Global News Podcast - The Happy Pod: Learning begins with breakfast

Episode Date: August 2, 2025

Meet the charity which is providing free breakfasts for three million children across sixteen countries. We visit a school to see how Mary's Meals is helping children to focus on learning. Their biggest programme is in Malawi in south-east Africa, and for many students there, it's a reason to stay in school. Also on the podcast, we hear from the micro-farm in Montreal growing fruit and veg for local people on low incomes. Plus a social club trying to combat loneliness in Venezuela by bringing elderly people together for a dance, and the Italians coming together to save a tiny island from developers.The Happy Pod, our weekly collection of uplifting and inspiring stories from around the world. Part of the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.Presenter: Ankur Desai. Music composed by Iona Hampson.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. deal ratings and price history. So you know a great deal when you see one. That's cargurus.ca, cargurus.ca. Hello, I'm Uncle Desai and in this edition, this is Where Happy Falls. Hello, I'm Uncle Desai and in this edition, how school breakfasts in Malawi are helping children to learn. My greatest joy about the job is seeing the children happy, just happy. We meet the people growing fresh and affordable fruit and veg in Montreal.

I'm fortunately gifted to have a family that can provide themselves with enough food and that's kind of why I feel I come back here after year because I like ensuring that other people can have that same security I know I have. Also I dance even in the bathroom in the morning when I get up I turn on the radio and sing and dance my feet just start moving on their own. The dance club tackling loneliness amongst older people in Venezuela and a much needed lesson in optimism from tortoises. People often say breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that can be especially true for school children whose concentration and learning can suffer without a nutritious start to the day.

One of the charities working to ensure they get just that, Mary's Meals, recently reached a major milestone, feeding three million children every day across 16 countries. Their biggest program is in Malawi in South East Africa, and for many students there, it's a reason to stay in school. Ella Bignall has been there finding out more. It's just before dawn here at Chilanga School for the Blind which is Malawi's oldest school for visually impaired children. Everyone is still asleep except in a quiet corner of the site where one of the school cooks is already at work. There's something captivating about the way she stirs this massive pot of cooks is already at work. No bungee, no bungee.

And there's something captivating about the way she stirs this massive pot of porridge using a paddle the size of an oar, only stopping to feed more logs onto the fire. A few hours later, it's nearly time for the classroom. The children are washed, dressed and gently guiding one another to the benches where they'll receive their daily cup of porridge. My greatest joy about the job is seeing the children happy, just happy. For Angelo Chepeta-Konje, director of Mary's Meals Malawi, the work is more than food. It's about making sure no child is forgotten. We've seen great change. The attendance is increasing, but also just the concentration.

We've done our own assessments in the schools where the concentration before the meals is at 30%, but after the meals, it goes up to 90%. For parents like Chikondi Mafuta, the breakfast program has been life-changing. Her son, Wangani, has gone from strength to strength and later this year will represent Malawi at the Disabled Youth Games in Namibia, running the 1,500 metres. When I heard that at Sri Lanka they received courage each day in the morning. I was very

happy as the mother and to have everybody have the meal. It is a privilege for the children that helps them to grow hair. Over the years, Chilanga has received donations of braille machines and adapted PE equipment, but food remains the most vital and the most vulnerable resource. UNICEF warns that half a million children in Malawi are now at risk of malnutrition. And for those with disabilities, the risks are often greater. But school feeding programmes and inclusion policies of communities and governments have started to change that. Previously, Wungani would face discrimination. It's no longer the case.

People are now aware that even though when someone has a disability, they can be able to achieve anything else like any other normal person. At the heart of the school, head teacher Chiko Kampandera sees a community of learners thriving against the odds, some embarking on careers in the civil service and medicine. So we have so many success stories. They're learning, they're independent because we taught them orientation and because of this in 2022 we had 100% pass rate. It's very, very interesting and touching. Malawi has earned a reputation of being the warm heart of Africa and despite food challenges

that warmth shines through. The children sing a prayerful tune, the words God you have purpose for us, whatever names we are called you have a name for us. He loves and values everyone. Ella Bicknell reporting from Malawi. To Montreal in Canada now and a mobile food market helping to improve the health of families on low incomes. The Multicalf market is open to everyone, but for those struggling to make ends meet, it sells fresh fruit and vegetables at a loss. The non-profit organisation also had a local micro farm and hopes to grow all of its own produce eventually. Harry Bly spoke to Justine Chenesel who coordinates the farm and Tarek Sears who works at the market.

Often I'll see moms and dads come in with their kids, honestly, just to help them carry around the fruits and vegetables just because they can obviously buy so much. In past years, we've had to limit it. But thanks to the Multicalf team and the donations we've received from outside sources, we've been able to kind of ensure that we have enough fruits and vegetables for everybody no matter how much they want to take, which has really helped the vibes in the markets, just because people feel like they can do as they please. They can take what they want. I see people sharing recipes, their culture, their stories about what they're going to use this for. It's really wonderful to see.

