Global News Podcast - The Happy Pod: The rescued Ukraine lions learning to roar again

Episode Date: May 3, 2025

A group of lions rescued from Ukraine are roaring again. Their new homes were built with money donated globally. Also: the paralysed man who's completed a marathon; a teenage cricket star; and a 103-year-old influencer.

This is the HappyPod from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Miles and in this edition, from a war zone to a new sanctuary. Literally the world came together to give these lions a better life. So thank you because without that they wouldn't be in beautiful areas where they're able to run and grasp for the first time. The lions rescued from Ukraine settle into their new home. Also, the man who's completed a marathon after being told he'd never walk again.

Just keep going, you know, even though we had limitations, you can really get through it if you want to. You've got to keep turning up for your life every single day. Just keep showing up for yourself. The youngest ever player to score a century in T20 cricket and a centenarian who's become TikTok's latest influencer. I'm so proud of her. She's amazing.

How many is today? Oh, I think there was nearly 200,000. I forgot nothing better to do. Nan, you're beautiful. Beautiful. Five lions that were rescued from Ukraine have been settling into their forever home, with some of them touching grass for the first time. One abandoned lioness was found by chance by people looking for survivors of a bombing trapped in a cage and suffering from shell shock. They now live in a bespoke enclosure

in Kent in southern England, full of trees, wooden platforms and features. And after months of silence they have even started doing that once again. Stephanie Prentice spoke to Cam Whithnell, who's in charge of the big cat sanctuary that organised the lion's rescue. He told her about watching the first big cat to step into its new home. I broke down in tears. It was like a huge moment, a year in the making of getting these lions out of the war and knowing their backgrounds and what they've been through to then see them step on grass for the first time here at the sanctuary. It was just like all the relief, all the stress, it just like gone away and it was just like, it was just beautiful. It was easily like

the best day of my life. And you mentioned they'd been through a lot. Can you tell us a little bit about about what these lions survived and how they're now settling in to their new environment? Yeah, they have been through a lot, all five. So little Vanda, she was rescued from a flat. She had parasites. She was malnourished. She'd never seen, never seen sunlight before or been outside. You had Una, she was suffering from shell shock and concussion. And she could hardly walk or stand. And that

shell shock and concussion came from a bombings that fell right by her area. And she'd never been on grass before in her life. She'd been in a four by four concrete cell. And then given that, going through a war in their country, which none of them chose to be in, they had no idea what had kind of hit them. So now being at the beautiful sanctuary in Kent in lovely sunshine, and they've got these lovely areas which have been designed specifically to suit their needs. One of them's got a waterfall feature and a nice pond area, that's for Vanda, so she'll sit on the rocks just above the waterfall and soak up the sun.

And as you've obviously seen them up close overcoming the trauma they've been through, are they now exhibiting more playful behaviours? Have you seen any more like classic cat behaviors from them? Yes, they're all mischievous and cheeky. Honestly, they have settled in so incredibly well. It's just beautiful to see Rory. He's just displaying amazing. He's roaring now, which is lovely. He's got an incredible roar. He's very interested in three of the girls, Amani, Lira and Yuna. So he's calling, communicating, rubbing up against the fence with them. And then Yuna, she's running around, bearing in mind over a year ago, just over a year, she could barely walk. Now she's running and being really playful. She's actually flirting

with Rory quite a bit. She's rolling over, being submissive. It's like the best thing ever. So Rory has reclaimed his raw and he's found potential love interests. Yeah, so he is truly the king of Kent right now. I mean, he's a beautiful lion. He's got an incredible thick mane which goes right under his belly and even down his legs. So he's lovely. And yeah, his new love interest interest is Una which I'm a little bit sad about because before Rory was here, Una and I had that relationship you know she was my girl but Rory's kind of stole her from me but as long as they're happy. And I understand this rescue was

quite a monumental task, it was very expensive and some of that was crowdfunded. What would be your one message to anyone that had given a donation to help get these lions to safety? Thank you and we love you. Fundraising half a million pounds is a lot. It's a huge, huge effort. We got amazing response from not just here in the UK, but around the world. We had people from Australia, North America, South America, Japan and Asia. It's really been a worldwide effort to kind of support our mission and the cause. And we all came together, like literally the world came together to give these lions a better life.

