The Happy Pod: The healing power of singing

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This is the happy podge from the BBC World Service.

I'm Vanessa Heaney, and in this edition, the healing power of singing.

Other baby classes are great to meet mums, but it doesn't have the same sort of calming influence, especially when you've had issues with anxiety or stress.

This is really nice for mums to come together, mums that have been through things to relate.

Also, I've been saying to my kids, this is history to make it.

A tiny little country like ours, and being just thrown into the spotlight like this is just amazing.

Celebrations as a tiny country qualifies for football's biggest tournament.

A smart way to get equipment in remote hospitals working again.

The women reviving an ancient Aztec farming method, plus a DJ with a difference.

Oh she's just fantastic.

I mean at that age and that energy she's the best ever ever DJ we have in Sweden.

We start in London with a group of new mothers who are finding comfort in singing.

That's from a melodies for mums class especially designed to help those with postnatal depression.

Some women who've taken part have said it's made a real difference.

And now a three-year study has found they're clinically effective at tackling symptoms like low mood, stress and anxiety.

Our reporter Jim Reed went along to find out more.

At a children's centre in South London, a dozen mums are sitting together in a circle with babies on their laps.

The singing all starts with a simple call and response.

Everything here, from the songs to the layout of the room, has been designed to help those at risk of postnatal depression.

Other baby classes are great to meet mums, but it doesn't have the same sort of calming influence, especially when you've had issues with anxiety or stress.

This is really nice when mums to come together, where mums that have been proved things to relate and sing and sing is very healing.

So, if you come to a Breathe Melodies for Mums session, it's not your usual mum and baby singing group, it's not nursery rhymes.

Yvonne Farcarsson is the founder of Breathe Arts Health Research, the non-profit behind the idea.

This is an intervention that is very much focused on the mental health and well-being of the mother.

Practically, how is it different?

How do you design that in a way to address that particular need?

So, for example, we choose a group size of about 10 to 12 women, so that creates a good sense of community.

We sing songs in multiple languages, in four-part harmonies.

The reason we sing in rounds is to encourage eye contact amongst mothers.

So through singing, we're getting them to make that kind of social connection.

The organisers say these classes don't have to replace therapy or medication, but they can be an option for some when waiting times for other support can be lengthy.

Hi, my name's Holly, and this is Etti.

For me, the hardest part was actually pregnancy.

Post-birth, I was actually a lot better than I thought I would be, but I did feel very vulnerable and very anxious and quite lonely.

I'd never heard of anything like this.

And after the very first session, I walked in and I was like, oh, I'm safe here.

Yeah, it did make things a lot easier.

The project is now part of a major study to research how arts interventions might improve health.

My name is Rebecca Bend, and I'm a postdoctoral research associate at King's College London.

So, by postnatal depression, we mean mothers who are experiencing symptoms of low mood, sadness, feelings of guilt or worthlessness.

And this can even start in pregnancy and continue on.

Dr.

Bend and her colleagues followed 200 mothers with those symptoms, comparing those assigned to the singing course with those offered more typical support like play classes.

What we saw was that the mothers and their babies who participated in the singing intervention experienced a really nice and steady decline in their depressive symptoms and more importantly what we found was that that actually lasted up to six months.

So not only did they experience immediate effects but they also had long-lasting antidepressant effects.

The study showed the dropout rate from the singing course was much lower and researchers believe the songs and the skills were brought home afterwards.

Jay is here with her son, Ezra.

Just being able to be with people

who you know are also kind of struggling, that's not kind of the focus of the session.

You know, you're there, you're having a great time, you're singing, but you know that these people are also experiencing what you're experiencing.

Jim Reed reporting.

Next to some big celebrations in one of the world's smallest countries.

countries.

There was jubilation in Cape Ferde earlier this week when their men's football team qualified for next year's World Cup finals.

As you may have heard in our global newspod, the chain of 10 islands off the west coast of Africa, which has a population of around half a million people, is the second smallest country by population ever to make the finals, behind Iceland.

