Podcasts about Benin

Laura McAllister is the Vice-President of UEFA. During her own football career Laura was the captain of Wales' women's team, gaining 24 caps for her country. Wales have qualified for this year's Euros for the first time and will play their debut match tomorrow, as will England who are defending their title after winning at Wembley in 2022. Laura joins Datshiane Navanayagam ahead of those first games. Award-winning playwright Beth Steel tells Datshiane how her working-class, northern roots inspire her hit play Till The Stars Come Down. Set at the wedding of Sylvia and Marek - the vodka flows and dances are shared, passions boil over and the limits of love are tested. She becomes the fifth female playwright to transfer from the National Theatre to the West End.The film director Gurinder Chadha has released a trailer to celebrate this summer's cricket fixtures between England and India's women's teams. She joins Datshiane to discuss why she's chosen to put women's cricket under the spotlight and the legacy of her last hit film about women's sport, Bend It Like Beckham. The musical icon Angélique Kidjo has become the first black African performer to be selected for a star on the prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fame. Kidjo, who comes from the West African country of Benin, and has won five Grammy awards, was among the 35 names announced as part of the Walk of Fame's class of 2026 list. Music journalist Kate Hutchinson tells us more. Presenter: Datshiane Navanayagam Producer: Corinna Jones

“By blocking the wheels of a foreigner's car, it is more than just an aggressive move. It is a symbolic accusation of being a thief. In our West African culture, that is a serious insult to a guest. You are not only making yourself look bad, you are dishonoring your country.”                                                                ----------------Today's story is told by Michée Badé, AFM missionary formerly to the Otamarri and Dendi Projects in Benin, West Africa. Subscribe and leave us a review if you enjoyed listening to today's story!

In this enlightening episode of the Visions & Tones Podcast, join Dr. T as he engages in a captivating discussion with Dr. Nekpen Okhawere, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Benin, Nigeria. Dr. Okhawere shares her journey from the corporate world to academia, emphasizing her passion for teaching and research, particularly in qualitative methods. Dr. Okhawere addresses the scarcity of qualitative research in Nigeria, in Africa, explaining cultural and systematic challenges while highlighting her determination to advocate for qualitative and mixed-method approaches. This episode delves into the importance of having an academic voice, exploring the impact of qualitative research in answering nuanced questions, and the role of collaborations in challenging misconceptions and driving change in educational practices across Africa. You can access the work of Dr. Nekpen Okhawere here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=D7xKST0AAAAJ&hl  Thank you for choosing the Visions & Tones Podcast. 

Taxă pe gândire. Când bursa devine vis și cartea - lux (SpotMedia) - Statul închide robinetul de mercenari: Guvernul vrea să oprească migrarea cadrelor din Poliție și Armată către armate private, sub pedeapsa închisorii (PressOne) - Ar trebui ca România să ofere avioane F16 Ucrainei? Expert: „Summitul NATO stimulează statele europene să doneze Kievului vechituri” (Adevărul) Guvernul se pregătește să taie sporurile pentru bugetari de la 1 iulie. Ce ia din sporuri va da la consumatorii vulnerabili de energie (HotNews) Guvernul caută soluții pentru a face economii la buget începând chiar cu 1 iulie, fiind luată în calcul inclusiv reducerea sau eliminarea unor sporuri acordate bugetarilor, au declarat, pentru HotNews, surse guvernamentale. Graba noului Executiv este dată de urgența adoptării unor măsuri de protejare, de la 1 iulie, a consumatorilor vulnerabili de energie, pentru care sunt necesare sume mari de la bugetul statului. Cele două proiecte de OUG anunțate de HotNews.ro au ajuns spre avizare la Consiliul Economic și Social (CES). Deși este doar consultativ, avizul CES este obligatoriu înainte de adoptarea oricărui act normativ. 12,4 miliarde de lei s-au dat pe sporuri anul trecut. România are peste 3,7 milioane de consumatori vulnerabili. Mecanismul de sprijin pentru consumatorii vulnerabili, după ridicarea plafonării prețurilor la energie de la 1 iulie 2025, prevede un sprijin lunar în valoare de 50 de lei pentru o perioadă de 9 luni, de la 1 iulie 2025 până la 31 martie 2026. Sunt 2 categorii de beneficiari: persoană singură cu un venit net lunar de maxim 1940 lei familii cu un venit net lunar/membru de maxim 1784 de lei. Taxă pe gândire. Când bursa devine vis și cartea - lux (SpotMedia) Analfabetismul funcțional se apropie de 50%, iar ministrul-psiholog al Educaţiei a decis că bursele sunt prea scumpe. Nu sunt prea scumpe pensiile speciale. De ele nu te poţi atinge că… CCR. Nu sunt prea scumpe subvențiile de zeci de milioane de euro pentru partide. Aici sunt banii de propagandă, cum să-i tai? Nu sunt prea scumpe salariile uriașe din autorităţile şi companiile de stat (unele falimentare), unde se premiază incompetența și pilele. Acum câteva luni acelaşi ministru spunea pe bună dreptate că analfabetismul funcțional e chestiune de securitate naţională. Au trecut alegerile, ne-a lovit brusc conştiinţa bugetului şi deodată nu mai e nicio problemă. Ba chiar se mai poate tăia niţel din banii pentru şcoală. Aşa că acum ministrul David le spune cinic elevilor şi studenților să accepte mai puțini bani pentru burse. De ce? Pentru că, „în situații de criză, lucrurile sunt complicate. Și să vrei, n-ai de unde”. Şi asta în condițiile în care România oricum cheltuie printre cei mai puțini bani din UE pe educație, raportat la PIB. Ne aflăm la același nivel cu Tanzania, după state precum Zambia, Anguilla, Palau, Benin și Panama. România e țara în care educația moare cu zile și e ucisă de cei care ar trebui s-o salveze, scrie Bogdana Boga, redactor șef SpotMedia. Statul închide robinetul de mercenari: Guvernul vrea să oprească migrarea cadrelor din Poliție și Armată către armate private, sub pedeapsa închisorii (PressOne) Ministerul Afacerilor Interne a depus pentru dezbatere publică un proiect de ordonanță de urgență prin care se dorește corectarea portițelor legislative care au permis angajaților din sistemul național de apărare, ordine publică și securitate națională să furnizeze cadre pentru armata privată a lui Horațiu Potra. Corecția se va aplica mai multor legi care reglementează statutul angajaților din sistemul de securitate și urmărește interzicerea în mod expres a prestării de munci pentru companii militare private, chiar și după trecerea în rezervă și sub amenințarea pedepsei cu închisoarea de la 2-7 ani. Hemoragia de personal de specialitate antrenat pentru condiții de luptă pe banii statului român, către compania militară privată deținută de mercenarul Horațiu Potra a ridicat grave probleme de securitate în ultimii ani. PressOne a arătat în mai multe articole că Armata Română, Poliția, Jandarmeria și alte instituții de forță din zona de ordine publică și securitate au furnizat începând cu 2022 sute de combatanți în compania lui Potra care au luptat în Republica Democrată Congo. Ar trebui ca România să ofere avioane F16 Ucrainei? Expert: „Summitul NATO stimulează statele europene să doneze Kievului vechituri” (Adevărul) La summitul NATO de la Haga s-a stabilit că în procentul de 5% din PIB pentru apărare vor intra și ajutoarele militare pentru Ucraina. Ce va însemna acest lucru pentru dotarea ucrainenilor și ce ar putea România să doneze/să achiziționeze a explicat experta în securitate europeană Iulia Joja. „Dacă e să analizăm cinic, acest articol presupune că statele europene care încă nu s-au debarasat de toate vechiturile să le doneze Ucrainei și să adauge la bugetul militar valoarea aproximativă a acelor echipamente”, explică Joja. Experta analizează și în ce măsură pentru România este o oportunitate de a „scăpa”, de  avioanele F 16 pe care le deține și de a achiziționa mult mai performantele F-35. Pe larg în ziarul Adevărul.

In this edition of our arts24 music show, Jennifer Ben Brahim chats with Franco-Togolese singer Laura Prince. She's just released her second album "Adjoko", a voyage between memory, identity and authenticity. "Adjoko" is Laura's Togolese name, and symbolises her quest to reconnect with her African roots. She produced the record between France, Togo and Ouidah in Benin, a port town famous for its dark role in the slave trade. She also references her West African links to slavery through her name Laura Prince. It's an homage to author Mary Prince, the first Black woman to publish a book about her experiences as a slave.

Hoje, ‘No Pé do Ouvido, com Yasmim Restum, você encontra essas e outras notícias: Após bombardeios, Trump fala em ‘mudança de regime’ no Irã e Brasil condena ataques. Debate tributário vira arma do governo para brigar com oposição. Bienal do Livro fecha com alta de público e boom nas editoras. Holanda devolve esculturas saqueadas do antigo Reino de Benin. Mau tempo interrompe buscas por brasileira desaparecida na Indonésia. Meta lança óculos inteligentes em parceria com a Oakley. Reino Unido vai testar sangue artificial em humanos pela primeira vez. E a Parada LGBT+ destaca envelhecimento e resistência.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Let yourself be transported by these Beninese women who sell all kinds of food from 3am on board their pirogues before setting off to fish on Lake Nokoué. Recorded by Pierre Costard.Singing, rowing, shouting selling | I took a brief sample of the sounds of the market & used the granular synth Kaivo to create a repetitive but ever-changing piece, which emulated the repetitive but ever changing nature of the market as captured by the field recording | Tim Coomb

"I aimed for making it sound like a disturbing dream. Used the entire original recording with a copy processed with echo and reverb as well. A drone, some kind of eerie pads and, surprisingly for me, percussion - some of it quite odd..." Fishermen's songs in Benin reimagined by Windspace (Bruce Hickey).

Songs of fishermen retrieving fish trapped in large nets by force of arms. Recorded by Pierre Costard.

"I took a brief sample of the sounds of the market & used the granular synth Kaivo to create a repetitive but ever-changing piece, which emulated the repetitive but ever changing nature of the market as captured by the field recording." Night market in Ganvier, Benin reimagined by Tim Coomb.

Good afternoon, I'm _____ with today's episode of EZ News. Tai-Ex opening The Tai-Ex opened down 43-points this morning from yesterday's close, at 21,961 on turnover of $5.1-billion N-T. The market fell more than 350 points on Thursday as market sentiment was spooked by the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, and a hint by the U-S Federal Reserve that it's in no hurry to cut interest rates. Sell-offs were seen across the board, led by the bellwether electronics sector, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in focus, which pushed the main board below the 240-day moving average of around 22,280-points by the end of the session. Philippines grants Taiwan visa-free entry starting July Taiwan passport holders will be able to travel to the Philippines visa-free entry starting in July. The announcement was made by the Manila Economic and Cultural Office. According to the office, starting July 1, Taiwan passport holders can enter the Philippines "for tourism purposes without a visa for a non-extendible (不得延長的) and non-convertible period of 14 days." However, the office is stressing that Taiwan passport holders planning to visit the Philippines for more than two weeks or other purposes still need to apply for a visa. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it welcomes the decision. The announcement comes after Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said on June 13 that Taiwan will be extending its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year starting August 1. Trump to Decide on Iran Action in 2 Weeks US President Donald Trump says he will decide on whether to take military action in Iran within the next two weeks. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the US president believes there is a "substantial (可觀的) chance of negotiations with Iran in the near future. Kate Fisher reports from Washington Canada Bank Rockslide Rescue crews, police and paramedics scrambled to a remote Canadian Rocky Mountain region of Banff National Park amid reports that a group of hikers were hit by a rock slide. Royal Canadian Mounted Police say the initial (最初的) report indicated there were multiple hikers and there may be serious injuries and or fatalities. The site is north of Lake Louise on the Icefields Parkway, about 200 kilometers northwest of Calgary. Nigeria Artifacts Returned by Netherlands The Netherlands has returned 119 artifacts looted from Nigeria, including human and animal figures, plaques, royal regalia and a bell. The artifacts, known as the Benin Bronzes and mostly housed in a museum in the city of Leiden, were looted in the late 19th century by British soldiers. In recent years, museums across Europe and North America have moved to address ownership disputes over artifacts looted during the colonial era. Nigeria formally requested the return of hundreds of objects from museums around the world in 2022. The Benin Bronzes were stolen in 1897 when British forces sacked (洗劫，劫掠) the Benin kingdom and forced the monarch at the time, into a six-month exile. That was the I.C.R.T. EZ News, I'm _____. －－－－以下訊息由 SoundOn 動態廣告贊助商提供－－－－ 「親家JIA」19-27坪，全新落成，坐擁大安核心門牌。 350公尺達忠孝復興站，直通市府、機場、車站，850公尺接建國高架。 四大百貨、綠廊公園環繞，七分鐘生活圈涵蓋大潤發與市場，便利質感兼具。 城市菁英嚮往的私藏寓所，首選「親家JIA」，即刻入主 02-2772-6188。 https://sofm.pse.is/7sl88j -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

Als wij bij de wedkantoren mogen inzetten op nieuwe regionale conflicten in West-Afrika, dan kiezen we Togo en Gambia. “Die dekselse horizontalen aan de westkust!”, moeten de verticale Togolezen denken. Met Chili kunnen we tenminste praten. En met oosterbuur Benin eigenlijk ook wel. Maar vergis je niet, het kleine stukje kust in dit smalle landje trok veel bekijks, met alle gevolgen van dien. Hier hebben zó veel Europese onruststokers rondgelopen dat het Esperanto in Togo uitgevonden had kunnen zijn. Meerdere walletjes hebben dus gegeten van Togo. Dus dan rijst nu de vraag: hier opeten of meenemen? We zijn nooit volledig, wel origineel. Geen experts, maar wel liefhebbers. Hebben we tóch iets verkeerd gezegd of zijn we iets cruciaals vergeten? Volg ons en laat het weten.