So thank you, because without that, they wouldn't be in beautiful areas where they're able to run on grass for the first time in their life and kind of try and live life the rest of their life as a lion would. That was Cam Whitnell. Over the past few weeks people around the world have been taking on the challenge of running marathons from Boston to London. Participants have had many reasons to get out and run 26.2 miles or just over 42 kilometres and our next guest definitely had something to prove. Darren Iwell was paralysed from the waist down 14 years ago. He was the victim of a random shooting and he was told he would never walk again. He's now

an adaptive fitness coach and completed the London Marathon in just over six hours. He's been speaking to the Happy Pod's Holly Gibbs. It just felt like someone clipped their fingers and said you're never going to walk again. That was all that was on repeat in my head that you're never going to walk again. You have a spinal cord injury and this is it for you. And when I mean just walking, also that you've also lost your functions like your bladder and your bowels as well. It was heartbreaking because at the time my son was two and a half. I felt like I'd done something wrong. Like, did I deserve this? You know, like I haven't done nothing wrong. I was robbed. I'll be honest with you, I hit a very, very dark place. What did you tell yourself on your hardest days? How did you motivate yourself to keep

pushing? The only reason I can say I carried on to get this far is because even though there's always a one percent glimmer that what if, what if I do walk again? Even though I've been told by professionals, what if I do walk? I built this resilience. I spent two and a half years in hospital. Being paralyzed from your waist down saying this was like wishing for a miracle, you know, and waiting for it to happen. I needed someone to speak to, like myself, to get me through this injury, but I had no one. So I thought I need to be the person that I need. Because at that time, there's no such thing as really talked about as mental

health, men that feel low. There's not this kind of stuff that was talked about in 2011. Talk to me about your recovery. So what did you do? And can you now walk freely? I mean, I know you've just run a marathon 2011. Talk to me about your recovery. So what did you do and can you now walk freely? I mean, I know you've just run a marathon, but talk to me about what your movement is like now. I'm still paralyzed on my left side from my glute all the way down to my feet.

I'm paralyzed. I have motory, but no sensory. So it moves, but it's not, there's no sensory. Like I can't feel hot and cold on it, but I'm determined, you know, like I get up, I have to stretch, I stand on my elbow crotchies and then you wear these little splints that go around your, like from the bottom of your foot to your calf. Talk to me about the London Marathon. Why did you want to take on such a challenge?

I wanted to prove to myself and to the world that no matter what cards you're dealt with, it's your mind, your physical is always going to be there. But you have to have your mental in touch every day, just as a normal human being with no injury or nothing. We've all got stuff going on in our life and I think the quicker we face stuff mentally, the better we can get through things physically. Your mind arrives at your destination before you do. And Darren, how did it go? How did running the marathon go? Phenomenal. So I'd done a breakdown. So I started off walking, then I'll get in a wheelchair and push, then I'd get off and start walking. And then that was the program and I walked

through the finish line, which was amazing as well. The crowds are magnificent. The crowds of people that go you on, even the runners, they're going through it and they're patting you on your back and you're patting them back on their back and they're shouting your name, you're shouting their name. I got to kilometre 39, I'm wheeling, wheeling, wheeling and I look around. Now my brother and my physio are there, but I look around and they seem not to be there. But the crowds are shouting, but I can't hear a word coming out and my arms are hurting. I've got blisters all across my left hand and I'm just thinking, let me just get through this. Please, please let me just do this now. I don't want to,

I'm only four or five kilometres away from the finish line now. And what time did you do it in? Six hours, 35 minutes. Wow. What an achievement. It's phenomenal. Like I can't tell you the day, the people, the atmosphere, you know. And just like I said, everyone just leaving everything there. A lot of people doing the marathon for various reasons and I respect everyone's reason. And Darren, what is your message to other people that might find themselves in a similar

situation to you? How would you inspire them? My message to everyone is if you haven't got arms, use your legs. If you haven't got legs, use your arms. So what I mean by this is don't overthink it. Just keep going, you know, even though we have limitations, use the stuff that we got around us and just you can push through it, you know, like you can really get through it if you want to. You've got to keep turning up for your life every single day. The best thing you can push through it you know like you can really get through it if you want to you've got to keep turning up for your life every single day the best thing you can do in life is like show up just keep showing up for yourself. Darren Awole talking to Holly Gibbs to Malta now and a family

