fabulous. I love it. We've learnt how to express our feelings through dance and singing. It makes me feel free and happy. Thank you. Plus other great BBC podcasts from history to comedy to true crime, all ad-free. Simply subscribe to BBC Podcast Premium on Apple Podcasts or listen to Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts. Growing crops in areas with little rain or poor soil is a huge challenge for much of the world.

But an experiment in the United States appears to have found one possible solution, injecting a special kind of clay into the ground to absorb and retain more water. Similar trials are also underway in Ecuador and Bolivia. Anthony Wallace has been to see the idea in action at a date farm in Yuma, in Arizona, near the US-Mexico border. The farm is on a mesa, which is a flat, elevated area. The ground is very sandy and dry, but here they make some of the juiciest dates that you can get. They do have a delicious date shake up here as well. That's Ulle Christian Sivertsen, CEO of a company called Desert Control.

So the river bottom down there is very rich and fertile soils whereas these are kind of the river banks so it's like super sandy. They have to pump lots of water up here to irrigate the trees but in the midst of the southwest's worst drought in nearly 500 years, that isn't very sustainable. However, Ule and his team have created a liquid that they say can turn the desert soil into a sponge, which holds onto water and nutrients for longer. Sandy desert soil has a lot of gaps in it, so water drains through it quickly. But clay soil is made up of much smaller particles that cling together and naturally stop water from escaping. So Ule's

team mixed tiny particles of clay with water and air to create a special fluid. He told me when they spray it on the sandy soil, it soaks in and fills the gap between the sand grains and helps it to hang on to any moisture. It creates the habitat for the soil microbiology to also start to develop and evolve. So it's kind of a kickstart as well to nature's natural processes. I was curious to see exactly how this thin watery substance was made. So Ule took me to their mobile factory. It kind of looks like a white shipping container on wheels sitting right on the farm underneath the palms. You see there is like a huge mixing tank inside the unit. They start by collecting soil from the local area and then give the clay particles a good shake up.

And minerals like clay are like a napkin that has many layers of thin, thin papers, right? We're pulling these tissues, these tiny papers from each other and making them float in the liquid so that we get a huge expansion of the surface area. There's actually a long-term study underway right now that's being run by the University of Arizona. The study's been funded by Ule's company, although the university says there's many safeguards in place

that keeps them independent and objective. We went past rows of citrus trees and some sheds to the spot they chose to test the liquid clay. So we had to come out here to the junkyard, the part of the station that was never farmed, and we created our trial here on virgin land where it had very little salt, very little clay. This is Robert Masson who's running the five-year trial. They have been growing crops with different mixtures of the liquid clay and also some without it. The early results suggest the treated soil is better at holding nutrients and water near the crop's root zone and Robert says they've seen particular success with lettuce. In romaine lettuce, we've seen an effect for two seasons running. In the areas that are treated, we're seeing

larger plants. So far, the best formulations have seen up to a 50% yield increase. So, bigger lettuce, less water. And in Arizona, that is a very big deal. Any savings that we can have there will really help the drought situation that we're in. Robert Masson from the University of Arizona, ending that report by Anthony Wallace. And you can hear more about innovative ways to save water on People Fixing the World, wherever you get your podcasts. Now to Kazakhstan, where endangered wild horses have returned to their ancestral lands for the first time in at least 200 years. In an operation run by Prague Zoo, seven Prajvalsky horses were airlifted there, and it aims to continue efforts over the next five

years. The zoo was appointed to manage the International Studbook for the Species in 1959, and its efforts have seen the horses reintroduced in Mongolia and China. Philip Maszek, spokesperson for Prague Zoo, told Andrew Peach why the operation is so important. First of all, we have to realise that it is truly the last wild horse on the planet. You know, it's not really technically a breed. It's a species, you know. But these Przewalski horses are truly the last wild horses on the planet. Sometimes it's better to imagine, for example, a zebra, because that illustrates more the wild nature of this species.

They are a bit smaller than the domesticated horses. You can't ride this horse. Also, they have this like sand brown colour in the summer. Then in the winter coat, they are a bit more dark. And you can also always tell it's the Przewalski horse because it has the white nose and quite dark legs. They're certainly beautiful. I know this kind of project has already happened in other parts of the world, in China, for example. Why did someone decide that these wild horses should be reintroduced to Kazakhstan? Well, us in the Prague Zoo,

we have been reintroducing these horses to Mongolia since 2011 till 2019, and we created a healthy population there. We transported around 35 horses there, but today there is around 800 of them. They are breeding really well and they are great grandchildren of the horses we transported there 13 years ago.