Nomadic Matt is a pioneering travel blogger. One day, we'll call him the grandfather of travel blogging during the Golden Era of travel blogs. He's not known for his travel feats but rather for the extensive tips he's provided on his popular website, which focuses on budget travel. Watch the Video The book's budget used to be $50/day, but inflation and a post-COVID world forced Matt to update his book. In 2025, he refreshed his bestselling book, which is now called How to Travel the World on $75 a Day.  As part of his book tour, he's appearing on the WanderLearn Show twice! Nomadic Matt discusses 00:00 When to book a hotel 02:40 Why is Africa left out of his book? 05:10 Bilt Rewards Credit Card 08:10 Airline booking tips 09:20 Travel insurance 12:00 Tourist Cards 15:00 Why Matt travels less than before 18:30 Blogging is dead?   Questions What's the most embarrassing or ridiculous thing you've done to save money while traveling? What's the difference between EatWith, WithLocals, and Traveling Spoon? When do you usually book your hotels? Why is Africa left out? Are tourism cards still worth it? When do you use travel insurance? Why not use Kiwi? What are Bilt Rewards? His book is packed with tips. Here are my favorite ones.  The best websites to keep track of the latest credit card deals BoardingArea FlyerTalk The Points Guy View from the Wing Pay your rent and get frequent flyer points with Bilt Rewards Matt's top three airline booking sites  My favorite airline website is Kiwi, and use this link to get $10 off. He doesn't mention Kiwi in his book. Instead, his favorite flight booking sites are: Skyscanner Momondo Google Flights For insurance Safety Wing World Nomads MedjetAssist IMG InsureMyTrip for comparison shopping Sell your old clothes to raise money for your trip Vinted ThredUp Poshmark Online Garage sale to raise funds and downsize VarageSale OfferUp Swappa for electronics Gazelle Decluttr Anytime Mailbox starts at $6 and has several locations. Lodging Sites LateRooms Last Minute Hotel Tonight Priceline Hotwire Roomer allows you to buy someone else's hotel reservation at a steep discount Agoda excels in East Asia Food Matt is a foodie. I am not. Here are some of his favorite sites: EatWith has 5000+ hosts in over 130 countries WithLocals Traveling Spoon Ride-sharing or hitchhiking for the 21st century Search for "ride-sharing" and the name of the region/country where you are traveling. You'll usually find options. I've used BlaBlaCar in Europe, for example. Tourism Cards Nomadic Matt sold me on the tourism cards that give you access to popular sites and public transportation. Although that can save you nearly half the price, it's only suitable for those doing a whirlwind, fast, and comprehensive tour. If you want to see the British Museum, don't get the London Pass. But it makes sense if you're going to see most of the significant sites. Why is Africa left out? The first half of the book offers general, practical advice. The second provides specific guidance to various regions. For example, he has a section about Australia. You'd think a book that helps travelers live on $75 a day would encourage tourists to visit Africa. Like Southeast Asia, parts of Africa have a low cost of living. For example, in 2013, in Benin, I rented a two-room place with a shower (but a shared outhouse for a toilet) for $10 per month! Ten years later, maybe the price has doubled to $20 a month!   Still, Nomadic Matt confesses, "I had to make trade-offs and omit the lesser-visited countries and regions..." (Kindle Location 1434). I won't quibble with his decision or logic. Conclusion When I got an advanced copy of Nomadic Matt's book, I expected to be bored out of my mind. I figured it was a book for beginners or intermediate travelers, not hyper-experienced travel studs like me.  As usual, I was wrong. Nomadic Matt pumped me with many ideas I was oblivious to. Although I shared my favorite ones on this page, buy How to Travel the World on $75 a Day to get all his excellent advice. Feedback Leave anonymous audio feedback at SpeakPipe More info You can post comments, ask questions, and sign up for my newsletter at http://wanderlearn.com. If you like this podcast, subscribe and share!  On social media, my username is always FTapon. Connect with me on: Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram TikTok LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr My Patrons sponsored this show! Claim your monthly reward by becoming a patron at http://Patreon.com/FTapon Rewards start at just $2/month! Affiliate links Get 25% off when you sign up to Trusted Housesitters, a site that helps you find sitters or homes to sit in. Start your podcast with my company, Podbean, and get one month free! In the USA, I recommend trading crypto with Kraken.  Outside the USA, trade crypto with Binance and get 5% off your trading fees! For backpacking gear, buy from Gossamer Gear.

In this 125th episode of the Good Morning BSS World podcast, I welcome back Rod Jones -renowned CX strategist and advisor to the African BPO & GBS Federation - for our sixth engaging conversation. This month's talk spans the continent, from Egypt to Ghana, and introduces new countries like Benin into the outsourcing dialogue. Rod shares valuable updates, including:Egypt's presence at GITEX Africa and Berlin's GIZ roadshowNigeria's government-backed “Outsource to Nigeria” initiativeAI's evolving impact on African BPO/GBS - balancing automation with employmentThe Federation's new handbook to guide emerging BPO associationsBenin's rise as a new player on the outsourcing mapInsights into the upcoming Elevate Africa conference in EthiopiaPlus, we discuss how Africa is positioning itself globally, with support from global players like Teleperformance and Concentrix, and future plans for a structured federation advisory board. If you're in the outsourcing industry, this episode is a must-listen for insights into Africa's rapidly evolving BPO/GBS scene!  Key points of the podcast:The African BPO and GBS landscape is expanding with new members like Ghana, Benin, and Morocco joining the federation.The federation's new association handbook aims to guide countries in establishing and formalizing their own BPO and GBS associations.AI's impact on the BPO and GBS industry is a hot topic, with discussions focused on balancing technological advancement with job creation.  Links:Rod Jones - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodjonessouthafrica/Africa Federation of GBS Associations - https://africagbsfederation.org/Africa Federation of GBS Associations on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/africa-gbs-federation/posts/?feedView=allTalk to AI about this episode - https://gmbw.onpodcastai.com/episodes/ET9JzjsuvRm/chatElevate Africa - https://www.weelevateafrica.org/  ****************************  My name is Wiktor Doktór and on daily basis I run Pro Progressio Club https://klub.proprogressio.pl - it's a community of many private companies and public sector organizations that care about the development of business relations in the B2B model. In the Good Morning BSS World podcast, apart from solo episodes, I share interviews with experts and specialists from global BPO/GBS industry.If you want to learn more about me, please visit my social media channels:YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/wiktordoktorHere is also link to the English podcasts Playlist - https://bit.ly/GoodMorningBSSWorldPodcastYTLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktordoktorYou can also write to me. My email address is - kontakt(@) wiktordoktor.pl  ****************************  This Podcast is supported by Patrons:Marzena Sawicka https://www.linkedin.com/in/marzena-sawicka-a9644a23/Przemysław Sławiński https://www.linkedin.com/in/przemys%C5%82aw-s%C5%82awi%C5%84ski-155a4426/Damian Ruciński https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-ruci%C5%84ski/Szymon Kryczka https://www.linkedin.com/in/szymonkryczka/Grzegorz Ludwin https://www.linkedin.com/in/gludwin/Adam Furmańczuk https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-agilino/Anna Czyż - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-czyz-%F0%9F%94%B5%F0%9F%94%B4%F0%9F%9F%A2-68597813/Igor Tkach - https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortkach/  If you like my podcasts give a like, subscribe and join Patrons of Good Morning BSS World as well. Here are two links to do so:Patronite - https://patronite.pl/wiktordoktor  Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/wiktordoktor Or if you liked this episode and would like to buy me virtual coffee, you can use this link https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wiktordoktor - by doing so you support the growth and distribution of this podcast.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/good-morning-bss-world--4131868/support.