for whom spring brings with it a special aroma the sweet scent of orange blossom mixed with the smoke of burning wood. The Bayardas are one of the last families making orange blossom water using a traditional method passed down from generation to generation for over a century. Josef Kutaiya went to meet them. For one family on Gozo, Malta's younger sister island, spring isn't for cleaning but it's for orange blossom water. Lawrence Bayada, who's 57, and his eight-year-old mother, Maria Sunta, are among the last remaining people in the country who still make orange blossom water. The water is a clear, fragrant distillation of the fresh leaves and flowers of the bitter

orange tree. Traditionally, people use it either as a secret ingredient when making sweets, add it to their coffee, or as an antidote for an upset stomach. In the northern Maltese village of Shaara, the Bayada family have been distilling this water by hand for over a hundred years. I went to see the distillation process to watch it up close. As I was shown into their garden, an oasis of bitter orange trees, Maria Sunta told me that some of the trees were older than she was.

I've planted all of this. I'm always planting new trees. Look, Lawrence, that one's eight years old. My husband first taught me this process because the tradition came from his side of the family. I used to help my husband and when he fell ill I started to make it myself. And then I taught my son how to make it. When spring comes, Lawrence and his mother collect the flowers and the leaves, packed tightly in a metal barrel which is then filled with water up to a quarter of its volume.

Once that's done, the barrel is put over a low wood fire. When the water boils, a metal cap with two spouts is placed on top of the distiller to help the steam to condense. The water then trickles from one of the spouts and is collected in glass bottles. This process is repeated for eight hours. The steamed water is sealed in wooden barrels, like those used for wine, and stored for at least a year. There's not a single instrument used in the whole process, not even a thermometer. And yet, everything runs like clockwork. The distillers, the tools, everything that has been handed down from generation to generation. Lawrence has been offered the chance to modernize, but he insists on using the same method, going back 100 years.

A lot of people have urged me to modernize, but I told them if I don't do it my way, the traditional way, I'll stop producing. It's because this is how I've been taught. Otherwise the orange blossom water won't come out as good as it used to in the past. When the short season is over, nothing is wasted. The steamed leaves are turned into compost, the water used for cooling is stored and reused, the oranges from the same trees are turned into jam, and the storage bags are saved for next year.

But the future is uncertain because after Lawrence, no one seems to be interested in taking up this craft. Lawrence is, however, focused on the present. While I'm still healthy, I'll keep producing this orange blossom water for sure. It's something I feel, I love making it. And I look forward to these two months. It's a beautiful process. And when I see everything it and I look forward to these two months. It's a beautiful process

and when I see everything functioning I forget everything and stand in awe of how intelligent our ancestors were. I asked Maria Sunta whether she ever gets tired or fed up with this intense manual work. Cheekily she answered. We're in our own place when we feel tired we stop. We're in our own place. When we feel tired, we stop. Simple as that. Maria Sunter ending their report from Josef Kutaya. Coming up in this podcast... After a few months, I thought there's no chance that he's going to survive this. They're a lot faster than people think and they're always testing boundaries,

so I think they're a lot tougher than we give them credit for. A very unlikely runaway reunited with his owner after nine months in the wild. Now to a rather unusual robot that's offering blind people a new way to get around independently. Glide, as it's known, looks a bit like an upright vacuum cleaner with two wheels and a long handle and steers the user away from any hazards it detects with its 3D cameras. It aims to provide an alternative to white canes and guide dogs and will use AI to offer people more information about their surroundings. BBC Access All presenter Emma Tracy, who's blind, went to Los Angeles to find out more. So Glide is the first of its kind autonomous mobility aid. We call it an intelligent guide.

This is Amos Miller. He's the inventor of Glide, and that's a new gadget that helps us get about. Amos himself is blind, and he already uses the device every day. The user holds the handle and begins to walk. And what happens when they begin to walk? The wheels steer the way. I want to give it a go,

so I take the device in one hand and Amos walks within touching distance of me using his cane. Gosh, I'm a bit nervous. I'm glad to hear that. So, we've got a blind man with a cane and a blind lady with a glide. So, shall I go? Yep.

