The Happy Pod: Letters from dad - with love

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the Apartment Bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is The Happy Pod from the BBC World Service.

0:49I'm Julia McFarlane and in this edition, how old family letters inspired a project offering fatherly love and support to daughters around the world. I tell them right away that I'm proud of them. but that their fathers don't want them to grieve. I'm immensely proud of my dad and really excited for how much of a difference we can make. Also, he's down at the water and he's loving life. I am incredibly happy because I see him having fun. I also get to clean up the environment. I call it a match made in heaven. An unusual pair of rubbish collectors finding joy in clearing plastic from the seas. I find out why old-fashioned hobbies like knitting are becoming increasingly popular with Gen Z.

1:37And teaching cooking helps us learn new skills and become part of the community. The cooking classes where people learn about more than just food.

1:55We begin in the US state of Ohio with the joy and warmth that handwritten letters can bring. Rosie Pawlik grew up receiving almost daily letters from her dad, Buzz, whenever she was away from home, at summer camps, college, and even when she moved into her first apartment just 20 minutes away. So when she sensed he needed a new project, she came up with the idea of offering Buzz's letter writing skills to others. They called it the Dad Letter Project, with the tagline, male, that'll make you smile or cry in a good way, and were overwhelmed with thousands of requests from all over the world. Our reporter, Harry Bly, spoke to Rosie and Buzz.

2:34I learned that it's important to write letters from my mother, who wrote letters to me when I started going to camp when I was 11 years old. It meant a lot to me and I still have all her letters and I look at them every once in a while and I know that she touched them and now I'm touching them. When you were writing letters to Rosie when she was a child, when she was at camp, what did you write in your letters? I told her how proud I am of her and how much I loved her and how much fun that she would have at camp and then would tell her a funny story about what had happened during the day. I remember one summer at camp.

3:38So I went to, it was the very first day and my dad had made sure to write letters well in advance of me arriving at camp so that I had already had so many letters to open when I got there. It was just like, wow, my dad loves this and he loves me. Buzz, tell me, what is it that makes letters so special? Because you could pick up the phone, you could nowadays send an email or a text. What is it about handwritten letters that you find so important? I find that letters are permanent and that it actually takes some time and effort to write the letter and that there is a lot more love shown in a letter than there is in an email.

4:35I thought, I wonder if total strangers would want to receive letters from him. And so I made a TikTok and then quite a few people started saying, yes, I want to hear from your dad. But it was clear people really wanted to hear from a dad. And it is all different types of walks of life that want to hear from a dad. They can be really sad, but they can also be really heartwarming. I've spoken to, honestly, dads all over the United States, and they're more than happy to jump in. They just want to know how quickly they can start writing letters. And the online form, I'm going to read it out. Just tell us what's going on.

5:15We're talking. A breakup. A new job. Being a human with emotions. Tuesdays generally. One of the dad writers will write you a letter, no strings, no weird upsell, just a letter from someone who genuinely wants you to know we're all rooting for you. It's a lovely inviting statement that you've written and Buzz, how do you know what to write? Does it come with just being a father? I usually will get a letter from someone who is grieving because she lost her father and she wants somebody to be proud of her. And I tell them right away that I'm proud of them, but that their fathers don't want them to grieve.

6:08They want their children to enjoy the rest of their lives and have fun. And some young woman have had a father who has abandoned them, and I have told them that I will be happy to be their father. And I have people who have returned letters to me and they call me dad. And that makes me very happy because it means that I'm doing the right thing and making a difference in people's lives. It has been beyond special to hear all of these stories and then to hear people who are more than willing to jump in and start writing letters to people who need it. I'm immensely proud of my dad and I'm also really excited for how much of a difference we can make.

7:17Buzz Ecker and his daughter Rosie Pawlik, who's also hoping to start a version of the letter writing project for mums very soon. Here in the UK, there's an unlikely character helping to clean up our oceans. Logie collects bottles, cans and other rubbish from the waters around the southwest coast of England. The twist? Logie is a dog, a four-year-old black Labrador. The Happy Pod's Holly Goods spoke to his owner, James Westgate. He's my best friend. Everyone says their dog's their best friend. But he is. He goes everywhere with me. We have a really strong bond and he's incredibly loyal. Logie has an incredible drive for retrieving as he's a Labrador retriever.