You've been volunteering since you were 12 and you were introduced to it by your grandparents. So I suppose the big question is, is why do you do it? And what about this project in particular brings you joy? I really think that this project has taught me the importance of food to people. When I was very young, I didn't really understand what went into preparing a dish, what went into knowing that you could feed your family without any stress, really. So I think this project has kind of helped me mature and understand what it means to

have food security. I'm fortunately gifted to have a family that can provide themselves with enough food. And that's kind of why I feel I come back year after year, because I like ensuring that other people can have that same security I know I have. It's a gratifying feeling and it's really nice to see people who truly appreciate what we do. And Justine, you're the microfarm coordinator for Multicaf. Tell me, what does the future look like in terms of stocking these markets with entirely your own produce? Our farm is still young, it's two years old, so it's still a baby farm.

So we're going to be building on growing the production every year until we're able to provide the most we can. Also making the season longer every year, a little bit further into the winter and earlier into the spring to be able to provide longer and also more. I know that agriculture can be very, very testing as can winters in Montreal. Why do you do it? What about this project brings you joy? Well, personally, I'm someone who loves being outside. So this just makes sense for me to be in contact. It's working with people in the neighbourhood who come and volunteer at the farm and come help out. I'm so thankful for them, but they're thankful

to us and that's always surprising to me. It's so special to have school groups, kids come by and see them learn about where food comes from and get grounded into the local environment. I find that really important. What sort of feedback have you had from not only your volunteers, Justine, at the farm, but also the customers, the people that buy off you and the people that actually survive because of you? I feel like people are starved for a little green everywhere in Montreal, really, in the big city and the business of it all. And seeing people come here for the first time and be able to take that breath of fresh air and see their shoulders just relax. My favorite question to ask when I'm at the markets is what's your favorite

vegetable? And that changes so much because it's such a diverse neighborhood and we have so many people from everywhere. It's been so fun to learn from people at the markets, not only about new vegetables but new ways to eat them and open that conversation. So I think the improvements on bringing in local produce to the markets has increased like the amount of trust they have in us. It's really wonderful to see because I can understand how people would want things that are grown in Quebec and even then in Montreal. When's really wonderful to see because I can understand how people would want things that are grown in Quebec and even then in Montreal. When I describe, oh you can see where this stuff

is grown in the next 10 minutes, it always gets wonderful reactions and really I think it's kind of more personalized our market. We're not just some market you'll find on the side of the road. We are multi-calf mobile market and we will sell you fruits and vegetables even if you may not even be able to afford them at the supermarket. So this past year has been wonderful. Yeah. Tarek Sears and Justine Seneschal speaking to Harry Bly. For me this has to be one of the best job titles around. It's called Astronomer Royal and as you might imagine from the sound of it, it has a rather ancient pedigree. The title has been around in the United Kingdom for 350 years, making it one of the world's oldest scientific positions. And for the first time it's been awarded to a woman. Professor Michelle Doughty spoke to my colleague Tim

Franks and began by explaining what exactly the job is. The Astronomer Royal was first announced back in 1675 when King Charles II wanted to have a scientist work out how longitude worked where zero longitude was so that people could work out where they were going to travel around the world. Toby Hickman Right. So it was for navigation by sea. Dr. Anne McLean It was for navigation by sea. And to be frank, it's a good thing I wasn't audited at those days, because I have no sense of direction whatsoever. My excuse is I was born in the Southern Hemisphere, so the sun is always in the wrong place.

But I'm very relieved that it has now evolved into a position which is an honorary position. If the King has any questions on astronomy or space science, he will approach me in the first instance. But I think for me, the bulk of the role will be to engage with the general public, to excite and enthusiasm as much as I am about astronomy and space science, but also to give everyone an understanding about how important some of the instrumentation that we build is for building different types of instruments. It will be good for the UK economy. So when I first moved to the UK, I became involved in building magnetometer instruments.

And so what those instruments do is they measure the magnetic field. And I was involved in the Cassini mission to Saturn, and I have an instrument on the JUS spacecraft that's on its way to Jupiter. I never thought as a young kid that I would end up doing something like this. But for me, it's the combination of working with engineers, building the kinds of instruments that we need to tease out the really interesting science that we can't do unless we've got the spectacular instrumentation. So it's the combination of engineering and science for me, collaborating with lots of different people. Best work I've done is when I collaborate with large teams of people. So that's how I got involved in