So now, we'll just go and let it do its thing. Now what you have to do is follow what you're doing. Great, look at you. You know that feeling when you're pushing a supermarket trolley and it has a wonky wheel and it suddenly swerves to the side? That's what this feels like. Glide does it to protect you, but it still feels a little unnerving when it happens. Why did it go over there? I don't know. I think there must be something in front of us. but it still feels a little unnerving when it happens.

Why did it go over there? I don't know, I think there must be something in front of us. So it just sort of took me out of the way. So this is just reacted to the environment. Now you do it yourself. Don't walk too fast. It's very odd for me because I just feel like I've got the cordless vacuum out but it's got a mind of its own so it's just moved me around something. It's, oh, I don't know, am I doing this right? It's moved me around. I feel like I'm going round in circles now.

Give me any new piece of tech and it's going to take me a while to get used to it. And sure enough, after another five minutes, my confidence is high. Dangerously high. What would happen if I ran or walked really quickly? Let's find out. Ah! Ah! Sorry.

This is a little bit scary. I feel like I'm pushing my kid in a wagon or something. The kid's got his feet on the floor and is trying to show me where it's going. Next. First of all, well done. Thank you. I think it was amazing to see even the progress

in the last 10 minutes when you've been using the device. So yeah, so I've been wandering around for ages, but I have no idea what I've done or where I've gone. It's been, I mean it's been fun but... So one of the things that we're working on is what we call line-of-sight targeting where you can, where Glide will detect potential targets in the environment like the dropped curb, like the door to the store and things of that nature so that you can set those as destination. And when will that happen? When will we have that? One step at a time. In the future, Amos says, I'll be able to talk to Glide

and Glide will be able to talk back. Hey Glide, take me to the elevator. Hey Glide, take me to the nearest bus stop. With combinations of mapping data and routes saved by other users, it'll become easier for blind people to travel around new places. Before he set up his new company, Amos was a senior product strategist with Microsoft when they launched Soundscape, a celebrated navigation app for blind people. He's also been the chair of Guide Dogs UK,

so if anyone can create a new way for blind people to get about, it's this guy. Maybe that's why lots of blind people have already pre-ordered the glide, like Chris and Michaela. I got to walk with it last year and I was so thrilled I almost cried. It was so emotional for me. Why? Why? Because just so you'll walk freely and not worry and not wonder if I was gonna run into something. And it's going to have the navigation mapping connected to it so you can you just use the device and it's guiding you to where you're

going and so you don't have to have your phone out listening to turn-by-turn directions which can get distracting when you're traveling. So if you're just having the device that's kind of all in one. Right. And I think it's really going to be a game changer for us. And you can hear more about Glide and other technology helping those people who are blind and partially sighted on People Fixing the World, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Next to a player who's got Indian

cricket fans very excited and he's only just turned 14. In April Vaibhuv Suryavanshi became the youngest person to appear in an Indian Premier League match having been signed at the end of last year. Now he's become the youngest player to hit a century in men's T20s. That's the shorter 20 overs a side form of the game that's becoming increasingly popular around the world. Kulsoom Khufaji reports. Step forward, Vibhav Suryavanshi. The teenager became the youngest player to hit a century. That's 100 runs in a men's T20 game.

Fair to say the crowd enjoyed it. He was bowled out one run later scoring 101 from just 38 balls and giving his side Rajasthan Royals an eight-wicket win over Gujarat Titans. He became the youngest player to be signed by an IPL team when he was picked up at the auction after a bidding war last year. We knew what he's capable of and what kind of shots he can play. That's Vibhav's coach Vikram. To do it in front of this kind of crowd and in a situation like this against a really, really good bowling attack, I think it was really special and a lot of credit to him.

This is Mohsin Kamala, cricket journalist from Kashmir in India. Anyone in India right now is talking about Vibhav. He comes from a small village in Bihar called Samastipur. His parents had to sacrifice a lot to ensure Vaibhav plays at the highest level. And in terms of his performance, what makes him so special and what makes him stand out from his other fellow players? Kulsoot, the thing is that he is just 14, but the way the power he produces by hitting the ball is just amazing. He scored runs everywhere.

It prompted IPL scouts to take a look at him and in December, he became the youngest player to get an IPL bid. And Mohsin, you spoke to his coaches yesterday. Yes. What is next for him? See, his coach tell me that he is the kind of talent that could be seen in an Indian class. Like he could be making his international debut in one or two years.