8:01But I kind of honed his skill and his drive into picking up litter, which he absolutely loves because a plastic bottle is essentially a ball for him. So he'll just go and retrieve it. We live near the sea and we're probably down swimming twice a day, once a day. And usually there's litter in the sea. as an ecologist seeing it in the sea was really making me feel unhappy knowing the damage it can cause and logey can swim really well he can retrieve really well so why doesn't he just go and get it he retrieves it from the sea and brings it back and we get a big pile of rubbish and and then i take it away put it in the bin and recycling and how did you train him to do this is it the type of thing that you point to a bottle in the sea and you tell him to go and get it we didn't have a pool one day when we went down to the water but there was a bottle in the sea and he spotted it he went for it and he brought it back and i thought oh that's pretty cool he went around the whole of the key area picking up all the bottles in the water and he was like once we've all done and it's all clean he's like okay where's the next one let's go and do it so he was just constantly just going around the key cleaning it all up we live in a really high populated area and we have this stunning coastal area called the Plum of Sound and a lot of litter ends up in that area.

9:17So I can feel the kind of direct impacts from that. How do you feel when you are out on the beach with Logie and you see him go into the sea and retrieve litter? As soon as he sees a bit of litter he just lights up. He is so driven to go and get that piece of litter. Sometimes I have to be like okay chill dude because he'll go for things like traffic cones which are like the size of him really heavy like 10 kilogram traffic cones and he'll just go into the sea and just try and get it and he'll be there for like 15 minutes trying to wrestle this thing and i'm just like okay this guy is actually pretty nuts but him going down especially onto the beach he will just see something from really far away and he will just go for it he will just sprint for that object and retrieve it and bring it back.

10:04Once he's brought it back, he'll put it in my hand and then I'll just get him back to go away again and he'll just fire off another one and just keep coming back and back. What's the reaction been like online and in person? Everyone loves a dog. Everyone hates litter. And so what Logie does is he combines the cuteness of a dog with the removal and destruction of litter pollution. The whole reason why we started this page is purely because my friends were like, you've got to post this online you've got to post what he's doing online because before we just we would just pick up plastic without videoing it or recording it now it's become this kind of thing where people love seeing it and i've used it as a kind of a platform for awareness now i think if people see a dog who's really happy and picking up litter it's going to make people see it and think wait a minute this is actually really cool they want to watch it and it's a really fun thing to do and and i'm hoping in the background of people's consciousness is they're going to realize that okay wow that's actually horrible that all this litter's in the sea maybe i won't chuck it away or chuck it outside maybe if i can just impact one or two people just to think twice about chucking a piece of litter down on the floor it might end up in the sea you know that kind of thing the whole beauty of me and logi's relationship is we're doing something that makes us both happy He's down at the water and he's loving life.

11:30He's retrieving bottles and he's like, yeah, let's go. Let's go and get another one. Let's go and get a traffic cone. That crisp wrapper got my name on it. But I am incredibly happy because I see him having fun. I also get to clean up the environment. I call it a match made in heaven. We are made for each other, I suppose. James Westgate. Once the preserve of our grandmothers and generations past, the humble art of knitting and other crafts are making a comeback and are now more popular with Gen Z than ever before, perhaps due to the influence of a growing number of celebrity knitters like Tom Daley or Michelle Obama, joining a legion of enthusiasts, sharing their positive experiences and latest projects on social media.

12:13But what is it about these rather old-fashioned pastimes that appeals to younger people in our fast-paced world today? Well, to find out more, I went along to knit with me, a yarn shop in West London that hosts a weekly knit club. Hi, I'm Vasco and knitting to me is, most people go to yoga. This is my yoga. You are creating something that is unique, just like we are all unique. It's a unique garment because there'll be no other one like it. And that's what does it for me, as well as meditation really. So I've been knitting for about 50 years, and originally because it was cheaper than buying clothes, and I was always into fashion when I was young, so the only way I could do it is by knitting it myself.

13:02Jutta, who we've just heard from, is here in the store for the weekly Knit and Natter. It's an event that shop owner Carol organises for people to come and knit together and have a bit of a chat over a cup of tea. It's this sense of community, this bridging between the generations and bringing together different people with one common interest that keeps everyone coming back. But in a post-pandemic world, one that's filled with endless negative news cycles, doom scrolling and soaring levels of anxiety and mental health challenges, knitting is increasingly attracting younger generations for its stress-busting and mood-enhancing effects away from the screens.

13:43By the end of the weekends I was kind of burnt out and only had enough time to do laundry or what have you, the bare minimum. My world was work. Lupe is one of the group's Gen Z knitters. She works in the film and TV industry. The long and gruelling hours left her feeling frazzled and unfulfilled. That is, before she discovered knitting. This is just now another thing that brings me joy and another thing that fills my time and energy and creativity where before I had nothing. and I mean that as in literally pandemic hit and I was just sitting on the couch like what am I going to do because there was no work there was nothing so it's been I would say mental health wise really important in terms of just free time I spend most of my nights kind of crafting I enjoy it with friends and my husband who's now gotten into knitting as well so mental health wise infinitely fills me up.

