Past Programs
Family and Children - 2008
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The Final My Street Sampler
07/12/2008
The My Street project asked people to create a story about their street, using any available digital technology and then to upload it to the Pool website. Browsing through the stories you get a strong sense of place and the emotions that we feel about our neighbourhood and immediate surroundings.
In this final showcase of stories you will hear stories about the following:
a beautiful description of Life in a Pilbara Town,
a sad tale about a man who lost his eye in a work accident but still manages to play the violin as he awaits surgery for a glass eye,
a death in The Ukraine,
a charming story about a clash of rednecks and drug users in a country town,
a sharehouse progressive dinner,
first time sex in the red light district of Singapore and
a reflection on four generations who have lived in the same house.
Despite What They Say
19/10/2008
Babies born with HIV 22 years ago were expected to die, but Shaynon has gone on to live a fairly normal life with a young family, and to enjoy unprotected sex. Despite the odds, his female partner Jessica remains HIV negative.
Twenty-two years ago, in the city of Perth, baby Shaynon was born HIV positive. At the time nobody knew if this little boy would survive and doctors could only guess how long he might live. Medics concluded that if Shaynon lived to the age of ten he would have done well in the longevity stakes.
The public were afraid of people like Shaynon, and the media misrepresented his condition, making people fearful not only of the HIV virus but also of people carrying it. Fear, confusion and misinformation abounded.
At the age of 10 Shaynon believed his time had come. He began to act out and ran away from home, spending time in squat housing and eventually foster care. He also questioned his fate and the expertise of the medical fraternity regarding what they told him about HIV and AIDS.
Birthday after birthday rolled around and at the age of 16 Shaynon took an interest in Jessica, whom he met while she was working at Hungry Jacks. They started dating. It wasn't long before Jessica's parents learned about Shaynon's condition and her father told the love-struck Shaynon to stay away. But they were determined not to let Jessica's parents get between them, and snuck around behind their backs.
Today Shaynon and Jessica have been together for six years and now have two young children. We are aware Jessica is HIV negative, as are the couple's two children.
What's intriguing is that Shaynon and Jessica conceived their little ones naturally and without practising safe sex procedures. Nor did Shaynon 'wash his sperm' -- a precaution usually taken by HIV infected individuals wishing to conceive.
Having lived with HIV for 22 years, Shaynon has invested a lot of time into researching the virus. He has developed some pretty radical views about the ways in which HIV is transferred and how to avoid infection.
Shaynon's story is unique and confronting. The medical profession will not support his challenging stance about HIV but he is OK with this. An HIV free partner and healthy children are testament to his belief that there are a lot of misunderstandings about HIV. His lifespan has more than doubled the predicted time it was said he would live. Despite the odds, this is Shaynon's story.
God Knows Why Part 2
07/09/2008
When the Pope came to Sydney recently for World Youth Day, Sister Johanna of the Cross came out of her 45 years of seclusion in a Carmelite convent to recruit new postulants for the order and to visit her family.
Aunty Janny, as she is affectionately known by the Lawson family, has spent most of her life inside the enclosed order of the Catholic Carmelite Nuns in Lismore, northern NSW.
Once a popular and beautiful young Sydney woman, she now spends her days praying for the salvation of all souls. Whenever family or friends pay her a visit there is a set of steel bars dividing them.
She had never been allowed to visit the homes of her brothers and sister before and had not met many of her extended family. So when she came out of seclusion for the ten days, she did a lot of catching up.
She also found that technology had advanced since she had gone into the convent; she was amazed by automatic hand dryers and doors that opened by themselves. The shape of Sydney was completely unrecognisable to her also.
In God Knows Why Part 2 Julie Kimberley, Janny's niece, accompanies her as she meets, greets, visits and explores the outside world for the first time in 45 years.
God Knows Why Part 1 Read Transcript
31/08/2008
Julie Kimberley takes us inside the cloisters of one of the few remaining Catholic Carmelite Convents to meet her Aunty Janny, or Sister Johanna of the Cross, as she is formally known.
Showgirls
10/08/2008
This program takes you into the world of 'glamour models'. Nicky-Lee, Lara-Lou and Vanessa are three young women whose world consists of a non-stop circuit of podium dancing, wet-teeshirt modelling and posing, semi-naked for the punters.
The friends are working the summer show scene; but life is about to change as Vanessa attends the maternity unit at her local hospital to check on progress; Vanessa is - show-stoppingly - pregnant. But for the moment, she has not given up working: squeezed into skin-tight corset and lycra hotpants you would never guess that she is just weeks away from giving birth.