But they all say that he needs to be taken care of. It is very much possible that in next one or two years we could see him playing for India. That report was by Kulsam Hafferjee. Now it's probably the last animal you might imagine could run away from home. But a 13-year-old tortoise has only just been found, nine months after escaping. Leonardo hadn't made it far though, turning up just a mile through his home in Cumbria in northern England. His owner is Rachel Etches. He's never been out in the winter before, he's never hibernated, so

after a few months I thought there's no chance that he's going to survive this. I took my eye off him in the garden so it was entirely my fault. They're a lot faster than people think and they're always testing boundaries so if there's a gap in the fence they'll find it. I think they're a lot tougher than we give them credit for. He's clearly found a nice place to hibernate and then as the weather's got warmer in the last few weeks he's managed to wake himself up and then go the weather's got warmer in the last few weeks, he's managed to wake himself up

and then go on his adventure. I mean he might have been hibernating right in my back garden and I just not found him but we did comb the area very thoroughly. So I don't know the name of the man who found him but it was a dog walker just walking in our little hamlet because they're quite a rare thing. He had phoned the local pet shop, Little Beasties, which is actually where Leonardo was purchased originally. Leonardo is microchipped, however, my details weren't up to date, so that was my fault and it's a reminder to everyone to keep them up to date. But thankfully a lady had seen his missing post and had connected the dots and she'd got in touch with me. I was just in utter shock and my first thought was well surely he can't be in good health and but I was

wrong and he was he was absolutely fine. He's been inside for the past few days more more so while he would just like reclimatises but we've bought him a nice garden enclosure now so he will be able to join us again outside but in a more secure setting. Thank goodness for that. Rachel Etches. Now when you hear the word influencer you probably think of young people who spend a lot of time on social media. Well Joan Partridge has just become one at the age of 103. A video of Joan giving makeup tips has racked up tens of thousands of views online and even landed her a role with a cosmetics company. Felicity Kvessik went to her care home

in central England to meet her. You've gone viral, 180,000 views of your video. Well, I've just waited a mess. Oh my goodness, no it isn't. And Lindsay, you work here at the care home. Can you tell us a little bit about how we got to the stage of Joan going viral? Yeah, so we'd done the TikTok video with Joan on her,

putting your rouge on, as you like to call it. Yeah. And she'd done it as a whole tutorial to teach people how to do it. And then from there, actually, the makeup that she was using, somebody had tagged the company in and said, look, she's using your makeup. And the company then got in touch with us,

which was really nice to say how lovely it was to see Joan doing something like that. And they wanted to send the makeup out directly to Joan. They've seen actually how widespread this was going. And we had 310 comments, which included sort of the younger generation and the older generation asking Joan to become a bit more of a TikTok sensation for them

and to do more Tutorials on how to do a makeup and the company then got back in touch with us again and said actually we'd not only like to send Joan Makeup, but all the female residents in the home makeup as well. Just last week wasn't it Joan? This giant box of makeup came Yeah, it's ever so nice. You've got 310 comments. Oh, but are they all nice? They're all beautiful. They are, Joan. They're all beautiful, beautiful comments from young girls and older ladies,

all saying how beautiful you are and how much they love your video and they'd like to see more. Oh, no, no. I'm too old to go to work. Hi there. My name is Nicola and I am Joan's granddaughter. No, no, I'm too old to go to work. Hi there, my name is Nicola and I am Joan's granddaughter. Joan's got quite a few grandchildren. And what do you say about you?

I always say that I'm her favorite one. So we are talking about how Joan has gone viral. She has? Can anyone scarcely believe it? And I can't stop shouting about it, because I'm so proud of her. SHE LAUGHS She's amazing. How many is today?

Oh, I think there was nearly 200,000. If I have nothing better to do. Nan, you're beautiful. We are just blown away. Like, wow, like we've been sharing the story, like, with friends and like, look at my Nan. But we're all just like, we always sharing the story like with friends and like, look at my nan. But we're all just like, we always expect the unexpected with my nan.

You've always got a face full of makeup. Yes I have. But I only use it up to use it so I don't waste it. Joan Partridge. And that's all from the HappyPod for now, but if you have a story you think we should cover, we'd love to hear from you. Just send us an email or a voice note to globalpodcast at 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 Craig Kingham and the producers were Holly Gibbs

and Rachel Bulkley. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Nick Miles and until next time, goodbye.