space science and then planetary science and how I've ended up in this role today. Yeah, and I mean, putting it in that historical context where you began when, you know, 350 years ago, astronomers were just beginning to work out how perhaps we could sort of navigate by the stars to where we are now and how much more we still have to understand and work out. I mean, it's sort of never stopped being just an utterly fascinating time to be an astronomer, has it? Absolutely. I see us as explorers. you know the spacecraft mission I'm involved in, we're still exploring our own solar system. Part of what we hope to learn from it will allow us to better understand other exoplanetary systems. But we're on this long voyage of

discovery and exploration. As we go, we make new discoveries we didn't think we would and then we might change direction. But for me, it's part of what humankind does. We want to explore. I'm so excited that this is part of my job. I'm sure it's a question that you've you are dealing with a lot, but you are the first woman to be appointed Astronomer Royal. And it is also the case that unfortunately, although I think the numbers are improving, that women and girls are under-representative in the sciences. Where do you think we are on that? And how significant, do you think, modesty aside, your appointment is? In the UK in particular, and that's where I've been for the last

35 years, things are continuing to improve. When I first arrived here, there were not as many proof. When I first arrived here, there were not as many scientists who are women or were women. And I've seen that real change. What it's important, I think one of the reasons why my appointment as a woman is important is it allows younger people today to see someone who looks like them and to think, oh, maybe I could do that. The new British astronomer, Royal Professor Michelle Doherty speaking to Tim Franks. Coming up on this episode of the podcast. Anyone can visit. What the project is doing is trying to transform every visitor of Poveglia into an inhabitant. How a tiny island in Venice has been safe from developers thanks to a community effort.

Next, we're in Venezuela, where a weekly club is bringing together local seniors who may be facing loneliness and putting their dance moves on show. In the capital Caracas, over 60s are invited to hit the dance floor at Club Tobias and throw some shapes. Holly Gibbs has been finding out more. This is a weekly meeting of Club Tobias members at a shopping mall in Carus, Venezuela. They are singing, dancing and just generally having a good time. Tobias is a social club with a twist. It's for people over the age of 60, many of whom live alone as their children have emigrated abroad.

This is a place that proves having a good time has no age limit. Some have called it their lifeline to stop them feeling lonely. Ninety-three-year-old Angela Grattarol found out about the club from her son, whose friend is one of the founders. She says Club Tobias brought her back to life. I dance even in the bathroom. In the morning, when I get up, I turn on the radio and sing and dance. My feet just start moving on their own. Music fills me up in some way, and thanks to Tobias, I was able to get that back at this point in my life.

Angela is often accompanied by nine-year-old Juan Fuentes, a retired soldier whose daughter lives abroad. Before he comes to a club Tobias meeting, he practices singing and dancing to his favourite songs and writes down the lyrics to anything he might forget. 77-year-old Zandra Pedraza co-founded the club three years ago. We want to become a nationwide social franchise because with the Venezuelan migration many adults have been left alone. Previously our parents would stay at home waiting to die. But now we live to be 95 or 97 years old. So we need to help the elderly and teach them how to get out and about. The other co-founder is José Rafael Quintana.

He has a simple motto to motivate people who come to Club Tobias. What do we do here? Here we dance, sing, talk, celebrate life and connect neurons. We teach older adults that if you don't move, you seize up. Jose Rafael Quintana ending that report by Holly Gibbs. It was once thought to be a haunted island, the site of an old plague pit and deserted hospital. Bovellia in north eastern Italy lies in the Venetian lagoon just under 5 kilometres from the main city. Now, more than four and a half thousand people have clubbed together to stop it being purchased by developers and ensure it remains as a natural haven for all.

Carla Conti reports. Just south of Venice, in the middle of the lagoon, sits a small island with no cafes, no souvenir stands, and most days, no people. Once a plague pit, then a hospital, Poveglia is set largely abandoned for decades. But from August, its northern stretch will be transformed, not by developers, but by ordinary citizens. The idea is simple. Restore that part of the island as a public park, managed by the people and kept out of private hands.

and kept out of private hands. As if a territory could be dismembered, stripped bare, as if Venice could stay the same without its islands. The poem, read during a gathering on the island, captures what's at stake for Poveglia per tutti, or Poveglia for Everyone, an activist group determined to protect the island from private development. After 11 years of campaigning, they've now secured a six-year lease to manage the land, not to build or sell, but to protect it. The project is about preserving the island of Poveglia and keeping it free and accessible

for the people, not just Venetians, anyone who can visit. That's Federica Fornasie. She's the group's secretary and one of the many volunteers who've been working to keep the island alive. The story begins in 2014 when Italy's state property agency put Poveglia up for auction, starting at zero euros. Furious at the prospect of losing another piece of public land to private investors, Venetians took action. They started a fundraising campaign and they wanted to raise 20,000 euros, which was what

was needed to participate in the auction. Just to say we exist, we don't like it. But instead in just a few weeks they raised 450,000 euro. That was when they realized that it was a big outrage. It wasn't just a group of people at a cafe. This was shared by Venetian families and also people from outside Venice that loved the island. The auction was cancelled, but the movement had begun. Over the years, the group cleared the island of weeds, collected plastic from the shoreline and opened it up for community celebrations. Now they're teaming up with botanists and