Meanwhile Lara-Lou and Nicky-Lee remain in the thick of it - as well as being on stage they're doing the 'bikini car-wash' - As Lara explains, "It's more about washing yourself than the car." Backstage they talk candidly about their families, relationships and the dark side of the industry.
On men they all agree - "they just want boobage."
This program was produced by BBC Radio for the series Lives in a Landscape
Due to copyright restrictions this program will not be podcast or available as audio on demand.
Life Beyond Death
06/07/2008
In a remarkable gesture of peace and humanity Palestinian and Israeli families talk about the decision to donate the organs of their dead family members to patients on the other side of the Middle Eastern conflict.
'My son was dead, but six Israelis now have a part of a Palestinian in them, and maybe he is still alive in them.'
The words of the Palestinian father Ismail Khatib, who donated his son Ahmed's organs to Israelis after the 12-year-old, while holding a toy gun, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers.
This is not the first time victims of the conflict have given life to people on the other side of the Arab-Jewish divide.
This year is the 5th anniversary of the death of Yoni Jesner, a 19-year-old Jewish religion student murdered in the bombing of a Tel-Aviv bus. Part of his body went to save the life of a Palestinian girl from East Jerusalem.
In this moving program we take a closer look at the generosity and faith of these two families, the Jesners and the Khatibs. Can a person live on in some way through organ donation?
This is a production of the BBC World Service and is part of the Crossing Boundaries program exchange.
Abrolhos Island life
08/06/2008
For three-and-a-half months every year, 150 lobster fishermen, their families and deckhands leave the mainland and make the trek across the waters to live and work on the Abrolhos Islands. It is a unique, albeit very isolated, lifestyle much relished by the islanders.
Seven days a week they pull up their pots, searching for the valuable and delicious crustaceans. It is a major industry -- 1.5 million kilos (worth $40 million) of Western Rock Lobsters, or better known locally as crayfish, are fished here and exported across the world.
The Abrolhos Islands are situated 60 km off the coast of Western Australia, near Geraldton. The 122 rugged and isolated coral atolls extend north to south over 100 km of pristine waters rich in biodiversity. As a result of the Leeuwin current sweeping warm, low-nutrient, tropical water from the Pacific Ocean down along Western Australia's continental shelf, corals and tropical fish can thrive here in latitudes where they would not normally survive.
The name Abrolhos is thought to have been derived from the Portuguese expression Abre os olhos, meaning 'keep your eyes open'. It is a suitable name for this A-class reserve, known not only for its crayfish but also for shipwrecks like the Batavia.
But as both crayfish numbers and prices go down, it is a lifestyle under pressure to change. Producer Mia Lindgren spent time with some of the lobster fishermen and their families on the tiny Roma Island.
- Watch the short film on Abrolhos Island life.
Meet some of the fishermen and their families who take up temporary residence at the Abrolhos Islands during the Western Rock Lobster fishing season (15 March - 30 June): Caroline and Paul Pettet; John Newby, Kel Pirrottina; and Cherrie and Pinny Pirrottina.
A special thanks to photographers Peter Dameon, Geoff Towler and Bjorn Westerberg. Producer: Mia Lindgren. (Dur: 3:50)
Who will look after me?
01/06/2008
We spend a day with aged-care worker Tash Prendergast as she visits four of her elderly clients. They live alone and depend on her help for many of the most basic tasks of daily life.
Together they'll take you on a journey through the unique relationship between carer and cared-for, as Tash and her clients open up the doors to their homes, hearts and minds -- and offer a glimpse into life for some elderly people in Australia today.
A Life of Ashes
17/02/2008
There are more than 40 million widows in India today and for a large proportion of these women, their lives are what some have referred to as a living sati, a reference to the now outlawed practice of widow burning. A woman's diet, dress, and even sexuality all suddenly become part of the public realm the moment her husband dies.
Producer Dheera Sujan is an Indian herself and the daughter of a widow. In 'A Life of Ashes' she weaves her own experiences with those of the women she met.
We Homeschool
10/02/2008
Small in number, but passionate about what they do, homeschoolers make up about 0.03% of school-age children in Australia. Some families homeschool because they live in remote areas, but the families in this program have chosen home-based learning even though there are schools in their neighbourhood.
Their reasons vary: learning difficulties, disability, medical issues. Some simply want to progress naturally from teaching their children to walk and talk through to teaching them to read and write, and so on, and to encourage them to find information for themselves as and when they want to, or need to.
Collectively, they experience raised eyebrows. Isn't the social contact at school just as important as the learning? How can you teach your child when you're not a teacher? Aren't you doing your child a huge disservice?
Overwhelmingly, though, the families in 'We Homeschool' find huge benefits in the learning option they've chosen for their children.
