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 Africa Lives On The BBC
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Africa Lives On The BBCBBC ONE
Breakfast
Natasha Kaplinsky will be presenting Breakfast from
Kenya in the week starting 4 July, as world leaders gather for the G8
summit. Africa is top of their agenda.
Natasha's father was an anti-apartheid campaigner in South Africa who
sought political asylum in the UK. The family eventually settled in Kenya,
where Natasha spent her early years.
Natasha returns to South Africa and the old family home in Kenya to try
to find out how Africa has changed and meet old friends.
In addition, Breakfast will bring viewers stories from across the continent,
including a video diary filmed by a family in Tanzania.
The programme will also be focussing on doing business with African countries
and examining the emergence of a new class of African entrepreneur.
The Girl In the Cafe
The Girl In The Cafe is a tenderly funny and poignant love story from
award-winning screenwriter Richard Curtis, in which he
combines his unique comedic touch with a powerful humanitarian message.
Starring Bill Nighy (Love Actually, State Of Play) and
Kelly Macdonald (Gosford Park, Trainspotting, State Of
Play) it follows the story of a very hard-working, shy civil servant,
Lawrence, and his life-changing relationship with a mysterious girl whom
he meets in a café opposite Downing Street.
He takes her on a romantic mini-break - to the G8 Summit.
Set against the backdrop of a G8 Summit Meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland,
where Lawrence is one of the British delegation, their gentle love story
develops as world leaders compete for media and political advantage.
The film follows both the growing love story between two shy outsiders
and the progress of the summit, until the two become dramatically, comically
and tragically entwined.
Elephant Diaries
For a baby elephant, family life is everything and losing your mother
is the worst possible start in life.
Through unprecedented access to Kenya's elephant rehabilitation centres,
Jonathan Scott and Michaela Strachan capture
on film, for the first time, the dramatic rescue and reintroduction of
fragile young elephant orphans.
The duo present a week of reports from Africa's only elephant orphanage,
run by the Dr Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
With 28 years of experience in hand-rearing these gentle giants, Daphne
Sheldrick's trust has successfully saved 62 infant calves, two from the
day of birth.
Michaela visits the orphanage in Nairobi to follow the newly-rescued
calves on their road to recovery. And Jonathan visits centres within Tsavo
East National Park to witness the gradual process of re-integration, as
they learn to walk in step with their wild cousins.
Geldof in Africa
Leaving Live Aid and politics to one side, Bob Geldof
makes a personal journey through Africa to understand ordinary Africans
and, through their experiences, understand the forces that make the continent
tick.
Travelling through West Africa (Ghana, Benin and Mali), Central Africa
(DR Congo and Uganda) and East Africa (Ethiopia, Tanzania and Somalia),
Geldof explores the continent that the rest of the world seems to be leaving
behind.
Geldof says of his experiences: "In Europe, we live in effect East to
West - across one vast temperate climate zone. Africa, on the other hand
- lying North to South - has the lot: desert with its vast seas of sand;
tropical with its jungles; equatorial with its rainforest; savannah and
coastal with its animals and fish. In fact, practically everything except
Arctic.
"And within this immense continent more peoples, more language,
more cultures, more animals than anywhere else on our world. It is quite
simply the most extraordinary, beautiful and luminous place on our planet."
Africa: Journeys of Hope
George Alagiah presents an Africa BBC News Special that
takes the viewer on two vibrant, interlocking journeys.
Re-tracing his own journey from boyhood to manhood in Africa, George
relates the compelling story of his beloved continent.
From the first treasured taste of freedom in Ghana to the post-Apartheid
land of opportunity - South Africa - and from an emotional reunion with
an old classmate to a rare meeting with the one surviving master tracker
of the Kruger National Park, George offers viewers an extraordinary glimpse
of an extraordinary place.
On the way, he meets a little girl at a Liberian refugee camp in Ghana
who talks about her dream of going back to her "beautiful" homeland;
and a white South African who has acted as a catalyst, making the dreams
of land ownership come true for black vineyard workers who now run their
own wine-making business.
He talks to an eight-year-old in Ghana who tells him she wants to be
a doctor when she grows up, because she loves helping people.
And he brings together one of South Africa's first ever black Head Boys
with the remarkable human rights campaigner Albie Sachs
- one of the main architects of the country's newfound freedom.
Ground Force - A Garden for Africa '05
The Ground Force team are celebrating the amazing flora of the African
continent in their last ever garden transformation.
In just three days, the team will transform a patch of lawn outside the
British Museum into an exotic garden, symbolising a journey through Africa,
with the main path being made out of hardwood railway sleepers - reminiscent
of a train journey through the continent.
The planting will take viewers on a voyage reflecting the desert area
of North Africa, through to the rich tropical planting and then on to
the temperate regions of Southern Africa - where many of our favourite
plants originated.
At the centre of the garden, a dramatic water sculpture created by world-renowned
artist Sokari Douglas Camp will add sound and movement.
The stunning sculpture will be made from galvanised steel, and feature
five statuesque eight foot figures of Nigerian women in vibrant colours.
The garden will also feature a host of interesting and varied plants
- representing the continent's different climatic zones - that will be
maintained throughout the summer by volunteers from the BBC Neighbourhood
Gardener scheme.