14:41Many studies point to the positive benefits of taking up what people might sometimes refer to as granny hobbies, slower paced pastimes like knitting or crocheting, but also gardening, baking or painting, creative pursuits helping to bestow a sense of fulfillment. Speaking to some of the younger people in the knitting group, it's clear they see them as a comforting escape from some of the stresses of modern life. As Marielle explains. I'm not super bothered by people calling it a granny hobby because yes grannies do do it there's nothing wrong with that that's nothing for us to be ashamed of or to think that us doing it as a hobby now makes it any less valuable or interesting lots of the things we've been taught are valuable or should have interest for us as young people now are just quite exhausting and like are not good for you.

15:32Social media, like 24-hour news cycles, they are exhausting. And so going back to things that you know have proven peaceful or regenerative for older generations makes a whole heap of sense when things are overwhelming. In a fast-paced city like London, where there's a need to hurry, it's comforting to think that there's a growing number of little corners and nooks where people are gently pushing back, taking the time to be slow and go stitch by Stitch.

16:05Still to come on this podcast? It was a game changer actually. It just started with fruit and veggies and then now it's got absolutely everything you can imagine. It's a bit of a beehive of activity on a Saturday morning. Why a local shop has had so much impact in a remote community.

16:28If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

17:09It's often said that the way to someone's heart is through their stomach. Indeed, across the world, food is something that bonds families and communities together. And that's exactly the ethos behind the UK charity Migrateful, that cooking together can help refugees integrate into British society and create a more positive perception of migration. Isabella Jewell went to one of their cooking classes to find out more.

17:37It's dark outside and I'm donning an apron in a warmly lit room with a bunch of strangers. We're standing at steel kitchen worktops, and each station has a variety of fresh ingredients. Herbs, spices, yoghurt, meat. We're here for a cookery class. The twist? All the chefs are migrants or refugees. And today we're in for a treat. I'm Ladan. I come from Tehran, the capital of Iran. I really like Tehran. It's like London. It has beautiful areas and lively city with so much going on. Ladan has been a chef with the charity since last year. I love to cook at my grandfather and I learn so many things.

18:23Teaching cooking, it's got me many confidence. Cooking helps us learning new skills and become part of the community. And tonight she's teaching us some rather special recipes from back home. I want to cook some special food, Iranian food, special rice cake, special stew like fesinjan. And I want to show to people they can cook with lots of pomegranate molasses and lots of walnuts, make some delicious food and healthy. We add zaffron, yogurt, eggs with rice and we want to have some nice crispy bottom. There are about a dozen of us in the large kitchen. We work in pairs making different dishes following Lardan's instructions.

19:23My Grateful has run more than 5 ,000 of these classes so far in London and Bristol. Founder Jess Thompson told me more about why she set up the charity. I became interested in the idea that people can feel prejudiced towards a group, but when they actually meet them under the right conditions, that prejudice is reduced. And cooking and eating together is a really great way to facilitate that contact. What's exciting about it is it's something to feel really positive about when it comes to migration. It's a lot more than just an average cookery class because you're also learning about someone's life story.

20:00and people have said to me that they read so much about refugees in the news and they haven't actually met a refugee. So in the cookery class setting, they get a chance to really understand them as a fellow human, understand their story and why they've come to this country, try their food. The kind of words that people have used is it's very humanising and really reminds people of what it means to be human through that act of sharing food. The charity also helps the chefs build up their confidence and professional skill set. For a lot of our chefs, teaching on my Grateful Cookery class is their first job in the UK.

20:36It's their first time when they feel welcome and celebrated in this country. So it's about practising their English, it's about feeling connected and coming out of social isolation, making friends, but also developing professional skills in the UK, food hygiene qualification, chefing skills. Back in Lardhan's class, the different elements of the meal are coming together. So there's some amazing, colourful food around. We've got some sort of spinach fried bread and some bright yellow rice, and everyone's just digging in and working together to make all of the meals. Sorry, we're done. We're done.

21:18Well done. Well done to you. And help yourself. Enjoy. We're very good. Thank you. Around a large wooden table, everyone heaps their plates with the colourful food. With Iranian music playing in the background, it feels like Ladan has given us a real flavour of her life in Iran.

21:49Isabella Jewell reporting. To Paris now and a man keeping an old tradition alive. The streets of the Saint-Germain neighbourhood were once busy with bustling and energetic newspaper hawkers, but they have now all disappeared, except one. Ali Akbar is the last such newspaper seller in all of France. And as you may have heard on our Global News podcast, the President Emmanuel Macron is to award him one of the country's most prestigious honours, the National Order of Merit, in recognition of his distinguished service. He's been speaking to Arya Khan. I sell my newspapers in the bars, in the restaurants, door to door, in the streets of Paris.

