Saturday Morning for Saturday 1 October 2022

*Susie Ferguson is presenting this week's show, filling in for Kim Hill

 

8.10 Dr Amir Khalil: rescuer reunited with the ‘world’s loneliest elephant’

 

Egyptian veterinarian Amir Khalil is widely known as ‘the war vet’, having spent years rescuing animals from disaster areas and war zones. 
 
Dr Khalil was instrumental in rescuing the “world’s loneliest elephant” in 2020.  Kaavan the Asian elephant was gifted to the government of Pakistan in 1985, and eventually ended up at an Islamabad zoo, where he spent nearly 10 years alone and grieving following the death of his mate.

When reunited with Dr Khalil in August, two years after the rescue, Kaavan raised his trunk and welcomed him as a friend.
 
Dr Khalil is the director of project development at the animal welfare organisation Four Paws. Recently he and his team have supported in Ukraine with deliveries of food for zoo animals and companion animals, and they also have plans to rescue to lions from Sudan.

 

9.05 Anne Fletcher: the women Antarctica left behind

Captain Robert Scott’s last diary entry, as he lay freezing and starving to death on an ill-fated South Pole journey, concludes: “for God’s sake look after our people”. Uppermost were the three women who would now be widows: his wife Kathleen, Oriana Wilson, and Lois Evans — the Welsh working-class wife of a Petty Officer. 

The men became heroes, but these three very different women — two of whom travelled with the expedition to New Zealand — were forced to grieve in public. Yet they are now forgotten. In her book Widows of the Ice, historian and author Anne Fletcher tells their story. 

Fletcher's career in heritage has seen her work at historic sites ranging from Hampton Court Palace to Westminster Abbey.

 

9.40 Sam Afoullouss: searching for medicinal secrets in the deep sea

Descending deep down into the waters off the west coast of Ireland, to where there is no light, underwater chemist Sam Afoullouss has a robot collecting marine organisms in his search for new medicines. Giant sponges, dumbo octopuses, and bubblegum coral are among the materials he has used.

Afoullouss believes the sea offers untapped medicinal potential, able to be harvested whilst retaining its wild ecosystems. Childhood memories of his Moroccan aunty making remedies from a variety of flowers and leaves sparked his passion, which grew during his chemistry studies at the University of Galway — where he was also introduced to another passion: scuba diving. 
 

 

10.05 Leilani Farha: housing as a human right

This week chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt called out the government on its lack of progress in implementing its Healthy Homes Standards, saying it puts New Zealand in breach of our international law obligations. 

Back in February 2020 those standards were commended by Leilani Farha, who was visiting at the time in her former role as UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing. Yet Farha warned then that we face a significant human rights crisis if we don’t employ measures such as a capital gains tax, rent freeze, and eviction ban, like Scotland has implemented this month.

The international fact-finding mission Farha was on when she visited  is captured in 2019 documentary Push. Based in Ottawa, she is Global Director of The Shift, advocating internationally for governments to have overarching human rights based housing policy.

 

10.40 Neville Blampied: leading psychologist receives preeminent award

In September Emeritus Professor Neville Blampied was awarded the triennial Hunter Award, the NZ Psychological Society’s top accolade, acknowledging his outstanding contribution to psychology. 

Professor Blampied founded The Good Nights project, treating sleep problems in children and his other work has spanned from working with Māori academics to extend our understanding of science, to how surfing could help prevent young people from heading toward criminal lives. 

A huge fan of Christchurch, where he has been based since the 70s, Neville has done substantial work in ways to deal with trauma following the Canterbury earthquakes and the mosque shootings.

 

11.05 Ruby Tui: ‘you learn things at rock bottom’

New Zealand rugby star Ruby Tui lifts the lid on her turbulent childhood in her new memoir Straight Up.

Determined to not let the violence and drugs that dominated her young life dictate her future, Tui pulled herself up from her bootstraps to become one of the most successful women's rugby players in the world. And the stellar rise of women’s rugby, here and abroad, has matched the phenomenal explosion of her career.

Among her attributes Tui won an Olympic silver medal in 2016, and a Rugby World Cup Sevens title in 2018. She was named Black Ferns Sevens Player of the Year in 2017 and World Rugby Sevens player of the Year in 2019. She also went on to win gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — held in 2021. 

 

11.35 Jim Metzner: the global adventures of a lifelong listener

Recording the sounds of our planet over four decades, American Jim Metzner is an audio legend. Host and producer of one of the longest running science programmes Pulse of the Planet, Metzner has recorded everywhere from Australian cloud forests to Brazilian favelas. 

The significance of Metzner’s work has been acknowledged this month by thousands of his recordings being archived by the US Library of Congress. 

Metzner is currently visiting the University of Otago as a Fulbright Specialist. He will give a public talk in Dunedin on 6 October. While here he is also working with others to record soundscapes as part of Aotearoa Stories in Sound. Head here to contribute.  

Metzner recently published his first novel, Sacred Mounds, set among first nation American ancient earthworks.

 

 

Books mentioned on this show:

Widows of the Ice
Anne Fletcher
ISBN: 978-1445693767
Published by Amberley
 

Straight Up
Ruby Tui
ISBN: 9781991006141
Published by Penguin
 

Sacred Mounds
Jim Metzner
ISBN: 1737062739
Published by PHiR Publishing

 

Music featured on this show:

You and Me on the Rock
Brandi Carlile
Played at 9.15am

The Beat Goes On
Sonny and Cher
Played at 8.35am

Moviegoer
Julia Jacklin
Played at 9.35am