On Spec Podcast

Guest Host Nadene Ghouri takes us with her as she visits the Ukrainian woman who was the surrogate mother for her child.  Nadene explains what the experience has taught her about the bond between mother and child, and what it means for women to control their own bodies. 

Host Nadene Ghouri talks with Oscar Durand, the producer of On Spec's latest episode, "A Nation’s Two Sides." Durand talks about what it was like growing up in Peru, and the kind of class divisions highlighted in the episode, which was reported by Finnish journalist Kukka Maria Ahokas.

Peru has long struggled with political, cultural, racial, and economic divides, a source of tension that propelled the leftist former schoolteacher Pedro Castillo to the Presidency last year. In the city of Lima, the complex social jigsaw puzzle manifests itself physically: the “Wall of Shame” is three meters high and ten kilometeres long, separating the affluent in La Molina from others in neighboring Villa Maria del Triunfo. Finnish journalist Kukka Maria Ahokas has little trouble crossing this and other barriers, and she introduces us to activist Carlos Hinostroza, who is trying to tear down the wall for all.

Host Nadene Ghouri talks with French-Armenian journalist Astrig Agopian, about her recent reporting for On Spec's episode "When a Frozen Conflict Wakes Up."  The episode brought listeners to the Armenia-Azerbaijan frontier, and introduces us to people dealing with a decades-old conflict that turned into another real war in 2020.

Host Nadene Ghouri talks with Angel Bwalya Kasabo and Lewis Yuyi about On Spec's latest episode, which introduces us to families in Zambia trying to move past the stereotypes surrounding their tribal identities in the country.

Tribal identities continue to play a role in social and political rifts  in many parts of the world, even erupting into outright conflict. In the  southern African nation of Zambia, a younger generation now attempts to  bridge the gap between different tribes. But long-held stereotypes make  it difficult for Zambians to discard their tribal identity entirely.  Zambian journalist and radio host Angel Bwalya Kasabo introduces us to  two Zambian families who come from different tribes–the Tonga and  Bemba–that have intermarried. These Zambian families have crossed not  only tribal borders, but their own borders of prejudice. Their  experiences can bring understanding about how to break through tension  and misunderstanding between families in a polarized society.

For several decades now, the region of Nagorno-Karabakh has been a source of tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan, occasionally resulting in a real war, like in 2020. But along the shores of lake Joghaz, there are villagers old enough to recall what it was like to live together when both countries were Soviet republics. Today the border is sealed, but villagers can sometimes still hear conversations from across the lake. French-Armenian journalist Astrig Agopian introduces us to villagers who, despite the conflict, still remember that today’s enemy is yesterday’s neighbor, and to people from both backgrounds across the globe who are trying to bridge a geopolitical divide before the next war.

Host Nadene Ghouri and journalist Bartholomäus von Laffert talk about On Spec's latest episode, which tells the story of how activists working to save the lives of migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean have found themselves facing criminal charges for their work.

Europe is prosecuting human rights activists that help save lives in the Mediterranean Sea, where thousands of migrants and refugees have drowned as they attempt to evade some of the world’s most powerful naval forces and reach European shores in search of a better life. The charges, allegations of human trafficking that could land activists in prison for decades, have been helped along by a spy, a former private security guard who posed as a sympathetic worker on rescue boats and passed on information to Italian authorities and right-wing politicians. Journalist Bartholomäus von Laffert spent years with many of the people at the center of the case, and introduces us to the activists and spies whose allegations could end up making an already dangerous sea crossing even deadlier.

Guest Host Nadene Ghouri tells the story of how her search for a surrogate mother for her child brought her to Ukraine, and how she found herself repaying the ultimate kindness by helping one woman flee the war there.