A spectacular sculpture of a Baobab tree, donated by the Eden Project
and Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens, will also be displayed within the garden.
And lending a head-turning twist to the garden is a collection of exciting
sculptures by an impressive range of African artists who are taking part
in the Africa05 exhibition at the British Museum.
Holby City
This summer, Holby City will transport viewers to Africa with a story
that will change Ric and Diane's lives forever.
Shot entirely on location in Ghana, Ric returns to his family home, hoping
to find a more fulfilling role in his brother's clinic.
Diane, reeling from setbacks in her new marriage and stunned by the news
that her beloved surgical ward at Holby is to close, travels to Ghana
to convince Ric that he's needed at home to fight the closure.
However, once in Africa, she finds herself facing unexpected emotions.
ONE Life: Alek Wek
Alek Wek escaped from her home village, Wau in southern
Sudan, on foot aged just 12. She and her family left when rebels arrived
and war broke out.
She arrived, via Kharthoum, in the East End of London with her sister
and had to wait a long two years before her mother was allowed into the
country.
Talent-spotted by chance at a KISS FM street party, Alek was suddenly
a million miles from her roots as she became one of the modelling world's
stellar success stories, gracing the world's glossiest magazine covers
and fashion capital catwalks.
Alek has been back to her home country just once, to raise awareness
of those who are suffering in the civil war.
Now, though, the ONE Life team follow her as she takes her mother back
home for the first time.
Retracing the steps of their journey in reverse, they want to seek out
a long-lost and much-loved aunt. Time has passed and the unstable situation
in Sudan makes it a journey of hope and uncertainty.
Rolf On African Art
Over many millennia, African art has evolved into many diverse forms
- from painting and sculpture to textiles, beadwork and pottery.
Rolf Harris goes on a fascinating journey to discover
the diversity of African art.
Rolf continues the long tradition of rock art, using techniques similar
to those which the San Bushmen used thousands of years ago; creates his
own piece of sculpture with a group of Makonde wood carvers; and, finally,
produces a painting that reflects the African people and landscapes that
have inspired him.
Songs Of Praise
Kwame Kwei-Armah travels to South Africa to reflect
on the pivotal role that music plays in people's lives.
Travelling to Soweto, Kwame visits the Buskaid Soweto String Project
founded by British viola player, Rosemary Nalden, after she heard about
the difficulties faced by a group of people trying to bring classical
music to the township.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu talks about the importance
of music to South Africans, and how they express their spirituality through
music.
Performances come from the Soweto Gospel Choir, the
Imilonji Kantu Choral Society - and Ladysmith
Black Mambazo perform in Kwa-Zulu Natal.
Strictly African Dancing
Six celebrities of African origin are each paired with an African dance
troupe for intensive training before performing a traditional African
dance.
They will dance to live music while a panel of African dance experts
judge their skills, and viewers at home vote for their favourites.
As the novice dancers rebuild links with their heritage, viewers learn
about the culture in which they are immersed.
The celebrities learn about the significance of their dances' traditional
values, as each tribe teaches them steps that have been passed down from
generation to generation.
Trauma Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa is a dangerous city – stabbings and shootings are every day occurrences.
Trauma Africa follows the doctors, nurses and paramedics as they cope with the extreme conditions and endless stream of casualties in South Africa's busiest hospital – government-run Johannesburg General.
The leading trauma centre in Africa - and one of the leading trauma centres in the world - Johannesburg General has been described as a shining example of the new South Africa.
Medical practitioners from all over the world come to learn new techniques and to experience the sheer volume and variety of cases that pass through its doors.
Dr Ricardo Hamilton has come to South Africa from the Caribbean to learn about trauma medicine.
In just one day, Ricardo battles to save the lives of two young men who've been stabbed, a baby who's been pulled from a swimming pool, and has to counsel the grieving family of a patient who hasn't made it.
"People think I'm the only connection between living and dying," he tells us after comforting the distraught parents of a young woman who's been seriously injured in a car crash.
Louis Phampe is a career paramedic who has notched up ten years' experience working the streets of Soweto.
He is filled with pride for the township where he was born and raised: "I feel that working here will show the youth that tomorrow they can also be where I am."
Sister Nthabi Khumalo feels that nursing is a calling: the welfare of patients is so important to her that she leaves the hospital to search for the relatives of a patient who has lost his memory.
"When I go to sleep at night, I feel very happy knowing there are a few souls I helped out," she says.
The film crew were given unhindered access to show how these dedicated professionals make it through the day in this nail-biting, real-life drama based in Johannesburg's ER.
Kwame Kwei-Armah provides the commentary in these three 60-minute documentaries.
BBC THREE will also be showing Trauma
Uncut Africa.
Worlds Apart
Worlds Apart sees an ordinary British family doing something extraordinary.
For two weeks, the Hedgecock family from Wanstead undertake an arduous
journey to the Kunene region of Namibia.
Here, they meet the Himba tribe who have invited them to become houseguests
of an ordinary family there.
The challenge is physically and emotionally gruelling for the family,
who will have to learn how to live and work as part of the tribe - keeping
warm, getting enough food and dealing with the sometimes overwhelming
experience of living so close to African nature.
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