The weird world I was warned to keep secret

05/27/20 • 40 min

19 Listeners

Pauline Dakin is a Canadian journalist, broadcaster and a professor of journalism in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, her childhood was marked by many mysterious incidents and unexplained getaways - where her family suddenly had to flee at a moment's notice and she couldn't talk to anyone about what was going on. Pauline tells Jo Fidgen how she managed to uncover her family's extraordinary secret - including a hidden community called the 'weird world'. This interview was first broadcast in December 2017 Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producers: Becky Vincent, Thomas Harding-Assinder, Maryam Maruf Picture: Pauline Dakin Picture credit: Penguin

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My search for my sister, the "keeper of memories"

Nakuset only goes by one name and it means "The Sun" in her indigenous Canadian culture. Born into an abusive household, her early days were difficult and it wasn't long before she and her sister Sonya were taken into care by social services. This was the 1970s, and there was a widespread policy of taking indigenous children and putting them up for adoption with white families, removing them from their culture in the process. Nakuset was adopted, her sister wasn't. It was a painful process for Nakuset, but her eventual reunion with Sonya as an adult helped her get in touch with her heritage. The two sisters became close, but sadly their respective childhood experiences had left them scarred, and the reunion didn't have a fairy-tale ending. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Harry Graham Photo credit: Nakuset

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Students by day and hostage negotiators by night

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In 1994 Robert Clerx was studying in Colombia, when an old school friend, Miles Hargrove asked him for a very large favour. To help him buy back his father. The boys had been friends since Miles and his family had moved to Colombia from America for his dad’s job. Then Miles’ dad was kidnapped by the Farc guerrilla group, who demanded a six million dollar ransom and would only negotiate with family, or a friend. But the family didn’t feel confident that their Spanish was good enough to take on such a delicate and risky task. So they asked for Robert's help. Miles' film about their ordeal is called: Miracle Fishing. Picture: Miles Hargrove and the team planning his dad's hostage negotiations Credit: Miles Hargrove