In this interview, Lamorna Ash, author of Don't Forget We're Here Forever: A New Generation's Search for Religion, and one of my favourite modern writers, talked about working at the Times Literary Supplement, netball, M. John Harrison, AI and the future of religion, why we should be suspicious of therapy, the Anatomy of Melancholy, the future of writing, what surprised her in the Bible, the Simpsons, the joy of Reddit, the new Pope, Harold Bloom, New Atheism's mistakes, reading J.S. Mill. I have already recommended her new book Don't Forget We're Here Forever, which Lamorna reads aloud from at the end. Full transcript below.Uploading videos onto Substack is too complicated for me (it affects podcast downloads somehow, and the instructions to avoid this problem are complicated, so I have stopped doing it), and to upload to YouTube I have to verify my account but they told me that after I tried to upload it and my phone is dead, so… here is the video embedded on this page. I could quote the whole thing. Here's one good section.Lamorna: Which one would you say I should do first after The Sea, The Sea?Henry: Maybe The Black Prince.Lamorna: The Black Prince. Great.Henry: Which is the one she wrote before The Sea, The Sea and is just a massive masterpiece.Lamorna: I'll read it. Where do you stand on therapy? Do you have a position?Henry: I think on net, it might be a bad thing, even if it is individually useful for people.Lamorna: Why is that?Henry: [laughs] I didn't expect to have to answer the question. Basically two reasons. I think it doesn't take enough account of the moral aspect of the decisions being made very often. This is all very anecdotal and you can find yourself feeling better in the short term, but not necessarily in the long-- If you make a decision that's not outrageously immoral, but which has not had enough weight placed on the moral considerations.There was an article about how lots of people cut out relatives now and the role that therapy plays in that. What I was struck by in the article that was-- Obviously, a lot of those people are justified and their relatives have been abusive or nasty, of course, but there are a lot of cases where you were like, "Well, this is a long-term decision that's been made on a short-term basis." I think in 10 years people may feel very differently. There wasn't enough consideration in the article, at least I felt, given to how any children involved would be affected later on. I think it's a good thing and a bad thing.Lamorna: I'm so with you. I think that's why, because also the fact of it being so private and it being about the individual, and I think, again, there are certain things if you're really struggling with that, it's helpful for, but I think I'm always more into the idea of communal things, like AAA and NA, which obviously a very particular. Something about doing that together, that it's collaborative and therefore there is someone else in the room if you say, "I want to cut out my parent."There's someone else who said that happened to me and it was really hard. It means that you are making those decisions together a little bit more. Therapy, I can feel that in friends and stuff that it does make us, even more, think that we are these bounded individuals when we're not.Henry: I should say, I have known people who've gone to therapy and it's worked really well.Lamorna: I'm doing therapy right now and it is good. TranscriptHenry: Today I am talking to Lamorna Ash. Lamorna is one of the rising stars of her generation. She has written a book about a fishing village in Cornwall. She's written columns for the New Statesman, of which I'm a great admirer. She works for a publisher and now she's written a book called, Don't Forget, We're Here Forever: A New Generation's Search for Religion. I found this book really compelling and I hope you will go and read it right now. Lamorna, welcome.Lamorna Ash: Thank you for having me.Henry: What was it like when you worked at the Times Literary Supplement?Lamorna: It was an amazing introduction to mostly contemporary fiction, but also so many other forms of writing I didn't know about. I went there, I actually wrote a letter, handwritten letter after my finals, saying that I'd really enjoyed this particular piece that somehow linked the anatomy of melancholy to infinite jest, and being deeply, deeply, deeply pretentious, those were my two favorite books. I thought, well, I'll apply for this magazine. I turned up there as an intern. They happened to have a space going.My job was Christmas in that I just spent my entire time unwrapping books and putting them out for editors to swoop by and take away. I'd take on people's corrections. I'd start to see how the editorial process worked. I started reading. I somehow had missed contemporary fiction. I hadn't read people like Rachel Kask or Nausgaard. I was reading them through going to the fiction pages. It made me very excited. Also, my other job whilst I was there, was I had the queries email. You'd get loads of incredibly random emails, including things like, you are cordially invited to go on the Joseph Conrad cycle tour of London. I'd ask the office, "Does anyone want to do this?" Obviously, no one ever said yes.I had this amazing year of doing really weird stuff, like going on Joseph Conrad cycling tour or going to a big talk at the comic book museum or the new advertising museum of London. I loved it. I really loved it.Henry: What was the Joseph Conrad cycling tour of London like? That sounds-Lamorna: Oh, it was so good. I remember at one point we stopped on maybe it was Blackfriars Bridge or perhaps it was Tower Bridge and just read a passage from the secret agent about the boats passing underneath. Then we'd go to parts of the docks where they believe that Conrad stayed for a while, but instead it would be some fancy youth hostel instead.It was run by the Polish Society of London, I believe-- the Polish Society of England, I believe. Again, each time it was like an excuse then to get into that writer and then write a little piece about it for the TLS. I guess, it was also, I was slightly cutting my teeth on how to do that kind of journalism as well.Henry: What do you like about The Anatomy of Melancholy?Lamorna: Almost everything. I think the prologue, Democritus Junior to the Reader is just so much fun and naughty. He says, "I'm writing about melancholy in order to try and avoid melancholy myself." There's six editions of it. He spent basically his entire life writing this book. When he made new additions to the book, rather than adding another chapter, he would often be making insertions within sentences themselves, so it becomes more and more bloated. There's something about the, what's the word for it, the ambition that I find so remarkable of every single possible version of melancholy they could talk about.Then, maybe my favorite bit, and I think about this as a writer a lot, is there's a bit called the digression of air, or perhaps it's digression on the air, where he just suddenly takes the reader soaring upwards to think about air and you sort of travel up like a hawk. It's this sort of breathing moment for a reader where you go in a slightly different direction. I think in my own writing, I always think about digression as this really valuable bit of nonfiction, this sense of, I'm not just taking you straight the way along. I think it'd be useful to go sideways a bit too.Henry: That was Samuel Johnson's favorite book as well. It's a good choice.Lamorna: Was it?Henry: Yes. He said that it was the only book that would get him out of bed in the morning.Lamorna: Really?Henry: Because he was obviously quite depressive. I think he found it useful as well as entertaining, as it were. Should netball be an Olympic sport?Lamorna: [laughs] Oh, it's already going to be my favorite interview. I think the reason it isn't an Olympic-- yes, I have a vested interest in netball and I play netball once a week. I'm not very good, but I am very enthusiastic because it's only played mostly in the Commonwealth. It was invented a year after basketball as a woman-friendly version because women should not run with the ball in case they get overexerted and we shouldn't get too close to contacting each other in case we touch, and that's awful.It really is only played in the Commonwealth. I think the reason it won't become an Olympic sport is because it's not worldwide enough, which I think is a reasonable reason. I'm not, of all the my big things that I want to protest about and care about right now, making that an Olympic sport is a-- it's reasonably low on my list.Henry: Okay, fair enough. You are an admirer of M. John Harrison's fiction, is that right?Lamorna: Yes.Henry: Tell us what should we read and why should we read him?Lamorna: You Should Come With Me Now, is that what it's called? I know I reviewed one of his books years ago and thought it was-- because he's part of that weird sci-fi group that I find really interesting and they've all got a bit of Samuel Delany to them as well. I just remember there was this one particular story in that collection, I think in general, he's a master at sci-fi that doesn't feel in that Dune way of just like, lists of names of places. It somehow has this, it's very literary, it's very odd, it's deeply imaginative. It is like what I wanted adult fiction to be when I was 12 or something, that there's the way the fantasy and imagination works.I remember there was one about all these men, married men who were disappearing into their attics and their wives thought they were just tinkering. What they were doing was building these sort of translucent tubes that were taking them off out of the world. I remember just thinking it was great. His conceits are brilliant and make so much sense, whilst also always being at an interesting slant from reality. Then, I haven't read his memoir, but I hear again and again this anti-memoir he's written. Have you read that?Henry: No.Lamorna: Apparently that's really brilliant too. Then he also, writes those about climbing. He's actually got this one foot in the slightly travel nature writing sports camp. I just always thought he was magic. I remember on Twitter, he was really magic as well. I spent a lot of time following him.Henry: Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of writing and literature and books and this whole debate that's going on?Lamorna: It's hard to. I don't want to say anything fast and snappy because it's such a complicated thing. I could just start by saying personally, I'm worried about me and writing because I'm worried about my concentration span. I am so aware that in the same way that a piano player has to be practising the pieces they're going to play all the time. I think partly that's writing and writing, I seem to be able to do even with this broken, distracted form of attention I've got. My reading, I don't feel like I'm getting enough in. I think that means that what I produce will necessarily be less good if I can't solve that.I've just bought a dumb phone on the internet and I hope that's going to help me by no longer having Instagram and things like that. I think, yes, I suppose we do read a bit less. The generation below us is reading less. That's a shame. There's so much more possibility to go out and meet people from different places. On an anthropological level, I think anthropology has had this brilliant turn of becoming more subjective. The places you go, you have to think about your own relationship to them. I think that can make really interesting writing. It's so different from early colonial anthropology.The fact that, I guess, through, although even as I'm saying this, I don't know enough to say it, but I was going to say something about the fact that people, because we can do things like substacks and people can do short form content, maybe that means that more people's voices are getting heard and then they can, if they want to, transfer over and write books as well.I still get excited by books all the time. There's still so much good contemporary stuff that's thrilling me from all over the place. I don't feel that concerned yet. If we all do stop writing books entirely for a year and just read all the extraordinary books that have been happening for the last couple of thousand, we'd be okay.Henry: I simultaneously see the same people complaining that everything's dying and literature is over and that we have an oversupply of books and that capitalism is giving us too many books and that's the problem. I'm like, "Guys, I think you should pick one."Lamorna: [laughs] You're not allowed both those arguments. My one is that I do think it's gross, the bit of publishing that the way that some of these books get so oddly inflated in terms of the sales around them. Then, someone is getting a million pounds for a debut, which is enormous pressure on them. Then, someone else is getting 2K. I feel like there should be, obviously, there should be a massive cap on how large an advance anyone should get, and then more people will actually be able to stay in the world of writing because they won't have to survive on pitiful advances. I think that would actually have a huge impact and we should not be giving, love David Beckham as much as I do, we shouldn't be giving him five million pounds for someone else to go to write his books. It's just crazy.Henry: Don't the sales of books like that subsidize those of us who are not getting such a big advance?Lamorna: I don't think they always do. I think that's the problem is that they do have this wealth of funds to give to celebrities and often those books don't sell either. I still think even if those books sell a huge amount of money, those people still shouldn't be getting ridiculous advances like that. They still should be thinking about young people who are important to the literary, who are going to produce books that are different and surprising and whose voices we need to hear. That feels much more important.Henry: What do you think about the idea that maybe Anglo fiction isn't at a peak? I don't necessarily agree with that, but maybe we can agree that these are not the days of George Eliot and Charles Dickens, but the essay nonfiction periodicals and writing online, this is huge now. Right? Actually, our pessimism is sort of because we're looking in the wrong area and there are other forms of writing that flourish, actually doing great on the internet.Lamorna: Yes, I think so too. Again, I don't think I'm internet worldly enough to know this, but I still find these extraordinary, super weird substats that feel exciting. I also get an enormous amount of pleasure in reading Reddit now, which I only just got into many, many years late, but so many fun, odd things. Like little essays that people write and the way that people respond to each other, which is quick and sharp, and I suppose it fills the gap of what Twitter was.I think nonfiction, I was talking about this morning, because I'm staying with some writers, because we're sort of Cornish, book talk thing together and how much exciting nonfiction has come out this year that we want to read from the UK that is hybrid-y nature travel. Then internationally, I still think there's-- I just read, Perfection by Vincenzo, but there's enough translated fiction that's on the international book list this year that gets me delighted as well. To me, I just don't feel worried about that kind of thing at all when there's so much exciting stuff happening.I love Reddit. I think they really understand things that other people don't on there. I think it's the relief now that when you type in something to Google, you get the AI response. It's something like, it's so nice to feel on Reddit that someone sat down and answered you. Maybe that's such a shame that that's what makes me happy now, that we're in that space. It does feel like someone will tell you not just the answer, but then give you a bit about their life. Then, the particular tool that was passed down by their grandparents. That's so nice.Henry: What do you think of the new Pope?Lamorna: I thought it was because I'd heard all the thing around fat Pope, thin Pope, and obviously, our new Pope is maybe a sort of middle Pope, or at least is closer to Francis, but maybe a bit more palatable to some people. I guess, I'm excited that he's going to do, or it seems like he's also taking time to think, but he's good on migration on supporting the rights of immigrants. I think there's value in the fact of him being American as this being this counterpoint to what's happening in America right now. If feels always feels pointless to say because they're almost the idea of a Pope.I guess, Francis said that, who am I to judge about people being gay, but I think this Pope has so far has been more outly against gay people, but he stood up against JD Vance and his stupid thoughts on theology. I'm quietly optimistic. I guess I'm also waiting for Robert Harris's prophecy to come true and we get an intersex Pope next. Because I think that was prophecy, right? What he wrote.Henry: That would be interesting.Lamorna: Yes.Henry: The religious revival that people say is happening, particularly among young people, how is AI going to make it different than previous religious revivals?Lamorna: Oh, that's so interesting. Maybe first of all, question, sorry, I choked on my coffee. I was slightly questioned the idea if there is a religious revival, it's not actually an argument that I made in the book. When I started writing the book, there wasn't this quiet revival or this Bible studies and survey that suggests that more young people are going to church hadn't come out yet. I was just more, I guess, aware that there were a few people around me who were converting and I thought it'd be interesting if there's a few, there'll be more, which I think probably happens in every single generation, right? Is that that's one way to deal with the longing for meaning we all experience and the struggles in our lives.I was speaking to a New York Times journalist who was questioning the stats that have been coming out because first it's incredibly small pool. It's quite self-selecting that possibly there are people who might have gone to church already. It's still such a small uptick because it makes it hard to say anything definitive. I guess in general, what will the relationship be between AI and religion?I guess, there are so many ways you could go with that. One is that those spaces, religious spaces, are nicely insulated from technology. Not everywhere. Obviously, in some places they aren't, but often it's a space in which you put your phone away. In my head, the desire to go to church is as against having to deal with AI or having to deal with technology being integrated to every other aspect of my life.I guess maybe people will start worshiping the idea of the singularity. Maybe we'll get the singularity and Terminator, or the Matrix is going to happen, and we'll call them our gods because they will feel like gods. That's maybe one option. I don't know how AI-- I guess I don't know enough about AI that maybe you'll have AI, or does this happen? Maybe this has happened already that you could have an AI confession and you'd have an AI priest and they tell you--Henry: Sure. It's huge for therapy, right?Lamorna: Yes.Henry: Which is that adjacent thing.Lamorna: That's a good point. It does feel something about-- I'm sure, theologically, it's not supposed to work if you haven't been ordained, but can an AI be ordained, become a priest?Henry: IndeedLamorna: Could they do communion? I don't know. It's fascinating.Henry: I can see a situation where a young person lives in a secular environment or culture and is interested in things and the AI is the, in some ways, easiest place for them to turn to say, "I need to talk about-- I have these weird semi-religious feelings, or I'm interested." The AI's not going to be like, "Oh, really? That's weird." There's the question of will we worship AI or whatever, but also will we get people's conversions being shaped by their therapy/confessors/whatever chat with their LLM?Lamorna: Oh, it's so interesting. I read a piece recently in the LRB by James Vincent. It was about AI relationships, our relationship with AI, and he looked at AI girlfriends. There was this incredible case, maybe you read about it, about a guy who tried to kill the Queen some years back. His defense was that his AI girlfriend had really encouraged him to do that. Then, you can see the transcripts of the text, and he says, "I'm thinking about killing the Queen." His AI girlfriend is like, "Go for it, baby."It's that thing there of like, at the moment, AI is still reflecting back our own desires or refracting almost like shifting how they're expressed. I'm trying to imagine that in the same case of me saying, "I feel really lonely, and I'm thinking about Christianity." My friend would speak with all of their context and background, and whatever they've got going on for them. Whereas an AI would feel my desire there and go, "That's a good idea. It says online this." It's very straight. It would definitely lead us in directions that feel less than human or other than human.Henry: I also have this thought, you used to, I think you still do, but you see it less. You used to get a Samaritan's Bible in every hotel. The Samaritans, will they start trying to install a religious chatbot in places where people--? There are lots of ways in which you could use it as a distribution mechanism.Lamorna: Which does feel so far from the point. Not to think about the gospels, but that feeling of something I talk about in the book is that, so much of it is human contact. Is that this factor of being changed in the moment, person to person. If I have any philosophy for life at the moment is this sense of desperately needing contact that we are saved by each other all the time, not by our telephones and things that aren't real. It's the surprise.I quote it in the book, but Iris Murdoch describes love is the very difficult realization that someone other than yourself is real. I think that's the thing that makes us all survive, is that reminder that if you're feeling deeply depressed, being like, there is someone else that is real, and they have a struggle that matters as much as mine. I think that's something that you are never going to get through a conversation with a chatbot, because it's like a therapeutic thing. You are not having to ask it the same questions, or you are not having to extend yourself to think about someone else in those conversations.Henry: Which Iris Murdoch novels do you like?Lamorna: I've only read The Sea, The Sea, but I really enjoyed it. Which ones do you like?Henry: I love The Sea, The Sea, and The Black Prince. I like the late books, like The Good Apprentice and The Philosopher's Pupil, as well. Some people tell you, "Don't read those. They're late works and they're no good," but I was obsessed. I was absolutely compelled, and they're still all in my head. They're insane.Lamorna: Oh, I must, because I've got a big collection of her essays. I'm thinking is so beautiful, her philosophical thought. It's that feeling, I know I'm going the wrong-- starting in the wrong place, but I do feel that she's someone I'd really love to explore next, kind of books.Henry: I think you'd like her because she's very interested in the question of, can therapy help, can philosophy help, can religion help? She's very dubious about therapy and philosophy, and she is mystic. There are queer characters and neurodivergent characters. For a novelist in the '70s, you read her now and you're like, "Well, this is all just happening now."Lamorna: Cool.Henry: Maybe we should be passing these books out. People need this right now.Lamorna: Which one would you say I should do first after The Sea, The Sea?Henry: Maybe The Black Prince.Lamorna: The Black Prince. Great.Henry: Which is the one she wrote before The Sea, The Sea and is just a massive masterpiece.Lamorna: I'll read it. Where do you stand on therapy? Do you have a position?Henry: I think on net, it might be a bad thing, even if it is individually useful for people.Lamorna: Why is that?Henry: [laughs] I didn't expect to have to answer the question. Basically two reasons. I think it doesn't take enough account of the moral aspect of the decisions being made very often. This is all very anecdotal and you can find yourself feeling better in the short term, but not necessarily in the long-- If you make a decision that's not outrageously immoral, but which has not had enough weight placed on the moral considerations.There was an article about how lots of people cut out relatives now and the role that therapy plays in that. What I was struck by in the article that was-- Obviously, a lot of those people are justified and their relatives have been abusive or nasty, of course, but there are a lot of cases where you were like, "Well, this is a long-term decision that's been made on a short-term basis." I think in 10 years people may feel very differently. There wasn't enough consideration in the article, at least I felt, given to how any children involved would be affected later on. I think it's a good thing and a bad thing.Lamorna: I'm so with you. I think that's why, because also the fact of it being so private and it being about the individual, and I think, again, there are certain things if you're really struggling with that, it's helpful for, but I think I'm always more into the idea of communal things, like AAA and NA, which obviously a very particular. Something about doing that together, that it's collaborative and therefore there is someone else in the room if you say, "I want to cut out my parent."There's someone else who said that happened to me and it was really hard. It means that you are making those decisions together a little bit more. Therapy, I can feel that in friends and stuff that it does make us, even more, think that we are these bounded individuals when we're not.Henry: I should say, I have known people who've gone to therapy and it's worked really well.Lamorna: I'm doing therapy right now and it is good. I think, in my head, it's like it should be one among many and I still question it whilst doing it.Henry: To the extent that there is a religious revival among "Gen Z," how much is it because they have phones? Because you wrote something like, in fact, I have the quote, "There's a sense of terrible tragedy. How can you hold this constant grief that we feel, whether it's the genocide in Gaza or climate collapse? Where do I put all the misery that I receive every single second through my phone? Church can then be a space where I can quietly go and light a candle." Is it that these young people are going to religion because the phone has really pushed a version of the world into their faces that was not present when I was young or people are older than me?Lamorna: I think it's one of, or that the phone is the symptom because the phone, whatever you call it, technology, the internet, is the thing that draws the world closer to us in so many different ways. One being that this sense of being aware of what's happening around in other places in the world, which maybe means that you become more tolerant of other religions because you're hearing about it more. That, on TikTok, there's loads of kids all across the world talking about their particular faiths and their background and which aspera they're in, and all that kind of thing.Then, this sense of horror being very unavoidable that you wake up and it is there and you wake up and you think, "What am I doing? What am I doing here? I feel completely useless." Perhaps then you end up in a church, but I'm not sure.I think a bigger player in my head is the fact that we are more pluralistic as societies. That you are more likely to encounter other religions in schools. I think then the question is, well then maybe that'll be valuable for me as well. I think also, not having parents pushing religion on you makes kids, the fact of the generation above the British people, your parents' generations, not saying religion is important, you go to church, then it becomes something people can become more curious about in their own right as adults. I think that plays into it.I think isolation plays into it and that's just not about technology and the phone, but that's the sense of-- and again, I'm thinking about early 20s, mid 20s, so adults who are moving from place to place, who maybe feel very isolated and alone, who are doing jobs that make them feel isolated and alone, and there are this dearth of community spaces and then thinking, well, didn't people used to go to churches, it would be so nice to know someone older than me.I don't know how this fits in, but I was thinking about, I saw this documentary, The Encampments, like two days ago, which is about the Columbia University encampments and within that, Mahmood Khalil, who's the one who's imprisoned at the moment, who was this amazing leader within the movement and is from Palestine. The phone in that, the sense about how it was used to gather and collect people and keep people aware of what's happening and mean that everyone is more conscious and there's a point when they need more people in the encampments because the police are going to come. It's like, "Everyone, use your phone, call people now." I think I can often be like, "Oh no, phones are terrible," but this sense within protest, within communal activity, how valuable they can be as well.I haven't quite gotten into that thought. I don't know, basically. I think it's so hard. I've grown up with a phone. I have no sense of how much it plays a part in everything about me, but obviously, it is a huge amount. I do think it's something that we all think about and are horrified by whilst also seeing it as like this weird extension of ourselves. That definitely plays into then culturally, the decisions we make to either try and avoid them, find spaces where you can be without them.Henry: How old do you think a child should be when they're first given a phone? A smartphone, like an iPhone type thing?Lamorna: I think, 21.Henry: Yes?Lamorna: No, I don't know. I obviously wouldn't know that about a child.Henry: I might.Lamorna: I'd love to. I would really love to because, I don't know, I have a few friends who weren't allowed to watch TV until they were 18 and they are eminently smarter than me and lots of my other friends. There's something about, I don't know, I hate the idea that as I'm getting older, I'm becoming more scaremongering like, "Oh no, when I was young--" because I think my generation was backed in loads of ways. This thing of kids spending so much less time outside and so much less time being able to imagine things, I think I am quite happy to say that feels like a terrible loss.I read a piece recently about kids in New York and I think they were quite sort of middle-class Brooklyn-y kids, but they choose to go days without their phones and they all go off into the forest together. There is this sense of saying giving kids autonomy, but at the same time, their relationship with a phone is not one of agency. It's them versus tech bros who have designed things that are so deeply addictive, that no adult can let go of it. Let alone a child who's still forming how to work out self-control, discipline and stuff. I think a good parenting thing would be to limit massively these completely non-neutral objects that they're given, that are made like crack and impossible to let go of.Henry: Do you think religious education in schools should be different or should there be more of it?Lamorna: Yes, I think it should be much better. I don't know about you, but I just remember doing loads of diagrams of different religious spaces like, "This is what a mosque looks like," and then I'd draw the diagram. I knew nothing. I barely knew the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. In fact, I probably didn't as a teenager.I remember actually in sixth form, having this great philosophy teacher who was talking about the idea of proto antisemitism within the gospels. I was like, "Wait, what?" Because I just didn't really understand. I didn't know that it was in Greek, that the Old Testament was in Hebrew. I just didn't know. I think all these holy texts that we've been carrying with us for thousands of years across the world have so much in them that's worth reading and knowing.If I was in charge of our R.E., I would get kids to write on all holy texts, but really think about them and try and answer moral problems. You'd