Rapping behind bars in Cameroon

Rapping behind bars in Cameroon

Author: BBC World Service August 8, 2026 Duration: 26:37

New Bell Prison in Douala, Cameroon, operates a bit like a city within a city. The facility has its own "taxis" (inmates who hand deliver messages), its own law enforcement (prisoners who help police the facility) and a market. The jail is overcrowded and under-resourced, and the occupants of New Bell have sometimes adapted the jail's overstretched systems to work for them. An on-site music studio and label, Jail Time Records, has also sprung up and found an international audience. Wedaeli Chibelushi, journalist for BBC World Online, Africa, tells the stories of some of the inmates involved.

 In Egypt, Christians are a substantial minority, making up 10 to 15% of the population, but they're not always represented fairly in employment and public life. This month, the case of 13-year-old Makary Younan, who despite his talent was initially passed over for selection by a major Egyptian football academy, has led to a public debate over anti-Christian discrimination. BBC Arabic's Ahmed Omar has the story.

 Wang Jibing, a Chinese food delivery rider in his fifties, has found a huge online following with reflective poems capturing his daily life and routines. Now, he's won one of China's top literary prizes. After growing up poor and doing many different jobs, Wang became a food delivery rider 2019. He often scribbles poems on scraps of paper between deliveries, but the prize he's won is named after poet Lu Xun, seen by many as the father of Chinese literature. Koh Ewe from the BBC's Hong Kong Bureau explains why so many Chinese people have taken him to their hearts.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from The Fifth Floor, the show at the heart of global storytelling, with BBC journalists from all around the world.

Presented by Faranak Amidi.

Produced by Laura Thomas, Caroline Ferguson and Hannah Dean.

(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)


From the BBC World Service comes The Documentary Podcast, a series dedicated to immersive audio storytelling that explores the intricate layers of our global society. This isn't about quick news summaries; it's about settling in for a deep, thoughtful listen that brings you directly to the source. Each episode is built around the voices and experiences of people living the stories we often only see in headlines. You might find yourself on the road with Canada’s Sikh truckers, examining the far-reaching implications of China's overseas investments, or standing with communities on the front lines of the climate emergency. The production takes you into the minds of creative thinkers and follows profound personal journeys, all crafted with the BBC's renowned journalistic depth. For anyone with a curious mind looking to uncover hidden truths and make better sense of our complex world, this podcast offers a vital, human-centered perspective. It represents the best of documentary storytelling, where every narrative is an opportunity to listen, learn, and connect to the wider human experience far beyond the daily news cycle.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

The Documentary Podcast
Podcast Episodes
Lucy Sparrow: Nostalgic supermarket made of felt [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:29
Lucy Sparrow stitches life into everyday objects, creating vibrant felt worlds that look just like the real thing. Following the success of her hand-stitched felt fish and chip shop, she has recreated a Walmart convenien…
China: The rise of a science superpower [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:28
Roland Pease explores how decades of strategic investment and diligent educational reform have brought China to the brink of global scientific dominance. As the world’s other scientific superpowers seemingly retreat from…
Secret phone calls from a Saudi jail [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:29
In a sprawling prison in the Asir province of Southwestern Saudi Arabia, hundreds of young Ethiopian men are currently sitting on death row, not knowing when their name might be called and to be told that it's their turn…
Flying with kids: Cabin chaos [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:48
Noisy and disruptive children can turn a normal flight into a living nightmare. Earlier this month, a flight in Canada was cancelled after a young child refused to wear a seatbelt. The incident has opened a debate about…
What in the World: Will AI make your degree pointless? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:22
AI isn’t just occasionally going rogue…(Open AI and Meta we’re looking at you) it’s also changing the world of work. Nearly 70% of college students in the US said they thought AI would make it harder to find a job in a r…
The Vatican's AI battle [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:44
As Silicon Valley races to build machines that can think, create and perhaps surpass human intelligence, the Vatican has emerged as one of the most prominent global voices questioning the path the tech billionaires are s…
LA: Rising from the ashes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:29
On 7th January 2025, the Altadena and Pacific Palisades neighbourhoods of Los Angeles suffered two of the most destructive fires in the city’s history. Twenty-one people died and 15,000 buildings were destroyed over a co…
The Kansas City cycling revolution [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:07
When the BBC’s Richard Hollingham and his producer, Will Grant, arrived with their bikes in Kansas City, Missouri in 2008, it had just been named as the worst city for cyclists in the country. The resulting radio show be…
Raiders of the lost art [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:40
What do the stolen love letters of John Keats have to do with homicide on the streets of New York? Prosecuting both crimes falls under the remit of assistant district attorney Matthew Bogdanos. A retired Marine colonel w…
Behind the scenes of Bookish [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:29
Antonia Quirke goes behind the scenes of Bookish, the murder mystery series written by Matthew Sweet and Mark Gatiss, who plays an amateur detective and bookshop owner called Book. Antonia hears from Matthew as he works…