For many years, San Pedro prison in Bolivia opened its doors to backpackers who fancied a guided tour. The tours were unofficial and organised by one of the inmates, convicted drug smuggler Thomas McFadden. Australian backpacker Rusty Young joined one of the tours and became friends with Thomas. Rusty ended up living in the prison for more than three months to write a book about Thomas' life. (Photo credit: Niels Van Iperen.)

Mickey Wilson is an American slackliner. It's a sport a bit like tightrope walking, except that instead of a rope or a wire, you walk across flat webbing which stretches and bounces like a trampoline. When one of his friends was almost strangled by his own rucksack while on a chair-lift at a skiing resort, Mickey used his slacklining skills to save the day. (Picture credit: Romain Lafabregue/AFP/Getty Images.)

It's May 1996, a sudden storm has swept across Mount Everest and on the slopes Dr Ken Kamler is facing his worst ever case of frostbite. He has to 'thaw out' a frozen man.

Until she was twelve Mende Nazer lived in the Nuba mountains in Sudan. Then she was captured and sold as a slave to work in Khartoum and London. Looking back, Mende says those years were like being frozen in time.

Image: Melting glacier

Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

It all began when Arunima Sinha was 24. She was a keen volleyball player and had won a place on the Indian National Team. She was on a train, travelling from her home in Uttar Pradesh state to the capital Delhi to take up a job which would allow her to compete and earn money at the same time when a terrible train accident happened. She lost her leg, but didn't give up hope. Instead she developed an incredible ambition; to climb the world's highest mountain. And she made it.

Image: Arunima Sinha

Credit: Getty Images/STRDEL/Stringer

Earlier this year Norodin Alonto Lucman saved 144 people when extremist militants linked to the so-called Islamic State attacked the city of Marawi on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Norodin's family are prominent Muslim political leaders in the area and he risked his life by sheltering those fleeing the violence, many of whom were Christians.

Image: Norodin Alonto Lucman (L) being interviewed

Credit: BBC

The Nigerian artist Laolu Senbanjo grew up in the city of Ilorin, in western Nigeria, a Yoruba household. He became a human rights lawyer, but painting was always his passion. Eventually he moved to New York to focus on his art and ended up collaborating with Beyoncé. He worked on the video for her track 'Sorry' which features on the album 'Lemonade'.

Image: Laolu Senbanjo

Credit: TED

How do you teach someone empathy? Dr Fatima Akilu has an extraordinary insight into why people do violent things because she's been the therapist for some notorious individuals and members of extremist organisations. Fatima comes from northern Nigeria and she has been working to deradicalise former supporters of Boko Haram. (Picture courtesy of Dr Fatima Akilu.)

Kevin Hines survived a 67-metre plunge from the Golden Gate Bridge, and Mary Decker and Zola Budd were involved in a fall at the 1984 Olympic 3000-metre final which changed their lives. They were reunited 32 years later for a documentary about that incident called The Fall.

Image: Man Falling Off Office Building Roof with Birds Flying

Credit: DrGrounds/Getty Images

Lee So Yeon gives us an extraordinary insight into what it's like to be a female soldier in the North Korean army. She now lives in South Korea where she helps other women who have defected settle into their new lives. But in the 1990s she was still living in North Korea and she signed up for military service, hoping it could lead to a career working for the government.

Image: A Woman Inside North Korea's Army

Credit: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

Rafael Lopez has been a volunteer rescue worker for more than thirty years and is part of the team looking for survivors in the aftermath of the earthquake which struck Mexico earlier this month. (Picture credit: Rafael Lopez/Topos Tlatelolco.)