put philosophy back with religion and really connect them and think, what is Nietzsche reacting against? What does Freud about how is this form of Christianity different like this? I think that my sense is that since Gove, but also I'm sure way before that as well, the sense of just not taking young people seriously, when actually they're thoughtful, intelligent and able to wrestle with these things, it's good for them to have know what they're choosing against, if they're not interested in religion.Also, at base, those texts are beautiful, all of them are, and are foundational and if you want to be able to study English or history to know things about religious texts and the practices of religion and how those rituals came about and how it's changed over thousands of years, feels important.Henry: Which religious poets do you like other than Hopkins? Because you write very nicely about Hopkins in the book.Lamorna: He's my favorite. I like John Donne a lot. I remember reading lots of his sermons and Lancelot Andrews' sermons at university and thinking they were just astonishingly beautiful. There are certain John Donne sermons and it's this feeling of when he takes just maybe a line from one of Paul's letters and then is able to extend it and extend it, and it's like he's making it grow in material or it's like it's a root where suddenly all these branches are coming off it.Who else do I like? I like George Herbert. Gosh, my brain is going in terms of who else was useful when I was thinking about. Oh it's gone.Henry: Do you like W.H. Auden?Lamorna: Oh yes. I love Auden, yes. I was rereading his poems about, oh what's it called? The one about Spain?Henry: Oh yes.Lamorna: About the idea of tomorrow.Henry: I don't have a memory either, but I know the poem you mean, yes.Lamorna: Okay. Then I'm trying to think of earlier religious poets. I suppose things like The Dream of the Rood and fun ways of getting into it and if you're looking at medieval poetry.Henry: I also think Betjeman is underrated for this.Lamorna: I've barely read any Betjeman.Henry: There's a poem called Christmas. You might like it.Lamorna: Okay.Henry: It's this famous line and is it true and is it true? He really gets into this thing of, "We're all unwrapping tinsely presents and I'm sitting here trying to work out if God became man." It's really good. It's really good. The other one is called Norfolk and again, another famous line, "When did the devil first attack?" It talks about puberty as the arrival of the awareness of sin and so forth.Lamorna: Oh, yes.Henry: It's great. Really, really good stuff. Do you personally believe in the resurrection?Lamorna: [chuckles] I keep being asked this.Henry: I know. I'm sorry.Lamorna: My best answer is sometimes. Because I do sometimes in that way that-- someone I interviewed who's absolutely brilliant in the book, Robert, and he's a Cambridge professor. He's a pragmatist and he talks about the idea of saying I'm a disciplined person means nothing unless you're enacting that discipline daily or it falls away. For him, that belief in a Kierkegaardian leap way is something that needs to be reenacted in every moment to say, I believe and mean it.I think there are moments when my church attendance is better and I'm listening to a reading that's from Acts or whatever and understanding the sense of those moments, Paul traveling around Europe and Asia Minor, only because he fully believed that this is what's happened. Those letters and as you're reading those letters, the way I read literature or biblical writing is to believe in that moment because for that person, they believe too. I think there are points at which the resurrection can feel true to me, but it does feel like I'm accessing that idea of truth in a different way than I am accessing truth about-- it's close to how I think about love as something that's very, very real, but very different from experiential feelings.I had something else I wanted to say about that and it's just gone. Oh yes. I was at Hay Festival a couple of weeks ago. Do you know the Philosopher Agnes Callard?Henry: Oh, sure.Lamorna: She gave a really great talk about Socrates and her love of Socrates, but she also came to my talk and she and her husband, who I think met through arguing about Aristotle, told me they argued for about half a day about a line I'd said, which was that during writing the book, I'd learned to believe in the belief of other people, her husband was like, "You can't believe in the belief of other people if you don't believe it too. That doesn't work. That doesn't make sense." I was like, "That's so interesting." I can so feel that if we're taking that analytically, that if I say I don't believe in the resurrection, not just that I believe you believe it, but I believe in your belief in the resurrection. At what point is that any different from saying, I believe in the resurrection. I feel like I need to spend more time with it. What the slight gap is there that I don't have that someone else does, or as I say it, do I then believe in the resurrection that moment? I'm not sure.I think also what I'm doing right now is trying to sound all clever with it, whereas for other people it's this deep ingrained truth that governs every moment of their life and that they can feel everywhere, or perhaps they can't. Perhaps there's more doubt than they suggest, which I think is the case with lots of us. Say on the deathbed, someone saying that they fully believe in the resurrection because that means there's eternal salvation, and their family believe in that too. I don't think I have that kind of certainty, but I admire it.Henry: Tell me how you got the title for this book from an episode of The Simpsons.Lamorna: It's really good app. It's from When Maggie Makes Three, which is my favorite episode. I think titles are horribly hard. I really struck my first book. I would have these sleepless nights just thinking about words related to the sea, and be like, blue something. I don't know. There was a point where my editor wanted to call it Trawler Girl. I said, "We mustn't. That's awful. That's so bad. It makes me sound like a terrible superhero. I'm not a girl, I'm a woman."With this one, I think it was my fun title for ages. Yes, it's this plaque that Homer has put-- Mr. Burns puts up this plaque to remind him that he will never get to leave the power plant, "Don't forget you're here forever."I just think it's a strong and bonkers line. I think it had this element of play or silliness that I wanted, that I didn't think about too hard. I guess that's an evangelical Christian underneath what they're actually saying is saying-- not all evangelicals, but often is this sense of no, no, no, we are here forever. You are going to live forever. That is what heaven means.That sense of then saying it in this jokey way. I think church is often very funny spaces, and funny things happen. They make good comedy series when you talk about faith.Someone's saying she don't forget we're here forever. The don't forget makes it so colloquial and silly. I just thought it was a funny line for that reason.Then also that question people always ask, "Is religion going to die out?" I thought that played into it. This feeling that, yes, I write about it. There was a point when I was going to an Extinction Rebellion protest, and everyone was marching along with that symbol of the hourglass inside a circle next to a man who had a huge sign saying, "Stop, look, hell is real, the end of the world is coming." This sense of different forms of apocalyptic thinking that are everywhere at the moment. I felt like the title worked for that as well.Henry: I like that episode of The Simpsons because it's an expression of an old idea where he's doing something boring and his life is going to slip away bit by bit. The don't forget you're here forever is supposed to make that worse, but he turns it round into the live like you're going to die tomorrow philosophy and makes his own kind of meaning out of it.Lamorna: By papering it over here with pictures of Maggie. They love wordplay, the writers of The Simpsons, and so that it reads, "Do it for her," instead. That feeling of-- I think that with faith as well of, don't forget we're here forever, think about heaven when actually so much of our life is about papering it over with humanity and being like, "Does it matter? I'm with you right now, and that's what matters." That immediacy of human contact that church is also really about, that joy in the moment. Where it doesn't really matter in that second if you're going to heaven or hell, or if that exists. You're there together, and it's euphoric, or at least it's a relief or comforting.Henry: You did a lot of Bible study and bible reading to write this book. What were the big surprises for you?Lamorna: [chuckles] This is really the ending, but revelation, I don't really think it's very well written at all. It shouldn't be in there, possibly. It's just not [unintelligible 00:39:20] It got added right in the last minute. I guess it should be in there. I just don't know. What can I say?So much of it was a surprise. I think slowly reading the Psalms was a lovely surprise for me because they contain so much uncertainty and anguish, and doubt. Imagining those being read aloud to me always felt like a very exciting thing.Henry: Did you read them aloud?Lamorna: When I go to more Anglo Catholic services, they tend to do them-- I never know how to pronounce this. Antiphonally.Henry: Oh yes.Lamorna: Back and forth between you. It's very reverential, lovely experience to do that. I really think I was surprised by almost everything I was reading. At the start of Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling, he does this amazing thing where he does four different versions of what could be happening in the Isaac and Abraham story underneath.There's this sense of in the Bible, and I'm going to get this wrong, but in Mimesis, Auerbach talks about the way that you're not given the psychological understanding within the Bible. There's so much space for readers to think with, because you're just being told things that happened, and the story moves on quickly, moment by moment. With Isaac and Abraham, what it would mean if Isaac actually had seen the fact that his father was planning to kill him. Would he then lose his faith? All these different scenarios.I suddenly realised that the Bible was not just a fixed text, but there was space to play with it as well. In the book, I use the story of Jacob and the angel and play around with the meaning of that and what would happen after this encounter between Jacob and an angel for both of them.Bits in the Gospels, I love the story of the Gerasene Demoniac. He was a knight. He was very unwell, and no one knew what to do with him. He was ostracised from his community. He would sit in this cave and scream and lacerate himself against the cave walls. Then Jesus comes to him and speaks to him and speaks to the demons inside him. There's this thing in Mark's Gospel that Harold Bloom talks about, where only demons are actually able to perceive. Most people have to ask Christ who he really is, but demons can perceive him immediately and know he's the son of God.The demons say that they are legion. Then Jesus puts them into 1,000 pigs. Is it more? I can't remember. Then they're sent off over the cliff edge. Then the man is made whole and is able to go back to his community. I just think there's just so much in that. It's so rich and strange. I think, yes, there's something about knowing you could sit down and just read a tiny bit of the Bible and find something strange and unusual that also might speak to something you've read that's from thousands of years later.I also didn't know that in Mark's Gospel, the last part of it is addended, added on to it. Before that, it ended with the women being afraid, seeing the empty tomb, but there's no resolution. There's no sense of Christ coming back as spirit. It ended in this deep uncertainty and fear. I thought that was so fascinating because then again, it reminds you that those texts have been played around with and thought with, and meddled with, and changed over time. It takes away from the idea that it's fixed and certain, the Bible.Henry: What did you think of Harold Bloom's book The Shadow of a Great Rock?Lamorna: I really loved it. He says that he treats Shakespeare more religiously and the Bible more like literature, which I found a funny, irreverent thing to say. There's lovely stuff in there where, I think it was Ruth, he was like, maybe it was written by a woman. He takes you through the different Hebrew writers for Genesis. Which again, becoming at this as such a novice in so many ways, realising that, okay, so when it's Yahweh, it's one particular writer, there's the priestly source for particular kinds of writing. The Yahwist is more ironic, or the God you get is more playful.That was this key into thinking about how each person trying to write about God, it's still them and their sense of the world, which is particular and idiosyncratic is forming the messages that they believe they're receiving from God. I found that exciting.Yes, he's got this line. He's talking about the blessings that God gives to men in Genesis. He's trying to understand, Bloom, what the meaning of a blessing is. He describes it as more life into a time without boundaries. That's a line that I just found so beautiful, and always think about what the meaning of that is. I write it in the book.My best friend, Sammy, who's just the most game person in the world, that you tell them anything, they're like, "Cool." I told them that line. They were like, "I'm getting it tattooed on my arm next week." Then got me to write in my handwriting. I can only write in my handwriting, but write down, "More time into life without boundaries." Now they've just got it on their arm.Henry: Nice.Lamorna: I really like. They're Jewish, non-practicing. They're not that really interested in it. They were like, "That's a good line to keep somewhere."Henry: I think it's actually one of Bloom's best books. There's a lot of discussion about, is he good? Is he not good? I love that book because it really just introduces people to the Bible and to different versions of the Bible. He does all that Harold Bloom stuff where he's like, "These are the only good lines in this particular translation of this section. The rest is so much dross.He's really attentive to the differences between the translations, both theologically but also aesthetically. I think a lot of people don't know the Bible. It's a really good way to get started on a-- sitting down and reading the Bible in order. It's going to fail for a lot of people. Harold Bloom is a good introduction that actually gives you a lot of the Bible itself.Lamorna: For sure, because it's got that midrash feeling of being like someone else working around it, which then helps you get inside it. I was reading that book whilst going to these Bible studies at a conservative evangelical church called All Souls. I wasn't understanding what on earth was going on in Mark through the way that we're being told to read it, which is kids' comprehension.Maybe it was useful to think about why would the people have been afraid when Christ quelled the storms? It was doing something, but there was no sense of getting inside the text. Then, to read alongside that, Bloom saying that the Christ in Mark is the most unknowable of all the versions of Christ. Then again, just thinking, "Oh, hang on." There's an author. The author of Mark's gospel is perceiving Christ in a particular way. This is the first of the gospels writing about Christ. What does it mean? He's unknowable. Suddenly thinking of him as a character, and therefore thinking about how people are relating to him. It totally cracks the text open for you.Henry: Do you think denominational differences are still important? Do most people have actual differences in dogma, or are they just more cultural distinctions?Lamorna: They're ritual distinctions. There really is little that you could compare between a Quaker meeting and a Catholic service. That silence is the fundamental aspect of all of it. There's a sense of enlighten.My Quaker mate, Lawrence, he's an atheist, but he wouldn't go to another church service because he's so against the idea of hierarchy and someone speaking from a pulpit. He's like, honestly, the reincarnated spirit of George Fox in many ways, in lots of ways he's not.I guess it becomes more blurry because, yes, there's this big thing in the early 20th century in Britain anyway, where the line that becomes more significant is conservative liberal. It's very strange that that's how our world gets divided. There's real simplification that perhaps then, a liberal Anglican church and a liberal Catholic church have more in relationship than a conservative Catholic church and a conservative evangelical church. The line that is often thinking about sexuality and marriage.I was interested, people have suddenly was called up in my book that I talk about sex a lot. I think it's because sex comes up so much, it feels hard not to. That does seem to be more important than denominational differences in some ways. I do think there's something really interesting in this idea of-- Oh, [unintelligible 00:48:17] got stung. God, this is a bit dramatic. Sorry, I choked on coffee earlier. Now I'm going to get stung by a bee.Henry: This is good. This is what makes a podcast fun. What next?Lamorna: You don't get this in the BBC studios. Maybe you do. Oh, what was I about to say? Oh, yes. I like the idea of church shopping. People saying that often it speaks to the person they are, what they're looking for in a church. I think it's delightful to me that there's such a broad church, and there's so many different spaces that you can go into to discover the church that's right for you. Sorry. I'm really distracted by this wasp or bee. Anyway.Henry: How easy was it to get people to be honest with you?Lamorna: I don't know. I think that there's certain questions that do tunnel right through to the heart of things. Faith seems to be one of them. When you talk about faith with people, you're getting rid of quite a lot of the chaff around with the politeness or whatever niceties that you'd usually speak about.I was talking about this with another friend who's been doing this. He's doing a play about Grindr. He was talking about how strange it is that when you ask to interview someone and you have a dictaphone there, you do get a deeper instant conversation. Again, it's a bit like a therapeutic conversation where someone has said to you, "I'm just going to sit and listen." You've already agreed, and you know it's going to be in a book. "Do you mind talking about this thing?"That just allows this opportunity for people to be more honest because they're aware that the person there is actually wanting to listen. It's so hard to create spaces. I create a cordon and say, "We're going to have a serious conversation now." Often, that feels very artificial. I think yes, the beauty of getting to sit there with a dictaphone on your notebook is you are like, "I really am interested in this. It really matters to me." I guess it feels easy in that way to get honesty.Obviously, we're all constructing a version of ourselves for each other all the time. It's hard for me to know to what extent they're responding to what they're getting from me, and what they think I want to hear. If someone else interviewed them, they would probably get something quite different. I don't know. I think if you come to be with openness, and you talk a bit about your journey, then often people want to speak about it as well.I'm trying to think. I've rarely interviewed someone where I haven't felt this slightly glowy, shimmery sense of it, or what I'm learning feels new and feels very true. I felt the same with Cornish Fisherman, that there was this real honesty in these conversations. Many years ago, I remember I got really obsessed with interviewing my mom. I think I was just always wanting to practice interviewing. The same thing that if there's this object between you, it shifts the dimensions of the conversation and tends towards seriousness.Henry: How sudden are most people's conversions?Lamorna: Really depends. I was in this conversation with someone the other day. When she was 14, 15, she got caught shoplifting. She literally went, "Oh, if there's a God up there, can you help get me out of the situation?" The guy let her go, and she's been a Christian ever since. She had an instantaneous conversion. Someone I interviewed in the book, and he was a really thoughtful card-carrying atheist. He had his [unintelligible 00:51:58] in his back pocket.He hated the Christians and would always have a go at them at school because he thought it was silly, their belief. Then he had this instant conversion that feels very charismatic in form, where he was just walking down an avenue of trees at school, and he felt the entire universe smiling at him and went, "Oh s**t, I better become a Christian."Again, I wonder if it depends. I could say it depends on the person you are, whether you are capable of having an instant conversion. Perhaps if I were in a religious frame of mind, I'd say it depends on what God would want from you. Do you need an instant conversion, or do you need to very slowly have the well filling up?I really liked when a priest said to me that people often go to church and expect to be changed in a moment. He's like, "No, you have to go for 20 years before anything happens." Something about that slow incremental conversion to me is more satisfying. It's funny, I was having a conversation with someone about if they believe in ghosts, and they were like, "Well, if I saw one, then I believe in ghosts." For some people, transcendental things happen instantaneously, and it does change them ultimately instantly.I don't know, I would love to see some stats about which kinds of conversions are more popular, probably more instant ones. I love, and I use it in the book, but William James' Varieties of Religious Experience. He talks about there's some people who are sick-souled or who are also more porous bordered people for whom strange things can more easily cross the borders of their person. They're more likely to convert and more likely to see things.I really like him describing it that way because often someone who's like that, it might just be described as well, you have a mental illness. That some people are-- I don't know, they've got sharper antennae than the rest of us. I think that is an interesting thought for why some people can convert instantly.Henry: I think all conversions take a long time. At the moment, there's often a pivotal moment, but there's something a long time before or after that, that may or may not look a conversion, but which is an inevitable part of the process. I'm slightly obsessed with the idea of quests, but I think all conversions are a quest or a pilgrimage. Your book is basically a quest narrative. As you go around in your Toyota, visiting these places. I'm suspicious, I think the immediate moment is bundled up with a longer-term thing very often, but it's not easy to see it.Lamorna: I love that. I've thought about the long tail afterwards, but I hadn't thought about the lead-up, the idea of that. Of what little things are changing. That's such a lovely thought. Their conversions began from birth, maybe.Henry: The shoplifter, it doesn't look like that's where they're heading. In retrospect, you can see that there weren't that many ways out of this path that they're on. Malcolm X is like this. One way of reading his autobiography is as a coming-of-age story. Another way of reading it is, when is this guy going to convert? This is going to happen.Lamorna: I really like that. Then there's also that sense of how fixed the conversion is, as well, from moment to moment. That Adam Phillips' book on wanting to change, he talks about our desire for change often outstrips our capacity for change. That sense of how changed am I afterwards? How much does my conversion last in every moment? It goes back to the do you believe in the resurrection thing.I find that that really weird thing about writing a book is, it is partly a construction. You've got the eye in there. You're creating something that is different from your reality and fixed, and you're in charge of it. It's stable, it remains, and you come to an ending. Then your life continues to divert and deviate in loads of different ways. It's such a strange thing in that way. Every conversion narrative we have fixed in writing, be it Augustine or Paul, whatever, is so far from the reality of that person's experience.Henry: What did the new atheists get wrong?Lamorna: Arrogance. They were arrogant. Although I wonder, I guess it was such a cultural moment, and perhaps in the same way that everyone is in the media, very excitedly talking about revival now. There was something that was created around them as well, which was delight in this sense of the end of something. I wonder how much of that was them and how much of it was, they were being carried along by this cultural media movement.I suppose the thing that always gets said, and I haven't read enough Dawkins to say this with any authority, but is that the form of religion that he was attempting to denigrate was a very basic form of Christianity, a real, simplified sense. That he did that with all forms of religion. Scientific progress shows us we've progressed beyond this point, and we don't need this, and it's silly and foolish.I guess he underestimated the depth and richness of religion, and also the fact of this idea of historical progress, when the people in the past were foolish, when they were as bright and stupid as we are now.Henry: I think they believed in the secularization idea. People like Rodney Stark and others were pointing out that it's not really true that we secularized a lot more consistency. John Gray, the whole world is actually very religious. This led them away from John Stuart Mill-type thinking about theism. I think everyone should read more John Stuart Mill, but they particularly should have read the theism essays. That would have been--Lamorna: I've only just got into him because I love the LRB Close Reading podcast. It's Jonathan Rée and James Wood. They did one on John Stuart Mill's autobiography, which I've since been reading. It's an-Henry: It's a great book.Lamorna: -amazing book. His crisis is one of-- He says, "The question of religion is not something that has been a part of my life, but the sense of being so deeply learned." His dad was like, "No poetry." In his crisis moment, suddenly realizing that that's what he needed. He was missing feeling, or he was missing a way of looking at the world that had questioning and doubt within it through poetry.There was a bit in the autobiography, and he talks about when he was in this deep depression, whenever he was at 19 or something. That he was so depressed that he thought if there's a certain number of musical notes, one day there will be no more new music because every single combination will have been done. The sense of, it's so sweetly awful thinking, but without the sense-- I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here.I found his crisis so fascinating to read about and how he comes out of that through this care and attention of beautiful literature and thinking, and through his love of-- What was his wife called again?Henry: Harriet.Lamorna: Harriet. He credits her for almost all his thinking. He wouldn't have moved towards socialism without her. Suddenly, humans are deeply important to him. He feels sorry for the fact that his dad could not express love or take love from him, and that that was such a terrible deficiency in his life.Henry: Mill's interesting on religion because he looks very secular. In fact, if you read his letters, he's often going into churches.Lamorna: Oh, really?Henry: Yes, when he's in Italy, because he had tuberculosis. He had to be abroad a lot. He's always going to services at Easter and going into the churches. For a secular person, he really appreciates all these aspects of religion. His stepdaughter was-- there's a diary of hers in their archives. She was very religious, very intense. As a young woman, when she's 16, 17, intensely Catholic or Anglo-Catholic. Really, it's quite startling.I was reading this thing, and I was like, "Wait, who in the Mill household is writing this? This is insane." There are actually references in his letters where he says, "Oh, we'll have to arrive in time for Good Friday so that she can go to church." He's very attentive to it. Then he writes these theism essays, right at the end of his life. He's very open-minded and very interrogatory of the idea. He really wants to understand. He's not a new atheist at all.Lamorna: Oh, okay. I need to read the deism essays.Henry: You're going to love it. It's very aligned. What hymns do you like?Lamorna: Oh, no.Henry: You can be not a hymn person.Lamorna: No. I'm not a massive hymn person. When I'm in church, the Anglican church that I go to in London now, I always think, "Remember that. That was a really nice one." I like to be a pilgrim. I really don't have the brain that can do this off the cuff. I'm not very musically. I'm deeply unmusical.There was one that I was thinking of. I think it's an Irish one. I feel like I wrote this down at one point, because I thought I might be asked in another interview. I had to write down what I thought in case a hymn that I liked. Which sounds a bit like a politician, when they're asked a question, they're like, "I love football." I actually can't think of any. I'm sorry.Henry: No, that's fine.Lamorna: What are your best? Maybe that will spark something in me.Henry: I like Tell Out My Soul. Do you know that one?Lamorna: Oh, [sings] Tell Out My Soul. That's a good one.Henry: If you have a full church and people are really going for it, that can be amazing. I like all the classics. I don't have any unusual choices. Tell Out My Soul, it's a great one. Lamorna Ash, this has been great. Thank you very much.Lamorna: Thank you.Henry: To close, I think you're going to read us a passage from your book.Lamorna: I am.Henry: This is near the end. It's about the Bible.Lamorna: Yes. Thank you so much. This has definitely been my favourite interview.Henry: Oh, good.Lamorna: I really enjoyed it. It's really fun.Henry: Thank you.Lamorna: Yes, this is right near the end. This is when I ended up at a church, St Luke's, West Holloway. It was a very small 9:00 AM service. Whilst the priest who'd stepped in to read because the actual priest had left, was reading, I just kept thinking about all the stories that I'd heard and wondering about the Bible and how the choices behind where it ends, where it ends.I don't think I understand why the Bible ends where it does. The final lines of the book of Revelation are, "He who testifies to these things says, Yes, I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen." Which does sound like a to-be-continued. I don't mean the Bible feels incomplete because it ends with Revelation. What I mean is, if we have continued to hear God and wrestle with him and his emissaries ever since the first overtures of the Christian faith sounded.Why do we not treat these encounters with the same reverence as the works assembled in the New Testament? Why have we let our holy text grow so antique and untouchable instead of allowing them to expand like a divine Wikipedia updated in perpetuity? That way, each angelic struggle and Damascene conversion that has ever occurred or one day will, would become part of its fabric.In this Borgesian Bible, we would have the Gospel of Mary, not a fictitious biography constructed by a man a century after her death, but her true words. We would have the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch on the road between Jerusalem and Gaza from Acts, but this time given in the first person. We would have descriptions from the Picts on Iona of the Irish Saint Columba appearing in a rowboat over the horizon.We would have the Gospels of those from the early Eastern Orthodox churches, Assyrian Gospels, Syriac Orthodox Gospels. We would have records of the crusades from the Christian soldiers sent out through Europe to Jerusalem in order to massacre those of other faiths, both Muslim and Jewish. In reading these accounts, we would be forced to confront the ways in which scripture can be interpreted

