Ankur Desai
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service.
Hello, I'm Ankur Desai and in this edition, how an Ethiopian man who needed two heart operations as a child ended up working with the American surgeon who'd saved him.
It's a dream come true life.
It's such an amazing privilege to serve together with
A Paralympic athlete and guitarist who's blind talks of his joy at being sent a specially designed amplifier.
Later on, how a new AI chatbot is helping farmers in rural areas of Malawi.
And do stick with me on this one.
Why a cow is using a broom to scratch its back and why it's exciting scientists.
And the girl who joined her dad's wedding photography business at the age of just nine.
It's an amazing feeling if your daughter actually wants to come with you to work and then does such an amazing job at the age of nine.
I love taking photos.
You just see like the world through a different lens.
We start with an inspiring full circle story from Ethiopia.
Mesvin Dola, who grew up in a small village, became very sick by the age of 11.
Local doctors couldn't help, so he travelled to the capital of Addis Ababa and asked a charity.
There, he met an American doctor, Rick Hodes, who diagnosed Mesvin and arranged surgery in the US as it wasn't available in Ethiopia.
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He then flew to Atlanta at the age of 15 to be operated on by the heart surgeon Jim Cowton.
Namesvin went home, but complications meant he had to return to the US for a second operation and then remain there.
He grew up to become a cardiac perfusionist, operating the life support machines during surgical procedures just like the ones he'd had as a child.