So we wanted to hear more about what it means to the people there.

Tracy's originally from the UK but now lives in Cape Verde.

She sent us a message from Santa Maria.

Everybody's all dancing in the streets.

This is what it's like just for us to get through to the World Cup.

You imagine when we start playing in the World Cup.

It's absolutely fantastic atmosphere, really amazing.

There's thousands and thousands of people.

This part is going to be going on at least 24 hours.

Cape Verde beat Eswatini 3-0 to finish top of their group, but it was a tense match for the fans with all the goals coming in the second half.

Also at the party was Lizzy, a Cape Verde from the island of Sal.

Oh my gosh, the first half we were like, oh, well we're going to do it or we're not going to do it, just, you know, play the ball, that kind of stuff.

But it was just such an amazing atmosphere.

Well, I've been saying to my kids, this is history, the naked.

Tiny little country like like ours, and being just thrown into the spotlight like this is just amazing.

It's just really, really, really good.

Cape Verde's campaign saw them claim five victories in a row, including a famous 1-0 home win against Cameroon last month.

Their success has been put down partly to football bosses spending years tracking down players from around the world who, because of their parents or grandparents, might be eligible to play for the Blue Sharks.

One of them is Roberto Pico Lopez from Dublin in Ireland, who was approached to join the team through a message on the social network LinkedIn.

I can't put it into words, there's an overwhelming sense of relief, there's joy, there's all sorts of emotions.

It's an amazing feeling.

We did it.

This is our goal, our objective.

And we did it.

It means everything to me.

Since I was a little boy, and I know it's the same for the guys I dressed to him, since we were all little kids playing football, we dreamed of playing football at the highest stage.

And there's no bigger bigger stage than the World Cup.

So to do this, to be the first Cape Verdean team here, to lift all the people of the nation to put them on that stage, there's no better feeling than that.

Roberto Pico Lopez.

A group of women in Mexico City are on a mission to preserve their heritage and the environment by taking over small island farms and turning them into flourishing ecosystems.

The floating structures known as chinapas date back to the Aztec Empire and are on an early model of sustainable agriculture.

But they were under threat, and that could have impacted the whole city.

Stephanie Prentice has this report.

Xochimilco, in the heart of Mexico City, is a historic borough full of wetlands that date back more than 2,000 years.

But their future is at risk.

Within these waters lie some of the last remnants of the Aztec Empire, the Chinampas, or island farms.

What look like large floating gardens are actually structures made of complex layers of mud, branches, and trees secured in frames within the shallow water.

The nutrient-dense land is then farmed, and the islands act like sponges, meaning no irrigation is needed.

They're passed through generations of families and traditionally given to men, but many have been abandoned or turned into urban developments.

Cassandra Garduno's grandfather used to farm here.

One of the first memories I have when I was a child was my grandfather planting, and in the Chinampa, he would always plant flowers.

So for me, coming to the Chinampa was like paradise.

Cassandra moved abroad as an adult, but after a few return trips, she decided she had to come home.

Every time I came back, I saw the degradation of the ecosystem.

I saw the abandonment of land.

I saw how the water levels were getting lower and lower.

And I think that's when I started to become aware that I was part of this space and part of my responsibility was to safeguard it.

Now she's part of a small group of women taking over island farms and doing the hard work of keeping them afloat.

Yasmin Ordonez is one of them.

We extract the mud, place it on the beds, and sow the seeds directly here.

And this is part of the world's agricultural heritage.

Preserving the heritage isn't just about traditions.

The area is seen as critical for regenerating the ecosystem, for biodiversity, and also the rich soil stores carbon.

With one estimate saying that temperatures could rise by two degrees in Mexico City without the wetlands.

The group of female farmers have joined forces with local conservationists, and their message is that even a small team can make a big change.

I like to think that each generation is a layer, a layer that keeps adding to the soil, enriching it.

And for Cassandra, keeping farms in the family is a way to secure their future.