Regno Unito, Canada, Australia, Nuova Zelanda e Norvegia annunciano sanzioni contro due ministri israeliani.Gli Usa ammettono di non accettare un futuro Stato di Palestina. Benin: condannato attivista digitale per post critici sul governo.Ergastolo a due complici per l'omicidio della giornalista Daphne Caruana Galizia.India: Ondata di calore record, si aggrava l'emergenza sanitaria.Introduzione al notiziario: La voce di Madleen solca ancora il mareQuesto e molto altro nel notiziario di Radio Bullets a cura di Barbara Schiavulli 

After working in South Asia and living in Nepal for 18 years, Matthew Hanson has taken on leadership of The Voice of the Martyrs international ministry efforts on a new region: West and Central Africa (WACA). Listen as he tells how the persecution of Christians looks different in Africa from South Asia. The church in Africa is large; attacks on Christians there often affect a larger scale. Radical Islamist groups are the main persecutors in his region, and Matthew will share how it's affecting believers in his region, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burkina Faso, Benin, Nigeria and Togo. Just in the DRC, there are 100+ active rebel groups. Church attacks and the displacement of followers of Christ has become sadly common. How does The Voice of the Martyrs respond to the intense persecution Christians in his region are facing? Listen as Matthew explains how he and his team evaluate needs and work through partnerships and local believers to help meet those needs and encourage believers. Matthew will share about the ministry of presence and how it plays such a key part of helping with trauma recovery for persecuted Christians. As Islamist groups move into places like northern Togo, a new addition to VOM's Global Prayer Map, Matthew and his team are hearing new reports of persecution and needs that VOM can help to meet. “The church does an incredible job of serving one another,” Matthew says, “it's a community of believers coming together, and it's really exciting.” Hear stories from Matthew about a woman's joy when she received a Bible provided by VOM, the holy moment when eight new believers from Muslim backgrounds took the step of baptism, and the story of a kidnapped Christian miraculously saved from a jihadist group. Please pray for persecuted Christians in West and Central Africa.