the University of Verona, not just to replant the island with native species, but to track how care from citizens can reshape a place, ecologically and socially. The most important goal for the project was that Poveglia should not fall into a state of abandonment. But the other objective is for it to become more accessible and for people to really feel like it's their urban park in the lagoon. Recently there have been articles in the news saying that the association wants Poveglia only for residents. But this is absolutely not true. Anyone can visit. What the project is doing is trying

to transform every visitor of favela into an inhabitant in their own way. Even without electricity and even without a pier, the group still manages to hold events like open air concerts and communal picnics. We do this cute thing. Once a year we organize a day, a community day, a party on the island with music, food, theater, and we try to invite everybody who's interested in the project. There is this idea of creating the community by getting people to fall in love with the island more and more.

While the lease is only six years for now, Poveglia Pertutti hopes their model can inspire others, across Italy and beyond. Carla Conti reporting. Now dear listeners, have you, like me, ever wondered if tortoises feel the same emotions as humans? And if not, why not? I admit they're one of my favourite creatures. I mean, they have existed for over 200 million years. Well, a group of scientists head out to find the answer and the results are in, as Stephanie Prentiss reports. Tortoises are renowned for being slow moving and placid. But does that come from a sense of deep contentment in life or some sort of quiet, existential malaise? Professor Anna Wilkinson was part of a team at the University of Lincoln in England studying

15 of the reptiles including Esme, Moses and Gerard Butler and told us that doing an emotional wellness check on a reptile isn't easy. A tortoise doesn't smile, it doesn't have facial expressions, so because of this we need to look at other ways to tell. So what we did in this study is we looked to see if the tortoises had mood states. The team used the classic is the glass half full or half empty approach but using leafy greens and the odd carrot. What we did was we said if your food bowl is on the right hand side if you go there you'll get some food

if your food bowl is on the left hand side if you go there you won't get some food and the tortoises very rapidly learn this and then we say well what do you do when it's halfway are you an optimist do you treat it as if it's full or or half full at least, or a pessimist, as if it's likely to be empty? And so we did this to our tortoises and what we found was overall they had an optimistic bias, which we were delighted by. The researchers say this is important as the findings can make people see that their pet tortoise has a rich inner life and encourage optimal care for creatures that can live for up to 200 years. And while the study suggests that tortoises tend to look on the bright side,

further research will be required to determine whether, like some humans, tortoises are prone to getting a bit grumpier with age. Stephanie Prentice reporting. Now to an incredible community response to support a teenager who'd been bullied at school. That's the sound of some of the hundreds of motorbikes that turned out in Swindon in southern England to escort Josh Duff to his prom on the eve of his 16th birthday. Josh's dad Craig had appealed on social media for fellow bikers to help end his son's time at a high school on a positive note after years of being picked on.

He says he was amazed by the response. Within say 10, 15 minutes, we put in the post up, I had already had 10, 15 bikers, woke up in the morning, we had about 50 bikers say they were coming and then the next 12 hours after that it exploded. We've had messages from all around the UK.

We've had people internationally contacting us saying they're following the story. We've had people say they're not even bikers following the story. The response has been absolutely immense. Josh has special educational needs, known in the UK as as SEN and his mum Frances says that's made school harder. All kids can have a hard time in school, especially SEN kids, they can have a very hard time. But we didn't want the end of the chapter of school to not be the best it can be. So we came out and thought, hang on, let's grab a few people to show that even though

it was difficult, you've done your exams, you've had a hard time, but on, let's grab a few people to show that even though it was difficult, you've done your exams, you've had a hard time, but no, we're going to go to prom, you're going to have a fantastic time. And it shows Josh that there is support from so many people, even if he feels alone some days, he doesn't realise how many people have his back. Before the event, Josh said he couldn't believe the response. I am over the moon because I never thought this would blow up this much. Initially when this post went out I wanted only two dozen bikers at the limit. I never thought I'd reach internationally and go over 250 bikers plus.

My heart is full of these bikers and these people saying all these love full because I'm just so excited and overwhelmed. And it's estimated around 1500 people turned out, some travelling for hours just to be there. And his lesson from it all, with the bullies, if you just ignore them and power through, you can expect a great result. Wise words from a wise young man. Well done Josh.

And that's all from the HappyPod for now. If you have a story you think will inspire others or just make them smile, we'd love to hear from you. As ever the address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk and you can now watch some of our interviews on YouTube. Just search for the Happy Pod. This edition was mixed by Pat Sissons and the producers were Holly Gibbs and Harry Bly. The editor is Karen Martin and I'm Uncle Desai, until next time, goodbye.