Every time I come here, I always think, I hope the layer I leave behind is good enough for the next generation to have the same care for their land and the same way of thinking about the world.

That was Stephanie Prentice Reporting.

Here on the Happy Pod, we love a glitter ball, a good tune, and a chance to boogie.

But sometimes it feels there just aren't enough places to dance if you're over a certain age.

My children are still a bit small, but I know they would run a mile if I showed up at a club.

But if you're in Sweden, you're in luck.

There's a DJ who fills the dance floor, spinning her discs for anyone who loves a good groove and is over 50.

Picture the scene.

DJ Gloria is at the decks with rhinestone headphones and a sequin top sparkling under the bright nightclub lights.

She smiles, sways and waves her arms to the beat.

She looks really happy.

The dance floor is packed out and everyone is having a great time.

Gloria, whose real name is Madeline Manson, isn't your typical DJ.

She's 81.

Gloria or Madeline found her calling when she was 62 after spending nine years as a round-the-clock carer for her late husband.

Why did I become a DJ?

Well, I trained as an aerobics instructor.

I put a lot of work into movement and the music.

People loved my music, and I changed the music for every session.

And one fine day, I heard myself say that I thought I was going to become a DJ.

Madeleine began having private lessons from a friend's son.

At that point, not a single club in Sweden opened before 11 p.m.

But Madeline wanted to be home and in bed by 11pm.

So now her gigs start around 6pm and wrap up around 11.

I've been a DJ for 16 years.

Today, I'm really good.

I think so myself.

But I was really bad in the beginning.

Today I feel confident and secure.

So I dare to take risks and I dare even more.

When you're uncertain, you don't have as much confidence.

Then you just play it safe.

There are certain songs that are spot on.

It's much more fun if you mix it up with the unexpected.

Madeleine has many fans.

This is Ava.

She's 63.

Oh, she's just fantastic.

I mean, at that age and that energy, she brings all our all our people that are health she brings her so much energy and love.

Before I mean it's not so

I mean if you are 55 plus it's not so easy to find somewhere to go and Gloria just started this for all of us.

Louise is 69 and says DJ Gloria is a huge inspiration.

Gloria she's the best ever ever DJ we have in Sweden.

She's over 80 years old.

She promotes all those women.

She makes them strong.

Look at them.

They are youngsters forever.

And if you happen to be in Sweden and fancy a boogie, you can catch DJ Gloria playing in Stockholm on Halloween.

And if you want a treat, not a trick, don't forget to take proof you're old enough to get into the spirit.

Coming up in this podcast, they've achieved something quite unique by a combination of very high-tech engineering combined with what I would call ancient craft.

And the judges are really impressed with that.

Engineering meets art to create an amazing dinosaur sculpture.

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Our next story is about an ingenious way to get broken hospital equipment working again.

Around the world, vital machines like ventilators or baby incubators often lie unused because the spare parts needed just aren't available due to issues like cost or transportation.

But the charity Field Ready is trying to change that using 3D printing.

Craig Langren has been speaking to the man in charge of the charity's operations in Syria.

My name is Ahmad Nasharanyam.

I'm from Aleppo, Northwest Syria.

Aleppo University Hospital had six incubators for newborn babies, but none of them were working.

So Emmed and his team had a light bulb moment.

What if they could make the replacement parts themselves?

The doors of these baby incubators are loose, so we cannot close them.

So it means that we cannot put a baby in.

We said, so what if we bring a new door only for this?

They said, we tried, but we couldn't.

We said, what if we design and bring a new one for you?

They said, that would be perfect, but we don't know if you can do that.

When Emma showed me pictures and videos of his workshop on a video call, it became clear just how they operate.

A workshop equipped with 3D printers, laser cutters, and traditional tools that only gets electricity for around two hours a day, running entirely on solar panels.

So we go to the company website.

and we try to see if there are any sizes or if there are any specific model, but in most of the cases we couldn't.

So we start the design from zero.

The team start working on the drawing to make sure that the sizes are right.

Then we use the 3D printer to start printing.

It's trial and error really.