Earn Your Leisure has partnered with the Government of Ghana to establish a Black American City, a visionary initiative that I fully support. I believe this is a historic opportunity, offering the descendants of slaves an alternative beyond America. Both Ghana and Benin have also announced that African Americans can apply for dual citizenship and be accepted immediately. It is my intention to obtain dual citizenship this year for myself and my entire family, with the long-term goal of relocating from America to Africa in the years ahead.#BlackAmerica #Ghana #rightofreturn #africa #SGTDunson

After working in South Asia and living in Nepal for 18 years, Matthew Hanson has taken on leadership of The Voice of the Martyrs international ministry efforts on a new region: West and Central Africa (WACA). Listen as he tells how the persecution of Christians looks different in Africa from South Asia. The church in Africa is large; attacks on Christians there often affect a larger scale. Radical Islamist groups are the main persecutors in his region, and Matthew will share how it's affecting believers in his region, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burkina Faso, Benin, Nigeria and Togo. Just in the DRC, there are 100+ active rebel groups. Church attacks and the displacement of followers of Christ has become sadly common. How does The Voice of the Martyrs respond to the intense persecution Christians in his region are facing? Listen as Matthew explains how he and his team evaluate needs and work through partnerships and local believers to help meet those needs and encourage believers. Matthew will share about the ministry of presence and how it plays such a key part of helping with trauma recovery for persecuted Christians. As Islamist groups move into places like northern Togo, a new addition to VOM's Global Prayer Map, Matthew and his team are hearing new reports of persecution and needs that VOM can help to meet. “The church does an incredible job of serving one another,” Matthew says, “it's a community of believers coming together, and it's really exciting.” Hear stories from Matthew about a woman's joy when she received a Bible provided by VOM, the holy moment when eight new believers from Muslim backgrounds took the step of baptism, and the story of a kidnapped Christian miraculously saved from a jihadist group. Please pray for persecuted Christians in West and Central Africa. The VOM App for your smartphone or tablet will help you pray daily for persecuted Christians throughout the year, as well as providing free access to e-books, audiobooks, video content and feature films. Download the VOM App for your iOS or Android device today.

Nomadic Matt is a pioneering travel blogger. One day, we'll call him the grandfather of travel blogging during the Golden Era of travel blogs. He's not known for his travel feats but rather for the extensive tips he's provided on his popular website, which focuses on budget travel. Watch the video interview The book's budget used to be $50/day, but inflation and a post-COVID world forced Matt to update his book. In 2025, he refreshed his bestselling book, which is now called How to Travel the World on $75 a Day.  As part of his book tour, he's appearing on the WanderLearn Show twice! #1 How Nomadic Matt Travels on $75 a Day! Nomadic Matt discusses: 00:00 Splitting between Austin and NYC 02:40 Couchsurfing 05:15 Stupidly cheap 07:00 EatWith and Traveling Spoon    Questions What's the most embarrassing or ridiculous thing you've done to save money while traveling? What's the difference between EatWith, WithLocals, and Traveling Spoon? When do you usually book your hotels? Why is Africa left out? Are tourism cards still worth it? When do you use travel insurance? Why not use Kiwi? What are Bilt Rewards? His book is packed with tips. Here are my favorite ones.  The best websites to keep track of the latest credit card deals BoardingArea FlyerTalk The Points Guy View from the Wing Pay your rent and get frequent flyer points with Bilt Rewards Matt's top three airline booking sites  My favorite airline website is Kiwi, and use this link to get $10 off. He doesn't mention Kiwi in his book. Instead, his favorite flight booking sites are: Skyscanner Momondo Google Flights For insurance Safety Wing World Nomads MedjetAssist IMG InsureMyTrip for comparison shopping Sell your old clothes to raise money for your trip Vinted ThredUp Poshmark Online Garage sale to raise funds and downsize VarageSale OfferUp Swappa for electronics Gazelle Decluttr Anytime Mailbox starts at $6 and has several locations. Lodging Sites LateRooms Last Minute Hotel Tonight Priceline Hotwire Roomer allows you to buy someone else's hotel reservation at a steep discount Agoda excels in East Asia Food Matt is a foodie. I am not. Here are some of his favorite sites: EatWith has 5000+ hosts in over 130 countries WithLocals Traveling Spoon Ride-sharing or hitchhiking for the 21st century Search for "ride-sharing" and the name of the region/country where you are traveling. You'll usually find options. I've used BlaBlaCar in Europe, for example. Tourism Cards Nomadic Matt sold me on the tourism cards that give you access to popular sites and public transportation. Although that can save you nearly half the price, it's only suitable for those doing a whirlwind, fast, and comprehensive tour. If you want to see the British Museum, don't get the London Pass. But it makes sense if you're going to see most of the significant sites. Why is Africa left out? The first half of the book offers general, practical advice. The second provides specific guidance to various regions. For example, he has a section about Australia. You'd think a book that helps travelers live on $75 a day would encourage tourists to visit Africa. Like Southeast Asia, parts of Africa have a low cost of living. For example, in 2013, in Benin, I rented a two-room place with a shower (but a shared outhouse for a toilet) for $10 per month! Ten years later, maybe the price has doubled to $20 a month!   Still, Nomadic Matt confesses, "I had to make trade-offs and omit the lesser-visited countries and regions..." (Kindle Location 1434). I won't quibble with his decision or logic. Conclusion When I got an advanced copy of Nomadic Matt's book, I expected to be bored out of my mind. I figured it was a book for beginners or intermediate travelers, not hyper-experienced travel studs like me.  As usual, I was wrong. Nomadic Matt pumped me with many ideas I was oblivious to. Although I shared my favorite ones on this page, buy How to Travel the World on $75 a Day to get all his excellent advice. Feedback Leave anonymous audio feedback at SpeakPipe More info You can post comments, ask questions, and sign up for my newsletter at http://wanderlearn.com. If you like this podcast, subscribe and share!  On social media, my username is always FTapon. Connect with me on: Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram TikTok LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr My Patrons sponsored this show! Claim your monthly reward by becoming a patron at http://Patreon.com/FTapon Rewards start at just $2/month! Affiliate links Get 25% off when you sign up to Trusted Housesitters, a site that helps you find sitters or homes to sit in. Start your podcast with my company, Podbean, and get one month free! In the USA, I recommend trading crypto with Kraken.  Outside the USA, trade crypto with Binance and get 5% off your trading fees! For backpacking gear, buy from Gossamer Gear.

Naira Abuse - Issue In Benin After Tony Kabaka Honours EFCC Invitationhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/naira-abuse-issue-in-benin-after-tony-kabaka-honours-efcc-invitation/29/05/2025/#Issues #Adun #Amagba #Benin #edo #EFCC #Obaseki #Obazee #TLatifah ©May 29th, 2025 ®May 29, 2025 4:03 pm Anthony Adun aka Tony Kabaka one of the most prominent Youths Leaders in Nigeria believed to have thousands of youths very loyal to him, during the week, came out with a video press release to confirm before the general public that he was invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC over petitions and allegations of naira abuse, stating that, he honoured the invitation because ‘nobody is above the law', but, he decided to issue the video press release because of Albert Obazee, a loyalist of the immediate past Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, whom, he accused of always insulting him and trying to spoil his name on social media, thus, he issued a threat message to pluck off his teeth and break his bones with his own bare hands, anytime Albert Obazee who is currently living in London comes to Nigeria, adding that, since, his parents cannot call him to order, and if Albert Obazee ever insults him on social media platforms again, his parents home will be visited and the parents will start feeling the heat, although, in less than 24 hours after issuing the statement, Tony Kabaka issued another video press release at night, apologizing to the parents of Albert Obazee and withdrew his apparent threat messages earlier issued against them, but hours after issuing the apology message on Tuesday, on Wednesday, Albert Obazee cried out on social media, raised an alarm that his own house situated at Amagba area in Benin City has been attacked and properties destroyed by people he suspected to be Tony Kabaka and his boys. #OsazuwaAkonedo

(LHE) LHE presents a history discussion about three African kingdoms from African history. Starring British historian, Percival Grinsynski-——>Sources ——> Cartwright, Mark. “Kingdom of Kongo.” Ancient history encyclopedia, 02 May 2019.Cartwright, Mark. “Kingdom of Benin.” Ancient history encyclopedia, 02 April 2019.Harding, Leonhard. “The Western-African Kingdom of Benin.” Empires to be remembered: Ancient Worlds through Modern Times. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 2022. 429-447.South African History Online. “Kingdom of Kongo 1390-1914.” South African History Online, 18 May 2016.Oumar dit Hasseye, Touré, and Tabar Abbou. The Mali Empire 12th-14th Centuries. Diss. University Ahmed Draya-Adrar, 2021.Oulhadji, Mohamed. The West African Medieval Empire of Mali 13th-15th Centuries. Diss. University of Adrar, 2018.

Toba Ade-Balogun nas v torkovem Drugem pogledu odpelje v afriško državo, ki meji na Benin, Niger, Čad in Kamerun, Gvinejski zaliv pa je njen izhod na morje. Iz Nigerije prihaja naš tokratni sogovornik. Kako ga je njegova življenjska pot prek študija v Veliki Britaniji pripeljala do Slovenije, pa izveste v oddaji, ki jo je pripravila Darja Pograjc.

Here's the latest news from the world of Omniglot. New language pages: Nawdm (nawdm), a Gur language spoken in northern Togo and southern and eastern Ghana. Yom (Pila), a Gur language spoken in the Atacora, Borgou and Donga departments in the northwest of Benin. Akuapem, a variety of Akan spoken mainly in southern Ghana, and […]

Kup se książkę: zarubieza.pl/ksiazkaZapraszam na moje soszjale, gdzie wrzucam dodatkowe materiały:https://www.instagram.com/zarubieza/https://www.facebook.com/Za-Rubie%C5%BC%C4%85-109949267414211/I jeszcze twitter: https://twitter.com/mioszszymaski2Youtube na streamy: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFfeJz4jDbVg_dYmCc_xXeAJeśli chcesz wesprzeć moją twórczość, to zapraszam tutaj:https://patronite.pl/miloszszymanskibuycoffee.to/miloszszymanskihttps://suppi.pl/miloszszymanski

Exploramos músicas que nacen de las tradiciones y las experimentaciones a partir de ellas, que nos revelan una enorme riqueza y diversidad por tierras de la Europa occidental, oculta habitualmente ruido de la uniformización. Viajamos por Cerdeña, la región de las Cuatro Provincias en Italia, Bretaña, Flandes, Auvernia, Provenza, Languedoc y el Mazizo Central francés, donde nos encontramos una inesperada conexión con Benín, en el África occidental. We explore music that springs from traditions and from experimentation rooted in them, revealing a vast richness and diversity throughout the lands of Western Europe, usually hidden beneath the noise of uniformity. We travel through Sardinia, the region of the Quattro Province in Italy, Brittany, Flanders, Auvergne, Provence, Languedoc, and the French Massif Central, where we find an unexpected connection with Benin, in West Africa. - Pierpaolo Vacca - Ballu travessu - Travessu - Daniele Bicego - Alessandrina - Cantami, o müsa - O'Tridal - Temple tuk - Live - Louise - Elisa - Louise - Tant que li Siam - La caminado di sesoun - Vent'alentour - Camille en Bal - Au plus chaud de chaque été - De còr e d'aiga - Cardboard Cabin - Skateboard Scottish - Schemerdonker - Buck - Gebed - Buck - Ktipietok Orkestar - Foua - Et ouai - Ktipietok Orkestar & Gangbé Brass Band - Atin de jlo he - Gangbetok 📸 Gangbetok

She is a music legend whose voice and presence have shaped generations beyond the African continent. Beninese-French singer Angélique Kidjo is a multi-Grammy award winner but also a fierce advocate for education, culture and freedom. This year, she was one of the "Guests of Honour" at Abidjan's Festival of Urban Music in Ivory Coast, where she shared the stage with emerging artists in Africa. On the sidelines of the festival, Kidjo sat down with our music editor Fatimata Wane. In this special interview, they discuss Kidjo's passion for music and working with the next generation to come.

