The Documentary Podcast

David Eubank calls himself a missionary soldier. A former US Special Forces soldier, he is now an ordained Christian Reverend and founder of the Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian group working in some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones. He prays before missions, runs towards gunfire, rescues the wounded, and says love is what keeps him there. But David's story is also morally complicated. He has carried dying children from battlefields. He has watched friends and colleagues die. And he has killed. Rajeev Gupta speaks to David about what it means to follow Jesus in a firefight. David reflects on his upbringing as a missionary child in Thailand, his years in the US military, and the call that took him into Burma’s long-running civil war.
He describes the moments when his faith and a desire for revenge came into conflict. But how does David know he is on the right side? How does he justify taking his wife and children into war zones? And how does he keep believing in God after seeing so much suffering?
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Heart and Soul, exploring personal approaches to spirituality from around the world.

On the edge of a failing South African city, a disused power station hums once again - this time with beats, voices, and possibility. Makhanda is a divided place and, for the majority, opportunities are scarce and challenges are constant: poverty is grinding, houses and roads crumble, unemployment is overwhelming, violence is never far away and life can be cheap. But Makanda is also full of creativity and passion, and some of its young people are responding to the hardships they face with music. They are filling the gap where their futures should be with art rather than with drugs, alcohol or crime. The Black Power Station provides a stage for these musicians to do what they love as well as to get their message across. Their lyrics speak of poverty, inequality and violence but also of love, determination and hope. With one of the artists as our guide, The Black Power Station: Resistance Generation takes us into the world of backyard studios and mobile phone mixing desks. From total first-timers to those starting to make a name for themselves, we get inside the heads of these musicians as they write, record and perform.

Beyonce started out as a little girl competing in local talent shows, but over the course of a 30-year career in music she transformed herself into a mogul worth $1 billion. Journalist Zing Tsjeng and BBC business editor Simon Jack trace Beyonce’s early years in girl group Girls Tyme, the turbulent rise of Destiny’s Child, and her breakout as a solo artist, before examining the strategic decisions that transformed her from performer to powerful businesswoman and entrepreneur. Beyonce’s rise to billionaire features conflicts with family and friends, brand battles, and questions around feminism, capitalism, and control. Is she a force for empowerment, a ruthless operator, or simply one of the most effective wealth-builders in modern entertainment?

In Italy, Georgia Meloni’s coalition government gained power on an anti-immigration political platform. But faced with low birth-rates and a dwindling workforce, the prime minister has had to be pragmatic. Over the next two years, hundreds of thousands of temporary visas are being offered to migrant workers, mainly from Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, to help fill the gaps. In the far south of Italy, one of the country’s poorest regions, Calabria, is famous for its citrus fruit, and thousands of farms need workers to pick their produce. Some of the migrant workers live in terrible conditions. Lizzy McNeill reports on what the reality is on the ground.

Football is an obsession for many Ghanaians and a route to fame and fortune for a talented few – and it can be a gruelling journey for the children dreaming of stardom in the world’s top leagues.
Against this backdrop, the country’s Right to Dream football academy aims to provide a safe passage to international game. Unusually, the school owns a number of top-tier clubs in Denmark, Egypt and the USA, which can act as stepping stones to the world’s top leagues, a path that stars such as Tottenham’s Mohamed Kudus and Atalanta’s Kamaldeen Sulemana have taken.
But while as many as 50,000 children try out for the school, just a handful win scholarships every year. Justice Baidoo meets the talented dreamers who hope to become the next generation of African superstars, from 10-year-olds attending their first trials in rural villages, right through to those taking their first steps as pro footballers in Europe.