A single part might take 12 hours to print, only to discover it needs tweaking and reprinting.

But when they finally delivered the the repaired incubators back to the hospital, the reaction was immediate.

When we brought them after five days, so they were really shocked.

And when they checked them, and they are closing very well, they told us that they really look better than the original doors.

They were very happy.

And they told us that, unfortunately, many of these babies couldn't survive because of not having these incubators.

And crucially, Emad's solution is affordable.

It costs us about $150

and this baby incubator itself is about from $8,000

and more.

Hospitals can report broken equipment through a mobile app and then Emad and his team assess each case, design the parts, print them and train the hospital staff to maintain them.

We are working currently with about 13 hospitals.

In the last month we have fixed fixed twenty machines.

They've seemingly tackled everything, from X-ray cooling systems that were wasting thousands of liters of water every day, to ventilators, ultrasound machines, any sort of surgical equipment.

For Emad and his team of engineers, there's something deeply personal about this work.

Our role here was really different.

Like we could save lives through engineering interventions.

I just imagine how when we are going to fix this incubator and I just imagine how babies will benefit from these incubators and that we can save their lives.

The fall of the Assad regime back in 2024 has opened up new possibilities too.

Suddenly Ahmad's team can access the whole country and they're training local engineers to carry this work forward.

And in the meantime, his designs are available online, open source for anyone who might want to have a go at fixing a broken bit of hospital equipment.

When he talks about his workshop, the smells of iron and wood and melting plastic from the 3D printer, he sees something that others simply might not.

For us, we smell the future.

We smell the hope.

This is the hope.

This is what we feel, that we are doing what we can.

Ahmad Nasher Alniam, ending that report by Craig Langren.

And you can hear more about innovative ways of improving healthcare on People Fixing the World wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Now, if I say the words structural engineering, you might be forgiven for glazing over.

But we're not talking about things like roads and bridges.

This is engineering as art, a unique life-size bronze sculpture of a dinosaur.

Fern the Diplodocus at London's Natural History Museum is a 25-metre-long replica of a skeleton with no supports.

It's a world first and is among the shortlisted nominees for this year's Istruck T structural awards.

Harry Bly spoke to one of the judges, Professor John Orr from the University of Cambridge.

Because it's standing on its four feet, it feels much more like an alive thing and the team have managed to create that by taking lots of inspiration from nature.

The bones being hollow is like the bones in a real skeleton and the tendons are like ligaments that you would have again in a real skeleton.

The team had no precedent to build upon, and they've achieved something quite unique by a combination of very high-tech engineering combined with what I would call ancient crafts, so bronze casting.

And how on earth do you make bone-shaped segments out of bronze?

So it's that lovely, technically brilliant combination of digital stuff, high-tech, with techniques that have been around for a very, very long time.

The judges are really impressed with that.

This award is celebrating projects which show innovation and sustainability and social impact.

This dinosaur is

not what you would necessarily expect if someone said to me, structural engineering.

So, Fern really proves that structural engineering isn't just about buildings and bridges.

Structural engineering is about how you assemble materials and you combine materials to create something.

So, structural engineering is imaginative, playful.

It's as much about art and beauty as it is about doing calculation and mathematics.

And here we have a great example where Fern the Diplodocus is not what you would immediately think about if you thought of structure engineering.

But without a structure engineer, this thing wouldn't stand up in such a way that it can stand outside for a hundred years, subjected to wind and rain and all the other things that go on outside, and do that in a safe way that inspires the public's imagination.

So, for us, it's a really great example of the collaboration that structure engineers undertake between the people who make stuff, the contractors, the architects, the craftspeople, and the calculations, and how those things can come together to create a really beautiful, beautiful sculpture.

And it is indeed beautiful.

For the awards, Fern is, like you mentioned, shortlisted.

What's the competition like?

We receive entries from all over the world.

So there are stadiums, there are schools, but there are also retrofit projects and renovation projects.

And sculpture is just one part of that.

But it's not just about those things.