There is nothing that compares to making that decision to leave everything you know behind. To choose to make a home in a foreign place. And while you might have some pre-conceived ideas … you might even have done your research…none of it will quite compare to the experience itself. In our story this week, Michael’s journey is more than about moving from place to place, but also a journey through different stages of his life. 177 Nations of Tasmania: Micheal from Benin Since arriving in Tasmania about a year ago, Michael has got somewhat accustomed to people questioning whether Benin is a real country - an indication of how little known his homeland is in Australia. Benin is a small country in West Africa, squeezed between the much larger Nigeria and Togo. It was formerly part of a much larger Kingdom of Dahomey and was also one of the centres of the Atlantic slave trade. A legacy of this is seen in places like Haiti, Cuba, Brazil and New Orleans, where Voodoo is still practised, a belief system originating in Benin. In western culture this has become associated with pushing pins into dolls, but in Benin it is still a very much accepted bona fide religion. Michael's story is remarkable other ways though. From a tough time as a child at a boarding school in Nigeria, to University studies in Ghana, where he'd secretly hoped to further his soccer career, he eventually got a scholarship to study agriculture in Israel. During his year in Israel he fell in love with a Filipina, and she was the eventual inspiration for him to come to Tasmania. This story was originally published on 177 Nations of Tasmania, produced by Mark Thomson. To hear the full episode head to www.markthomsonmedia.com or search ‘177 Nations’ wherever you get your podcasts. With additional editing by Jespher Wen. Support emerging producers, artists & creatives by hitting follow or subscribe wherever you get your Podcasts. Make, meet and learn with All The Best - follow our Substack for audio workshops, events and pitching opportunities. All The Best Credits Host Kwame Slusher Executive Producer: Phoebe Adler-Ryan Editorial Producer: Melanie Bakewell Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie Artwork: Mark Thomson, 177 Nations of Tasmania Mixed and Compiled by Emma Higgins Theme Music composed by Shining Bird See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week returning guest, Yasmina Fagbemi (https://glocalcitizens.fireside.fm/guests/yasmina-f-edwards), is flashing forward with us with an update on her latest projects and evolving glocal citizenship. Having emigrated to the United States in the 1990s, she began her career in marketing with major international corporations. Building on this experience, she developed her network to fuel her passion for cinema. She produced her first documentary, "Bigger Than Africa," a film highlighting Yoruba culture that was featured on Netflix. She went on to develop multiple projects and met Gabriel Souleyka, with whom she founded Tioleja Films to bring original projects to life that contribute to Africa's growing prominence in global cinema. The film "My Soul is a Witness" has been announced in pre-production across global media outlets. Her new feature film, "The Soul of Africa," directed by Gabriel Souleyka, will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this May. As an editor and publisher, she is committed to publishing stories that others don't tell. Be sure to check out her socials for updates on where you can view or read more about African stories that are worth getting to know more about! Where to find Yasmina? https://tiolejafilms.com On LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasmina-fagbemi-edwards-4200ba5/) On Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/yasminafagbemi/) On Facebook (https://web.facebook.com/people/Yasmina-FEdwards/100063690843487/?_rdc=1&_rdr#) On TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@yasminafagbemi) What's Yasmina reading? Tioleja Titles (https://tiolejaeditions.com) What's Yasmina watching? Sinners (https://youtu.be/bKGxHflevuk?si=HoVJe6bfF6FQ14FM) Other topics of interest: Le Festival des Divinités Noires (https://festivaldesdivinitesnoires.org/) About Lomé, Togo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lom%C3%A9) About Aného, Togo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An%C3%A9ho) About Abrahamic Religions (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions) Pavillon Afrique @ Cannes (https://www.pavillonafriques.com) More about the persecution of Blacks in the Nazi camp system (https://wienerholocaustlibrary.org/2020/10/26/461/) More about Joy-Ann Reid (https://www.joyannreid.com) Special Guest: Yasmina Fagbemi.

Dans cet épisode, David Ordono reçoit une invitée qu'il espérait depuis longtemps : la cheffe étoilée Georgiana Viou. Figure énergique et inspirante, elle a accepté de prendre le temps de raconter son parcours, avec une sincérité et une énergie rares.Originaire du Bénin, révélée au grand public par l'émission Masterchef, Georgiana a connu un chemin singulier. Elle a appris la cuisine sur le tard, d'abord en autodidacte et elle a dû surmonter de nombreux obstacles avant de trouver sa voie. Aujourd'hui, elle dirige Rouge, son restaurant étoilé à Nîmes, guidée par une passion qui emporte tout et embarque tout le monde sur son passage !Avec son livre Oui cheffe – Du Bénin à l'étoile Michelin, itinéraire d'une battante, elle donne sa version de cette expression : les doutes, les chutes, les remises en question… et bien sûr les renaissances et les victoires.Un récit personnel, intense, tour à tour sombre et lumineux, préparez-vous à découvrir un tempérament et un récit hors du commun. Écartez-vous, voici Georgiana Viou.Distribué par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Take your flashlight and grab a compass - let's go exploring! Peter Berquist lives and breathes boats. He captains the R/V Investigator, a 24 foot Carolina Skiff. Every semester he takes his students out on the boat for adventures and first-hand research experience. Peter has been named an outstanding faculty member by The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. And: Dave Waldien is a real life explorer. And he has the title to prove it! He's a National Geographic Explorer and travels all over the world protecting endangered bat species. Later in the show: European explorers first made contact with West Africa in the 15th century, and thriving trade relations soon followed. But Neil Norman says the Europeans weren't the ones calling the shots - it was powerful West African kingdoms like Ouida, located in present day Benin.

In ep 119 of “How Do You Say That?!” sponsored by britishvoiceover.co.uk, Elroy "Spoonface" Powell joins Sam and Mark to talk about jumping from character to character in an instant, we find out exactly what "Muffin Pants" really are in what Sam thinks might be the most fun script we've ever had, and Spoon brings a Barry White depth that we had to explore!Our VO question this week is all about mindfulness... Spoon's an expert in this field and gives some tremendous tips on how you can look after yourself and protect your mental health in what can be a pretty tough industry!Get involved! Have you got a Wildcard suggestion that we should try or an idea for the show? Send it to us via Mark or Sam's social media or email it directly to podcast@britishvoiceover.co.ukScript 1True Sight helps to treat and prevent five debilitating diseases that affect more than a billion people globally.These are known as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and two of them are a major cause of preventable blindness around the world, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.True Sight works with thousands of local volunteers and has distributed more than a billion donated treatments to protect people against NTDs. They have helped to eliminate trachoma in several countries, including The Gambia, Ghana, Malawi, Benin, Mali and most recently Pakistan.Script 2(overexcited announcer)"Tired of choosing between breakfast... and pants?!"(fashion model voice)"Introducing... Muffin Pants. They bake while you strut."(scientist voice, slightly unhinged)"With patented CrumbTech™ insulation, each cheek stays toasty!"(grandma voice)"Back in my day, we just sat on a pie and hoped for the best."(military drill sergeant)"You want carbs? You want comfort? DROP AND GIVE ME FLAVOUR!"(cheery jingle-style sing-song)"Muffin Paaaants — hot buns, on the run!"We'd love your feedback - and if you listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, hit the follow button today!**Listen to all of our podcasts here - you can also watch on YouTube, or say to your smart speaker "Play How Do You Say That?!"About our guest: Elroy ‘Spoonface' Powell, aka ‘Spoon The Voice Guy,' is an award-winning voice actor known for his commanding performances in gaming, film, and TV. His role as Jack Matt in Dying Light 2 won him the One Voice Award for Best Male Voice in Gaming. He has also voiced Minecraft Legends, Harold Halibut, and appeared in Star Wars: Episode VII and Fighting With My Family.With a background in music, Spoon blends vocal mastery with storytelling. His work in mindfulness and EFT enhances his ability to deliver authentic, emotionally rich performances. He has also collaborated with UNESCO, amplifying indigenous voices. Elroy Spoonface's Website @spoonface1 on Instagram Elroy Spoonface on YouTubeYou can also read more about Mindfulness with Spoon's...

What if everything you thought you knew about voodoo was completely wrong? This episode Wander Woman Phoebe Smith heads to Togo and Benin in West Africa - the birthplace of the religion, with Explore, to seek out the real voodoo beyond the sensationalist Hollywood portrayals of evil dolls and sinister spells. Journeying to the rural north of both countries she invites you to experience with her the rituals, practises, dances and truth behind perhaps the most maligned belief system in the world. Come wander with her...Also coming up:Woman with Altitude Elise Wortley on why she travels with world wearing a bonnet and Victorian brasTravel Hack: Make the most of your tour leader10 incredible cultural experiences around the worldMeet Namgyal Doma Sherpa a massage therapist on the Everest Basecamp trek with Lehara, helping heal hikers AND give jobs and money to remote communitiesPack the kit you really need for visiting West AfricaMarie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, is our Wander Woman of the Month Contact Wander Womanwww.Phoebe-Smith.com; @PhoebeRSmith

Join me, Palle Bo, as I land in West Africa and dive into the vibrant chaos of Ghana's capital. In this first episode from Accra, things don't exactly go to plan — starting with a stressful border crossing where I'm almost denied entry (and might've been asked for a bribe). Then it's on to SIM card struggles, hotel mix-ups, and an unexpected conversation about Danish football in a local Uber. I'm also reunited with my globetrotting travel buddy Cynthia, as we kick off our journey through Ghana, Togo, Benin, and São Tomé. Plus, I reveal what happened when my Yellow Fever vaccine book nearly grounded me — and what to expect next as our Accra adventures continue. Key takeaways: – How not having your name in your vaccine book can cause major problems -       Getting a SIM card in Ghana vs. using eSIM with GigSky -       Why Accra is both chaotic and full of charm -       Ghana facts: language, religion, size, and more -       The story of Cynthia Globe and our travels -       Upcoming: fantasy coffins, karaoke surprises, and deeper looks at Ghanaian society Links and more: Follow The Radio Vagabond on https://www.instagram.com/radiovagabond/ https://www.facebook.com/TheRadioVagabond https://www.youtube.com/theradiovagabond https://twitter.com/radiovagabond https://www.tiktok.com/@radiovagabond Read the full blog post here: https://theradiovagabond.com/363-ghana Danish version: https://radiovagabond.dk/412-ghana Join the Vagabond Hotline with this week's question: “The Strangest Thing I've Ever Eaten While Traveling” Tell me your story at https://www.theradiovagabond.com/contact

Jeg er landet i Vestafrika – og i denne første episode fra Ghana tager jeg dig med til Accra, en by fuld af liv, lyd og kaos… på den gode måde. Men det hele starter med noget, der kunne være gået helt galt: En grænseovergang, hvor jeg næsten ikke fik lov at komme ind – fordi mit navn manglede i min vaccinationsbog. Og så var der noget, der godt kunne lyde som en opfordring til bestikkelse. Derudover kæmper jeg med at få et SIM-kort, tjekker ind på hotellet i lidt for surt humør, og får en uventet samtale om dansk fodbold med en Uber-chauffør. Jeg bliver også genforenet med min rejsemakker Cynthia fra Florida, og vi er klar til at udforske Ghana, Togo, Benin og São Tomé. Og så fortæller jeg, hvordan noget så simpelt som et navn i en gul bog næsten fik sat en stopper for hele eventyret. Højdepunkter fra episoden: – Hvordan en vaccinebog næsten fik mig afvist ved grænsen – Fordele ved eSIM og hvordan man får data i Ghana – Accra som by: kaotisk, men fascinerende – Fakta om Ghana: sprog, religion, størrelse og meget mere – Mit rejsemakker-skab med Cynthia Globe – Snigpremiere på næste episode: fantasifulde kister, karaoke og ghanesisk samfundsindsigt Følg The Radio Vagabond her: https://www.instagram.com/radiovagabond/ https://www.facebook.com/TheRadioVagabond https://www.youtube.com/theradiovagabond https://twitter.com/radiovagabond https://www.tiktok.com/@radiovagabond Læs blogindlægget her: https://radiovagabond.dk/412-ghana Vagabond Hotline – Næste spørgsmål: Hvad er det mærkeligste, du nogensinde har spist på en rejse? Har du prøvet noget virkelig underligt? Fortæl mig din historie her: https://radiovagabond.dk/kontakt

Project Associate at UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) and co-founder of Diaspora Creatives, Audrey Kodjo tells us about her mom Lucy, who, in spite of having the status of a queen in Benin, had to master many obstacles both in her childhood and adulthood – from being a foster child to facing marital challenges. We learn about Benin, and what it means to be a queen there, but we also learn many life-lessons about teaching your children values and strong roots; why women are the backbone of a family; the eternal split between family and your dreams; the power of spirituality; and why it's important to take risks. To learn more about Diaspora Creatives, visit their website.  Subscribe to Ana's new "Mama Loves…” newsletter here.  To contact Ana, to be a guest, or suggest a guest, please send your mail to: info@thankyoumama.net To learn more about "Thank You, mama" creative writing workshop, visit here. For more about “Thank You, Mama", please visit: http://www.thankyoumama.net Connect with Ana on social media: https://www.instagram.com/anatajder/ https://www.facebook.com/ana.tajder