22:29In so many years, I'm doing this job. It's important because, you know, I educate people, I inform the people, and I want to revive this work. Tell the story of how you found out about the honour and how you reacted. At the beginning, I thought maybe some people are joking. It's not true. Who's going to give the reward? I couldn't imagine even some friends. They said, no, no, it's true Ali, it's true. So how did you end up in Paris? Because you grew up somewhere else. You grew up in Pakistan. Well, when I left Pakistan, I had a dream of to build a home for my mother because we were living just like in a cave where we had not even drinkable water.

23:14So I was the eldest son in my family. I saw my family was suffering in the misery, in poverty. And I took a decision that period of time that I will do something for them. Then I started making money, saving money, and also giving some money to my mother and saving some money in the bank. And then I left Pakistan. I came to Greece and there I joined the ship. After joining my ship, I started to send all my salary to my parents and my mother saved some money and we built a home. Since 77, we are living in a proper home. And my younger brother and sister, they started to go to school. I mean, I fought all my life for them, for their surviving, for their education, for their comforts.

23:56That's it. And what do you love about the newspaper and the news that made you do this job? When I communicate with the people in the street, I stop sometimes in the bars, in the restaurant. I have so many friends and I talk with them and I learn so many things from them and they learn something from me. And I feel free, you know, I don't depend on anybody. I buy my papers and I sell. That's it. I'm free and I like this freedom. Ali Akbar speaking to Arya Khan. How far do you have to travel to pick up groceries? For people living in Baringara in Western Australia, even basic food shopping used to mean a 10-hour or 440-kilometre drive.

24:38But now the remote settlement, also known as Mount Augusta, finally has its own local store again. My colleague Will Bain spoke to Samantha Dalton, principal of the Barangara Remote Community School. It's beautiful scenery. It's like Mars Landing. It's red rock and scrub and it's proper desert. I love it. There is 50 kids at school and I would probably say there'd be maybe 200 people in the community in its entirety. The local Indigenous people, they work at the clinic and they work at the rangers. One of our high school girls works at the shop. She started off with workplace learning and she's got a little Sunday job out of it too.

25:26Well, you've mentioned the shop. Take us to it. Tell us about its arrival and what it's got. It had been closed for something like 12 years and I'm really, really happy to have it. Because what was the situation before? What would you have had to do for... And we're talking groceries here, aren't we? We're talking absolute basics. Yeah, basics. It was a game changer, actually. It just started with fruit and veggies, and then now it's got absolutely everything you can imagine. And a lot of freezer space for meat and my favourite cheesecake. Give us a sense of the time difference, if you can, for people listening.

26:01What would a round trip for a shop have been before and after? Well, 500 and something kilometres each way to get to Carnarvon. and that's the way that there's the most bitumen. The other way is about four hours to Meekathara and that's got a lot more dirt. But the locals would not do that in just one day or one weekend. The locals would go and it might take a week to do a food shop. Wow. By the time you spend time with family and catch up with different friends and then sometimes all your food's gone and your pay's spent, so then they'd have to wait another fortnight for their next payday to come back.

26:45So we would lose kids for weeks and weeks. Just to go shopping? Just to do the food shop, yeah. And so how has it changed the community having the shop? Because I guess people are incentivised to be in and around the community more as well. Yeah, most definitely. It's a bit of a beehive of activity on a Saturday morning, I can tell you. If I ever need to see parents or do home visits or anything, I just hang out at the shop. That's where the real parents' evening takes place. Yeah, it's an informal way of spending time with families. And what's next on the wish list then for the community? What would people like to see come after the shop?

27:25Oh, my goodness. Bitchmen. You'll have to explain that to non-Australians. Oh, a road. We're just on dusty red dirt roads and a bit of blacktop. That's what I would love. That's millions and millions and millions of dollars. So we're just always going to have red roads, red dusty dirt roads. Samantha Dalton. Now, we often ask you to share the things that have made you happy. And Pia, who describes herself as an Ecuadorian living in Japan, has done just that. She emailed us to say that, like many others, she often feels depressed by the difficult news coming from her country. But she wanted to tell us about something positive.

28:07Her cousin, Daniel Molina-Rodriguez, setting a Guinness World Record for selling 50 ,000 hamburgers in just eight hours. Pia describes it as an achievement that supported many small businesses and brought a sense of hope and unity to the community. So we got in touch with Daniel and asked him how it felt. We are very happy, you know. And you know what was a surprise? Seeing so much people was three days of festivals, but see more than 100 ,000 people. Ecuador is a small country, but when we get together, we can make things amazing. Now, if you'd like to tell us about something that's made you smile or share a story you think will inspire others or make them happy, we would love to hear from you.

28:55Just send us a voice note or an email to globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk.

29:05And that's all from The Happy Pod for now. But you can watch some of our interviews on YouTube. Just search for The Happy Pod. This edition was mixed by Mark Pickett and the producers were Harry Bly and Rachel Bulkley. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Julia McFarlane. Until next time, goodbye.