BBC Radio Podcasts from The Comb
Striking gold
“This is a diamond!”: A dream, a discovery and then disappointment
Am I in a cult?
“I was losing myself”: How joining a new church led to years of secrecy and surveillance
Not guilty
Accusation, imprisonment, and vindication: The lie that changed Ishmail’s life in Malawi
Parenting and punishment
“My dad beat me”: A punishment, an arrest, and a family changed
Lives in limbo
'Dadaab is a prison’: Making a life in Africa’s largest refugee camp
Finding Humanism
A different kind of faith: Non-believers in Nigeria share their story
When violence goes viral
‘They were celebrating killing him’: When the death of a loved one is posted online
Motherhood, mania and me
‘She’s not my baby’: How giving birth triggered a young woman’s mental health crisis
Mogadishu’s daughter
Ready to run: Childhood, conflict, and the complicated journey to find peace
Who is Shebeleza?
Unmasking online hate: A lone voice, an admission of fault, and an unlikely alliance
The promise
A granddaughter’s mission to bring a sacred statue back home to her country
The Comb: Back soon!
Unpicking stories that matter to you. The Comb returns on 13 January 2023
Confronting colourism
“I was trapped in my own skin”: The illegal trade which preys on prejudice
Orphaned: Vasco’s story
‘I was scared of the night’: A street child’s fight for survival
Orphaned: Mutuna’s story
‘I would have been lost’: When Mutuna was orphaned, his extended family stepped in
Guest episode: On the Podium
How a rower's victory became a symbol of hope in post-apartheid South Africa
Losing Grace
Misinformation and miracle cures: The tragic cost of misinformation in cancer care
Born a slave
‘I ran away’: The complicated journey to freedom in slavery’s last stronghold
Unlearning a dictatorship
Making the invisible visible: Grappling with Gambia’s difficult past
Permanent darkness
‘I can’t just go down like this’: Navigating the world after losing your sight
Decolonising tourism
‘There were no locals at all’: Reclaiming Kenya’s natural heritage
Escaping the city
‘Slow down and struggle less’: Why many are finding futures away from the city
Guest episode: Dear Daughter
‘Fly bird, fly’: An episode from the BBC’s ‘Dear Daughter’ podcast with Namulanta Kombo
My autistic child
‘African fathers don’t talk about it’: Rethinking parenthood when your child is different
My sexual education
Discovery and recovery: Two journeys of sexual empowerment
Mourning my father
“We all have to learn how to cry”: Coming to terms with the loss of a parent
Naked power
Our weapon is our nakedness: Women using their bare bodies as a means of protest
Back soon!
We're back on 26 March with brand new stories including special episodes from Nairobi
When cultures collide
Spicy food and stereotypes: Making it work when love crosses borders
Climate of danger: My mother’s murder
‘She was not going to keep quiet’: Killed for defending the environment
Climate of danger: Exile
Death threats and exile: The high cost of defending the environment
Bringing back God
‘The fire has gone out’: The Africans working to revitalise Christianity in Europe
Without a trace
Grief without closure: What happens when a family member disappears without trace?
Stay away!
‘He just starts touching me’: The grim reality of sexual harassment in the workplace
The Comb: Back Soon!
Unpicking stories that matter to you. The Comb returns on 28 January 2022
Caught in a crypto scam
Scams, hustles, and cyber fraud: When you think you’ve struck gold, only to lose it all
My South African identity
‘I am African first’: Exploring race and identity for South Africans of Indian descent
Goodbye Nigeria
‘The evil you have done is enough’: Why are so many young Nigerians leaving the country?
Hippo wars
Lurking in the lake: What’s driving hippos to attack and kill fishermen on Lake Naivasha?
Equal before the law?
The vendor who changed Malawi
Class of 2020 revisited
What happened to the class of 2020?