This episode is brought to you in association with FIFA+. Click below to get your free FIFA+ account and watch live club and international football from around the world: ⁠www.tinyurl.com/FIFAPlusSweeperEurope and Africa are the focal points in a fan culture-themed Part 1. How did an American tourist on a hop-on, hop-off boat cruise in London get adopted by Southend's away fans? What did supporters of Loto Popo in Benin spray on the away team bus during their recent match with Bani Gansé? Are WSG Tirol of Austria the worst-supported top-flight club in Europe? And how did a dog become a chanting season-ticket holder in Greece?It's over to South America in Part 2. What remarkable feat have indigenous Ecuadorian club Mushuc Runa achieved in the Copa Sudamericana? And what is the latest flamboyant outfit Barcelona coach Segundo Castillo has donned in the Copa Libertadores? How has a Bolivian player gotten away with pretending to be his deceased younger brother for so long? And what happened when a referee Kungfu-kicked a pitch-invading coach in the Copa Peru?Join The Sweeper on Patreon: patreon.com/SweeperPodSupport The Sweeper on Buy Me A Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/sweeperpodEditor: Ralph Foster Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lagos has many love stories, but this one is anything but ordinary.In this debut episode, Whistling takes us deep into the glittering streets of Lekki Phase 1, where Emeka Nwachukwu — a fine, God-fearing tech bro with brains, bucks, and babe — suddenly flips like NEPA light. One minute, he's praying in tongues with his girlfriend, Amara. The next, he's ghosted her for Osaru, a mysterious Edo beauty with charms deeper than her dimples.But Osaru didn't just steal his heart — she might've taken something else. Something spiritual.Was it love? Jazz? Or a binding spell from a shrine in Benin?Tap in, fam. Episode 1 sets the tone for a supernatural saga of love, manipulation, and spiritual warfare in the city that never stops.

Freshly out from under French colonial rule in 1960, the West African nation of Dahomey (now Benin) became home to the largest number of coups d'état in history, earning the reputation of the “sick child of Africa.” Country politics eventually aligned with Marxist and socialist ideologies stimulating French opposition that resulted in mercenary intervention.  Opération Crevette: Benin, Mercenaries, and the Survival of a New State (Lexington Books, 2024) brings together the voices of the involved mercenaries, political rulers, and local witnesses to reveal a struggle for power in the former French colony. Opération Crevette was a mercenary operation which was intended to remove Benin's eleventh president from power in the 1970s. This book analyzes the political, social, and economic factors that led to this operation, as well as the foreign interference from nations like France and America. Les and Monique Sosnowski provide a unique perspective of international politics, exposing French instigated military intervention and the immense influence Western nations have played in shaping the Africa we know today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-studies

Freshly out from under French colonial rule in 1960, the West African nation of Dahomey (now Benin) became home to the largest number of coups d'état in history, earning the reputation of the “sick child of Africa.” Country politics eventually aligned with Marxist and socialist ideologies stimulating French opposition that resulted in mercenary intervention.  Opération Crevette: Benin, Mercenaries, and the Survival of a New State (Lexington Books, 2024) brings together the voices of the involved mercenaries, political rulers, and local witnesses to reveal a struggle for power in the former French colony. Opération Crevette was a mercenary operation which was intended to remove Benin's eleventh president from power in the 1970s. This book analyzes the political, social, and economic factors that led to this operation, as well as the foreign interference from nations like France and America. Les and Monique Sosnowski provide a unique perspective of international politics, exposing French instigated military intervention and the immense influence Western nations have played in shaping the Africa we know today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/french-studies

To unpack the latest Bafana Bafana World cup qualifier developments, Amy Maciver speaks to soccer correspondent Yanga Sibembe, who has been closely following the team’s journey.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Angélique Kidjo is a legendary Grammy-winning singer, a UNICEF international Goodwill Ambassador and one of the most lauded African artists of our time. She also has one of the most unbelievable stories in music. At the same time that she began finding success as a singer in her homeland of Benin, the country was under a strict military dictatorship. By age 23, she made a very daring and lucky escape to Paris. Angélique joins Tom Power from our Montreal studio to reflect on her childhood in Benin, how she fled to France, and what that experience taught her about freedom of all kinds. Plus, she tells Tom why percussion has to come first when she's making music.

Welcome in for another edition of the Morning Espresso from the SDH Network, brought to you by Oglethorpe University, Atlanta's premier undergraduate learning experience and soccer powerhouse.Disappointing night for the USMNT who lost 1-0 to Panama on a stoppage time goal from Cecilio Waterman. Panama's 5-4-1 gave the US fits, and there wasn't enough urgency to find answers or take risks. Mauricio Pochettino said afterwards that the US shirt wasn't enough in games like this, he said you could feel the difference in the hunger shown by the two sets of players, and he said the US needed to take more risks going forward. That's not easy to change overnight, and I'm really curious to see the response in the third place game against Canada on Sunday. Mexico will face Panama in the Nations League championship match on Sunday after a 2-0 win over Canada on two goals from Raul Jimenez. The top six teams in South American World Cup qualifying should be fine to qualify. Paraguay is unbeaten in 7 after their 1-0 over Chile. Brazil needed a stoppage time winning deflected goal from Vinicius Junior to beat Colombia. Then, Raphinha needed to prevent Vini from getting a time-wasting yellow card as he was subbed out which would have had him suspended from the Argentina match on Tuesday. Was he trying to get suspended? It looked bizarre.South Korea, Iran, and Australia should be the next teams from Asia to earn qualification to the World Cup after their results yesterday. New Zealand will face New Caledonia for the Oceania qualifying spot after both won their semifinals. Denis Bouanga scored twice for Gabon in their win in African World Cup qualifying. The door has cracked open for Nigeria who has struggled mightily so far after Benin could only manage a draw, Nigeria faces Rwanda and can pull to within two points of qualifying with a win. Mozambique moved into a qualification spot with a win, but Algeria could jump them with a win today. The New York Pancyprian Freedoms became the 6th team to pull off a cupset in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, winning a penalty shootout with FC Cincinnati 2. England starts their World Cup qualifying journey today, hosting Albania. England are unbeaten in their last 31 World Cup qualifiers and have never dropped points to Albania. The highlight of the qualifiers is tonight as Uruguay hosts Argentina in one of the world's oldest rivalries. More Espresso on Monday on the SDH Network, presented by Oglethorpe University.

In January, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger officially withdrew from the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, having already established the Alliance of Sahel States, or AES, as an alternative regional grouping. The move has had a multitude of consequences, including ongoing diplomatic spats between the AES states and those that remain committed to ECOWAS, as well as challenges to trade and freedom of movement across the region. But the security implications of the fracturing of ECOWAS as a regional bloc are also important to consider, as West Africa faces an array of challenges that are increasingly affecting what are usually thought of as the region's more stable coastal countries, such as Senegal, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire. All three of the military-run AES states face long-running jihadist and domestic insurgencies, including armed groups with links to the Islamic State and al-Qaida. Most prominent among them are the Islamic State-Sahel Province and Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM, which is affiliated with al-Qaida and is also active in northern Cote d'Ivoire, Benin and Togo. These groups have been active throughout the Sahel for over a decade, typically exploiting local grievances and intercommunal tensions, particularly between farmers and pastoralists as well as against the Peuhl community, which is often portrayed as being sympathetic to the jihadists. The jihadists mobilize these tensions to stoke conflict and recruit among marginalized communities in a broader effort to seize territory and create an Islamic caliphate in the Sahel and West Africa. These groups have targeted civilians and government forces alike, and their attacks have often been tactically sophisticated and significant in impact. In August 2024, for instance, an attack by JNIM in Barsalogho, in northern Burkina Faso, killed around 600 people. And in November 2023, an ambush in Niger's Tillaberi region killed at least 200 soldiers and wounded at least 34 others. Jihadist violence has increased at an accelerating rate in recent years, killing 11,643 people across the Sahel in 2023, a 43 percent increase from the previous year and a threefold increase since 2020, according to the African Centre for Strategic Studies. It has also increasingly spilled over into coastal West African states, with Ghana, Togo, Benin and Cote d'Ivoire all now threatened by these groups as well, albeit to a much lesser extent than the Sahelian states. In Togo, an attack on an army barracks last year killed 12 soldiers, for instance, and JNIM is increasingly fortifying its positions near the borders of Togo and Benin. The problems posed by insecurity are exacerbated by the refugee crisis that violence in the Sahel is causing. By early 2025, nearly 87,000 people had fled their homes in the Sahel into coastal countries. This has put a strain on local communities, especially in Cote d'Ivoire, where nearly 58,000 of the refugees have fled. The rampant insecurity has also fueled political instability, with the three AES states having experienced a combined five coups between 2020 and 2023. The ECOWAS split could exacerbate many of these security challenges, not least because it has created or exacerbated tensions between many countries that have remained in ECOWAS and those that have left. In the past 12-18 months, for instance, Cote d'Ivoire, known as a staunch defender of ECOWAS, and neighboring Burkina Faso have engaged in repeated diplomatic spats linked to mutual fears of destabilization as well as Burkina Faso's rejection of the region's and ECOWAS' historical pro-Western leanings. Gun battles and disputes at the border between Burkinabe and Ivoirian troops have become common, with Ivoirian gendarmes having even been detained in Burkina Faso. Earlier this year Burkina Faso withdrew its diplomatic personnel from Cote d'Ivoire. These disputes have increased instability on the two countries' shared border, exacerbating tensions driven by an inflow of Burk...

Edith Blais was kidnapped by armed militants and held captive in the Sahara for 450 days.As a young French-Canadian who had overcome her teenage agoraphobia, Edith took several years to work up the courage to go travelling – but once she did it, she got the bug. In 2018 she backpacked to West Africa with her good friend Luca Tacchetto. When they got to Benin they were kidnapped by armed militants and taken to the desert in a lawless area of Mali, where groups linked to al-Qaeda were known to operate.The couple pretended to be husband and wife so they could stay together but Edith soon found herself held captive alone, kept in isolation for long periods of time. As well as suffering physically with dehydration and starvation, she had to find different techniques to keep her mind strong and stay sane. A borrowed pen enabled her to write poetry, and she sang songs to remind herself of her own voice.After agreeing to convert to Islam she was eventually reunited with Luca. By this time they had been held for 14 months, and they knew they had to break free. But with their captors never more than a few feet away from them, how would they do it? Edith spoke to Jo Fidgen in 2021 about how forces of nature aided their staggering escape. Edith's book about her time in captivity is called The Weight of Sand.Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Katy TakatsukiPicture: Edith Blais Credit: Sara Mauve RavenelleGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Donald Trump has stepped up his verbal attacks on Volodymyr Zelensky, branding him a dictator who could lose his country, after the Ukrainian leader said the US president had been taken in by Russian disinformation. Also in the programme: The Netherlands is to return more than a hundred Benin bronze sculptures to Nigeria, where they were looted by British forces in the nineteenth century; Microsoft has unveiled a chip powered by a new state of matter, which it says shows a quantum computing revolution is only years away; and two months after a failed coup, we hear from supporters of South Korea's impeached and imprisoned president. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

297 | Adé Carrena I don't think we've ever had anyone on the show that shares today's guest's profession! I'm thrilled to introduce you to Chef Adé Carrena, she's the subject of a beautiful new documentary called Bite of Benin. Adé is passionate about using food as a storytelling tool and has worked to bring West African flavours and spices to a global audience. She shares some of her personal story with us today, including being taken at age ten to the United States with her sister to be adopted. We do mention some difficult topics in this episode, so take good care when deciding to listen.   Full Show Notes Here   Join our adoptee community on Patreon here   Check out our upcoming live events here! This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice. Please seek out professionals in those fields if you need those services. The views expressed by the hosts of Adoptees On or any guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of any organization or other person unless otherwise stated.

Nigeria's telecoms regulator has approved a tariff hike by operators-customers are groaning.   A year after ground-breaking malaria vaccination campaigns were launched in Africa-we assess the progress.   And why is Benin granting citizenship to descendants of the victims of the transatlantic slave trade?   Presenter: Charles Gitonga Producers: Blessing Aderogba. Yvette Twagiramariya and Blessing Hassan Senior Producer: Paul Bakibinga Technical Producer: Chris Kouzaris Editors: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi

Aaron Miller, Vice President of International Ministry at The Voice of the Martyrs, joins VOM Radio this week to look back at some of God's blessings he and his team experienced during 2024 and to look ahead at nations where VOM's work may change or expand in 2025. Listen as Aaron recounts a visit to meet Christian widows in Nigeria. These women endured losing their husbands in violent attacks, yet they gathered to worship together and even prayed boldly for their persecutors to come to know Christ. He'll also share the story of a God-ordained encounter with a persecuted pastor's son in southeast Asia—and the sadness of an unmet need when that pastor was imprisoned. Aaron also tells us of meeting with a martyr's widow who still boldly goes out to minister each week in the same area where her husband was murdered. Looking ahead to 2025, Aaron will advise listeners how to pray for Christians facing persecution in Benin, Burkina Faso, Bangladesh and Syria. He'll also tell how Christian persecution has changed in India, which led VOM to reclassify India as a restricted nation in the VOM Global Prayer Guide. Yet Indian Christians still boldly witness for Christ—even inside prison! Finally, Aaron challenges listeners to continue to pay attention to the members of Christ's body facing persecution in this new year—even though it can be painful to witness their suffering and loss. Aaron will suggest some specific ways to pray in these opening weeks of 2025. The first day of the new year marked the launch of a new, daily podcast from VOM: Extreme Devotion is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. The VOM App for your smartphone or tablet helps users pray daily for persecuted Christians throughout the year, as well as giving free access to e-books, audio books, video content and feature films. Download the VOM App for your iOS or Android device today.