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The Priest who Saved Thousands of Lives

How Father Bernard Kinvi saved thousands of Muslims in the Central African Republic, cult film director John Waters and Canadian-Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari.

During the recent violence in the Central African Republic up to a quarter of the population were forced to flee from their homes. The country has been in turmoil since fighting broke out between the mostly Muslim Seleka militia and the largely Christian Anti- Balaka.

For the last four years a Roman Catholic priest called Father Bernard Kinvi has been running a hospital in Bossemptele in the North west of the country. When the violence broke out Father Bernard repeatedly risked his own life to protect thousands of Muslims and he has just been awarded a prestigious human rights award for his work.

The American film director John Waters has been described as the Pope of Trash and the King of Bad taste.
The man behind cult films like Cry Baby - which starred a young Johnny Depp - Serial Mom, Pink Flamingos and Hairspray has never been one to shy away from the seedier side of life.

Now in his late 60s, his latest project has been to hitchhike over two and a half thousand miles from his home in Baltimore on the East coast of the United States to San Francisco on the West and he's written a book about his experiences on the road.

When the world's media tell the story of Africa, the iconic images are often poverty, disease and war. A new group of photographers, known as the Everyday Africa collective, is now working to reframe the picture of Africa in the eyes of Africans and the wider world. Nigerian photographer Andrew Esiebo is one of its members.

In 2009, the Canadian-Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari was arrested in Tehran whilst covering the political protests that followed the country's disputed presidential election. He was held for 118 days in Iran's notorious Evin Prison, where in the past, political opponents of the regime have been tortured and executed. Maziar's ordeal has now been turned into a Hollywood film called Rosewater which was just been released.

(Image: Father Bernard Kinvi, a Catholic priest in Bossemptele, Central African Republic. Credit: Peter Bouckaert/Human Rights Watch)

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55 minutes

Last on

Wed 19 Nov 2014 03:05GMT

Broadcasts

  • Tue 18 Nov 2014 12:05GMT
  • Tue 18 Nov 2014 23:05GMT
  • Wed 19 Nov 2014 03:05GMT

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