So this project was very successful. So we were contacted by the government of Kazakhstan to basically create the same project, to return this wild horse to its historical habitat, because the Pfevalski horse actually used to live in the whole vast area of Central Asian steppes and deserts. What I love about this is the fact that the horses were kept in your zoo and other zoos around Europe is the only reason they can now be introduced to their natural habitats. Absolutely. Well, for us, it's the main purpose of today's modern zoological gardens. It is really the best you can do is to

have population of some endangered animal in human care or in captivity, and then reintroduce it to its original land. That is really the best what the zoo can do. But these actual animals are used to living in a zoo. So if you put them in their natural environment in Kazakhstan, how do they acclimatise to that? Well, we have to select the horses for the transport very carefully. They have to be young. They have to have good personalities, actually, you know, because every horse is different. It's a very intelligent animal. So we selected some horses in Germany. Some of them came from Czech Republic. One of them came from France. And we sort of put them together in Berlin and also here in the Czech Republic. And about the acclimatization, well, they are spending eight to 12 months in this huge

acclimatization pen there because we have to check if they're going to survive the winter. All these factors have to be really and very carefully thought through. And then we can release them to the wild, wild nature. It's very early days. How are they doing so far? I was there when they were released. It was an incredible moment. Really, there were people crying, not just the Kazakhs, but even us Czechs. And even the Germans were crying when the horses were running wild. It was incredible.

And they are doing really well. And we already saw that the stallion named Zorro, he mated two of the mares. So if all goes well, in 11 months, we could welcome the first baby Zawadzki horses born in the Kazakh steppe after hundreds of years. Oh, that was Filip Meshek of Prague Zoo. It's a chance most singers can only dream of, performing at one of the world's most famous venues. Schoolchildren from around the UK have been taking to the stage at the Royal Opera House

in London to learn and perform a song and a dance. The happy pod's Anna Murphy went along to find out more. I'm here in one of the many rehearsal theatres inside the Royal Opera House, watching a class of children learn a dance routine. And on my left, there's a large screen with lots of tiny squares, each with a classroom or even a school hall full of students following along from up and down the country. They've been loving it. They've just been really going for it today. That's Abigail, one of the singing coaches here today. The children across the country

have been learning a fantastic song called The Hope. It's by a composer called Ianna Witter-Johnson and it's just really, really beautiful. It's one of those tunes where you're just like, I'm going to sing this song all day long. It's called Ianna Witta Johnson, and it's just really, really beautiful. It's one of those tunes where you're just like, I'm going to sing this song all day long. It's about this puppet, this character called Amal, who is a refugee who's travelled across the continent.

So the song is just welcoming her into this space. It's just really exciting to see children be creative, have them use their voices as well, because children's voices are so special. As well as learning the steps and the lyrics, there's an obvious focus on teaching the children about their rights to an education, to express themselves and to have their voices heard. Isabel from UNICEF had some advice for the children before their performance. I think that whilst you're all performing, just to be really enjoying your rights because what you're doing is that you're enjoying your right to expression, you're enjoying your right to a voice, your right to play and take part in cultural activities.

But at the same time, what you're also doing is telling loads and loads of other people all about children's rights. And so many children are not getting the rights that they should have. And just before their big moment, I caught up with a few of them backstage. I was really nervous, but now I just feel excited. It's fabulous. I love it. We've learned how to express our feelings through dance and singing. The best bit is actually the singing. It makes me feel free and happy. My favourite bit is singing the songs

because I can express myself to the world. We're all really excited to show off what we've learnt over the couple of lessons and days we've had to practice. I'm excited and really nervous. I'm excited, I'm nervous as well. Despite the nerves, the show was a success. The children sang and danced in harmony, well mostly, and I'm sure we heard some stars of the future. And that's it from the Happy Pod for now. We'd love to hear from you if you have any stories to share that will make us all smile. As ever, the address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk.

This edition was mixed by Masood Ibrahim-Kil and the producers were Holly Gibbs and Rachel Bultley. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time, goodbye. If you're hearing this, you're probably already Thank you. other great BBC podcasts from history to comedy to true crime, all ad-free. Simply subscribe to BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts or listen to Amazon Music with a Prime membership.

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