Generation jobless
Young, educated and broke: the reality of life as an unemployed graduate
The secret
‘Neither a girl nor a boy’: The unique story of Baby John Musamba
Confronting infertility: His story
‘We tend to blame women’: The silence and shame that surrounds male infertility
Confronting infertility: Her story
Blame and heartache: The emotional and physical burden of being unable to conceive
Forgetting your family
Lost memories and strange behaviour: The burden of Alzheimer’s and dementia
The secret life of your phone
How criminals and corporations use hidden software to control smartphones
‘Raised like a white person’
A story of race, wealth and family. Sisters growing up on two sides of the rainbow nation
Reclaiming my name
‘This is me’: Embracing my African name
In slavery’s shadow
Enslaved by the past: How black Tunisians are trying to escape the legacy of slavery
The job scam
Tempted and trapped: How a promising job opportunity abroad turned into a nightmare
Young and divorced
‘Everyone deserves to be happy’: Changing course when things don’t go to plan
‘The worst betrayal’: Revenge porn
Humiliated and harassed: When private images are shared online
The Comb: Back Soon!
Unpicking stories that matter to you. The Comb returns on 9 July 2021
Losing my language
‘A linguistic famine’: Why are so many young Africans losing their mother tongue?
Morocco: Art as activism
‘Because you’re a girl’: The women using art to challenge gender norms in Morocco
PTSD and me
Flashbacks and panic attacks: Learning to cope in the aftermath of trauma
Coming up...
We’re taking a break after last week’s 2-parter. Enjoy a preview of next week’s episode
‘A child like mine’ Part 2
“Our children are in danger”: The struggle to protect Uganda’s LGBTI
‘A child like mine’ Part 1
From anger to acceptance: Helping parents in Uganda accept their LGBTI children
Left behind
Senegal’s missing men. What happens to communities left behind in the migrant crisis?
Black in white skin
Living with albinism: Navigating issues of identity, race and beauty
Tunisia: Life after revolution
Hope and disappointment. Young Tunisians reflect on life before and after the uprising
Epilepsy, not a curse
Myths, misconceptions and superstition. Why is epilepsy still so misunderstood?
Identity is the key
We all need a form of identification, but does it need to be digital?
The list
‘A second chance at life’. Organ donation can save lives, so why is it still a taboo?
Tigray: Separated by silence
The agony of not knowing. The Tigray diaspora cut off from their loved ones in crisis
When are you getting married?
Pressure, prayers and persistent questions: The stigma of being unmarried
Angola, my family’s story
A surprise message inspired Marcia to discover more about her identity
Our climate awakening
‘It’s a survival issue for us’. A new generation is fighting for the planet
Tricked and shipped
Tricked by their parents into going back to Africa, Hannah and Arif tell their stories
Black tax
An unfair burden or a necessary responsibility? Finding the balance with black tax
Abortion: Breaking the silence
A ‘dark secret’ shared by many: the woman breaking taboos by sharing her abortion story
The Comb: Back soon!
Unpicking stories that matter to you. The Comb returns on 8 January 2021
African in America
The American Dream? Reckoning with racial identity in the wake of George Floyd and #BLM
Adopted overseas
Love, security, and a crisis of identity? Two women’s experiences of overseas adoption
Women in gangs
Guns, drugs and violence - Why do some women choose the life of a Cape Town gangster?
Darfur: Seeking justice
Does Sudan's new dawn finally mean a chance for justice?
Access denied? Travelling on an African passport
Money, time and stigma - the cost of travelling on an African passport
Chagos Islands: Africa’s last British colony?
Evicted from paradise: The battle for control of the Chagos islands
Lesotho's murder mystery
Murder in the mountains: the mysterious killing that unravelled Lesotho’s government
Single women not welcome?
‘You probably have to lie’ - the burden of being a single woman trying to rent in Nigeria
Easing pain
Confronting the realities of care for patients with the most severe illnesses
Racist AI
Can computers be racist? The unseen forces shaping our reality
Rethinking religion
Stories about losing belief and finding faith
Stopping the lies
Spreading lies online can ruin lives. Do you know what you're sharing?
Two sisters
Raised apart in Ghana and Germany, two sisters reflect on roots, race and opportunity
Sand wars
Killing for sand: a village shaken by one of the biggest resource battles of our time
Digital debt trap
Is Kenya's hustler generation getting caught out by digital borrowing?
Home in a pandemic
Is home a place or a feeling? Has the virus changed our sense of ‘home’? #thecomb
Decoding our DNA
African DNA is missing from most genetic studies and Sally’s illness is poorly understood
Class of 2020
A global pandemic disrupts your university life - what happens next? #thecomb
Introducing The Comb
Stories that matter to you. A new podcast for Africa, unpicking one story every week.