Fifth Floor

Latest Episodes:

The Venice of Venezuela Aug 16, 2019

Show notes

El Morro was conceived as the Venice of Venezuela, a place of canals and luxury yachts on the Caribbean Sea. But even here the economic and political crisis is evident, as BBC Mundo’s Guillermo Olmo discovered.

Picture: Luxury yacht in El Morro, Venezuela Credit: G. D. OLMO/BBC

Who were the Blikkiesdorp 5? Aug 09, 2019

Show notes

The BBC Africa film “Murder Town” explores South Africa's Cape Town, both a popular tourist destination, and one of the most divided and violent cities in the world. Journalist Vauldi Carelse went to the site of one brutal mass killing in the Blikkiesdorp neighbourhood to tell the stories of the people living and dying there.

Picture: a mother overlooking Cape Town. Credit: BBC

Ebola crisis: fighting fear and despair Aug 02, 2019

Show notes

It's a year since the outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo began. More than 1,800 people have died, with the latest cases in Goma, a large city and important transport hub. It's an area BBC Africa's Gaius Kowene knows well. Image: Congolese health worker administers Ebola vaccine Credit: REUTERS/Olivia Acland

Life at 124°C for Indian brick makers Jul 26, 2019

Show notes

A report this month looked at the impact of working in a warmer planet. India got a particular mention, and Indian languages journalist Anant Prakash decided to see what this meant on the ground. He went to Uttar Pradesh to meet the brick makers enduring temperatures of up to 124°C.

Image: Indian brick kiln worker Credit: BBC

My ancestors, the slave traders Jul 19, 2019

Show notes

When BBC Mundo's Jaime Gonzalez began to suspect that his merchant ancestors traded not only in goods but also in slaves, he set off on an investigation that took him to Spain and Chile. He made a documentary about what he found.

Image: BBC Mundo's Jaime Gonzalez against montage of historic slavery images Credit: BBC

Where do ancient treasures belong? Jul 05, 2019

Show notes

A small bust of Tutankhamun has been sold in London this week for £4.7 million. The sale was challenged by the Egyptian government, which claims the sculpture was removed illegally from the country. Reda El Mawy of BBC Arabic has been gripped by the story.

(Picture: Tutankhamum bust auctioned at Christie's, London. Credit: AFP PHOTO/CHRISTIE'S AUCTION HOUSE)

Why Pakistan is not polio free Jun 28, 2019

Show notes

In Pakistan, attempts to eradicate polio stalled when the vaccination programme became tangled in international politics, religious decrees and social media scare stories. Vaccination workers have been attacked and even killed. BBC Urdu’s Shumaila Jaffery met vaccination workers, parents, and clerics for a BBC World Service series, "Vaccines: A Crisis of Trust".

(Image: Doctor vaccinates child against polio. Credit: BBC)

Fit to report - welcome to BBC Nairobi Jun 21, 2019

Show notes

Join David Amanor in the BBC’s Nairobi bureau, home to six different language services. Find out what people's names can tell us: David Wafula’s surname tells us he was born in the rainy season, Bashkas Jugsodaay’s name contains a World War II story, and Cyuzozo Samba is called ‘last born’, although he has two younger siblings!

Plus stories close to our colleagues' hearts: twins, wigs and camels with Hamida Aboubakar, Issa Abdul and Sharon Machira.

And join Roncliffe Odit on a personalised My Home Town tour of his favourite places in Nairobi: Toi Market, Uhuru Park, and a Swahili restaurant.

Image: Hassan Lali leads Nairobi Bureau colleagues in a plank challenge Credit: BBC

A love story between former enemies Jun 14, 2019

Show notes

It’s 10 years since Sri Lanka’s civil war ended. The war pitted the country's two main ethnic groups, Tamils and Sinhalese, against each other, and divisions remain. But BBC Sinhala journalist Suneth Perera marked the anniversary with an unusual love story between former enemies: Gauri Malar, a former Tamil Tiger child soldier, and Roshan Jayathilake, a Sinhalese Civil Defence Force recruit.

Image: (L) Gauri and (R) Roshan Credit: BBC

‘Are we wrong to miss our children?’ Jun 07, 2019

Show notes

In 2014, so-called Islamic State attacked the Yazidi religious group in northern Iraq, killing hundreds of men and capturing around 6,000 women and children. The women were used as sex slaves and although many are now free it’s emerged that the price of returning home is giving up the children fathered by their IS captors. BBC Persian journalist Nafiseh Kohnivard spent a year investigating the story for her documentary The Yazidis’ Secret Children.

Photo: Yazidis community celebrating in Iraq Credit: BBC