It's about how you use materials and put them in the right place to achieve something really fantastic.

And ideally, adding social value, improving the environment, innovating technically and collaborating with across disciplines.

You're a professor of structural engineering at Cambridge.

You've given your life to engineering, haven't you?

Yes, so far I have.

So what is it about engineering?

Tell me how you first got into it.

I first got into engineering in a very classic way, building things with Lego.

When I was a teenager, I demolished and built a garage at my parents' house.

So I've always loved making things.

And I think with structure engineering you have that really great interplay between actually making stuff and designing it.

So that is why I really love structure engineering.

It's a combination of the art of what something looks like, but also thinking about what's the impact of materials, where do they come from, how do we improve the environment by using certain types of materials and that really is what gives structure engineers their power.

They really have at their fingertips control over what goes into a structure and that gives us huge responsibility responsibility in making sure we use those materials in a very sensible and environmentally conscious way.

Professor John Orr from the University of Cambridge.

How do you feel about a gentle wrestle with a baby goat?

Well, if you do, then you should try goat yoga, which is apparently a big thing.

Rachel Wright went to a session at a farm in the south of England and was met by a couple of sheep.

Oh, Louis, don't eat the microphone.

Michaela, tell me, when did you start and why do you do it?

Started about 18 months ago and it was really a response to demand, basically.

I mean, people were clamouring for goat yoga.

I used to take Snape and Trevor, my oldest goats, walking around the farm.

I had so many people come up to me saying, Could you do goat yoga?

'cause they knew I was a yoga teacher in schools.

It came from America.

Lady over there who started doing yoga in her garden, her pet goats happened to be there, started jumping on her.

She sent pictures to her friends'cause she thought it was funny.

And within three months, she had thirty thousand people on a wait list to come and do goat yoga.

I mean, you know, I've done this, I did it last week, they're not small.

They're not small.

No, you have to be robust to take our class.

We have one man here so far.

Probably not the most flexible person, so the yoga element is going to be exciting as well.

Then we're adding uh a goat.

Excited and nervous at the same time.

Okay, and and and what about you?

Is this your first time?

It's our first time, yeah.

So it was a present for my daughter who loves animals.

And where are you from?

chug republic it's your birthday so you have no idea what's about to happen no idea no oza heard the word goats just now that's about and i can hear i can hear something

and then it was time for the goats to be released from their hut so we've got about five goats that have come out the rest are still eating their breakfast all of the uh participants are sitting on their pink mats taking pictures

And almost immediately the goats jumped onto one of the women, helped by an assistant who'd put some food on her back.

How do you feel with the goat on your back?

It's quite nice actually, it's like a little massage.

You appear to have a goat on your back.

I do indeed and I'm loving it.

And he's now waiting my hair.

He's nibbling at your plait.

There were quiet moments when people looked serene and stuck their legs in the air, but mostly it was a little chaotic.

It was worth the drive.

We'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Did it hurt when they jumped on your back?

Because they're not small.

It didn't hurt, but you can definitely feel it.

It was a little bit shocking when they jumped onto your back, but it was all good fun.

I had one under me, one on top of me.

So it was fun.

And then, hurrah, it was my turn.

Okay.

Who jumped on me then?

You had plunder, but you got.

Oh, that's better.

That one's a bit smaller.

And banging me on the head.

That's nice.

Okay.

Oh, hello.

Hello.

That was a bit of a smoosh, wasn't it, from Trevor?

I'm just going to tickle his bottom.

There you are.

And that was the deeply relaxed and rather sore Rachel Wright.

And that's all from The Happy Pod for now.

But if you have a story you think we should cover or you'd like to comment on anything you've heard, we'd love to hear from you.

As ever, the address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk.

And you can now watch some of our interviews on YouTube.

Just search for The Happy Pod.

This edition was mixed by Pat Sissons and the producers were Holly Gibbs, Harry Bly and Rachel Bulkley.

The editor is Karen Martin.

I'm Vanessa Heaney.

Until next time, goodbye.

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