I'm a champion boxer, but couldn't tell my mum

I'm a champion boxer, but couldn't tell my mum

Author: BBC World Service May 11, 2026 Duration: 40:15

Ramla Ali's family fled Somalia and settled in the UK; she then went from overweight bullied child to champion boxer and model who later brought the sport back to her homeland.

Ramla Ali was a baby when her older brother was killed by a stray grenade in the garden of her family home in Mogadishu, Somalia, during the civil war. To keep the rest of their family safe, her parents fled the country via a perilous boat crossing to Kenya, where Ramla almost died. They eventually got to London and Ramla grew up being bullied and becoming overweight. To help build her confidence, her mum signed her up for a gym, which is where Ramla discovered a boxercise class by chance. Soon she was boxing at every available opportunity. Ramla knew her parents wouldn’t approve, so she kept it secret, even when she won national titles and was one of the best boxers in the UK. She would go on to bring boxing back to Somalia, where the sport had been banned since 1976, and compete at the Olympic Games as Somalia's first ever boxer. Ramla recently returned from her first trip back to Somalia since she left as a baby, and was met by thousands of fans at the airport. She even received personal thanks from the president for what she achieved for the country.

Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Emily Naylor   Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784   You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice


There's a particular kind of curiosity that strikes in a crowded street or a quiet cafe, a sudden awareness of the countless unseen narratives unfolding all around us. Lives Less Ordinary, from the BBC World Service, is built on that very human impulse. Each episode is an invitation to step through a door you might normally walk past, offering an intimate and often surprising portrait of a single person. The stories you'll hear are drawn from a global tapestry, focusing on individuals whose paths defy simple categorization-whether by choice, circumstance, or sheer force of character. This isn't a series about fame or obvious achievement, but rather about the profound journeys that happen outside the spotlight. You might meet a former spy navigating civilian life, a gardener cultivating peace in a conflict zone, or someone who rebuilt their world from a single, shattered moment. The production carries the depth and sensitivity of documentary storytelling, blending personal journals with rich soundscapes that place you right beside the subject. Listening to this podcast feels less like consumption and more like a genuine connection, a reminder of the resilience, eccentricity, and quiet drama woven into the fabric of ordinary days. It’s for anyone who believes that everyone has a story worth hearing, especially those we rarely get to listen to.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Lives Less Ordinary
Podcast Episodes
Sects, lies and videotape: a Syrian story, part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:01
From a powerful Alawite family in Syria, Loubna Mrie trusted the Assad regime – until witnessing its violent crackdown led her to defy loyalty and secretly film the uprising.In 2011, 20‑year‑old Loubna Mrie was an Englis…
The couple who foiled New Zealand’s biggest drugs plot [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:59
An ordinary couple foiled the country's biggest drugs deal, all by doing a good deed. It involves a boat, a fake funeral at sea and the criminal underworld's least able seamen.That ordinary couple of 35 years, Ed and Hea…
I bought Macclesfield FC while drunk and it saved my life [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:12
Rob Smethurst bought a bankrupt football club while his life was unravelling – then they went on to make football history and save him in the process.Entrepreneur Rob Smethurst never planned to become the owner of a foot…
Colm Tóibín: How an Irish boy with a stammer found his voice [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:17
Colm Tóibín is a celebrated Irish writer, but as a child words didn't come easily. Navigating grief as a boy when his father died, he developed a stammer. Instead of talking, Colm watched and listened, collecting stories…
The gay Kenyan boyband star who refused to be defeated [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:33
Willis Chimano is one of Kenya’s biggest pop stars. With the boyband Sauti Sol, he’s won a string of awards and even danced with President Barack Obama. But behind the success, Chimano had a secret: being gay in a countr…
Laughter saved me: the comedian turning tragedy into comedy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:22
When she was 14, Krystal Evans survived a lethal house fire. Years later, to come to terms with what she’d experienced, she turned it into a stand-up show. The women in Krystal's family have always been funny, she says;…
Living a lie: discovering my dad faked who he was [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:20
Joanne Briggs had always thought of her dad as a bit of a superhero. But he was hiding a dark secret.She only saw him a couple of times a year during her childhood in the UK, but that was because Professor Michael Briggs…
Fatima Whitbread: from abandoned baby to world champion [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:35
Fatima Whitbread grew up in a UK children’s home. She found both a mother and a coach in one person – going on to break the javelin world record and become an Olympic medallist. Fatima spent her first 14 years in a serie…
One suitcase, three kids: a broke scientist pursues a dream [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:30
When Ijeoma Uchegbu arrived back in the UK as a single mum of three young children she soon found herself living in a homeless shelter; now she is a pioneer in the field of nanoparticles in medicine.Ijeoma Uchegbu has de…
I broke the most important rule: don't get attached [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:06
Swedish youth worker Nicolas Lunabba had one strict rule: never get attached to the kids you help. Then 13-year-old Elijah moved in — and turned his mentor’s flat into a home.In Malmö, Sweden, where poverty and violence…