Searching for green in a concrete world

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.6 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Kwesia X grew up in south-east London, surrounded by busy roads and tower blocks. As a teenager her mental health spiralled after a member of her family was killed, and she also lost a close friend to knife crime. Faced with a period of homelessness, Kwesia eventually turned to nature to find peace. Now she's working hard to bring the experience of the natural world to young people in the city, and they're often amazed by the plants and creatures living in the concrete jungle. You can find her videos on her YouTube channel, City Girl in Nature.

If you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, you can find support at befrienders.org

Presenter: Jo Fidgen

Producers: Taqwa Sadiq and Harry Graham

Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, Russell Kane here.
0:03.0	I'm back for another season of character assassinating the nice guy
0:06.4	and binging up the baddies in evil genius.
0:09.2	Yep, even the biggest legends have their skeletons.
0:12.0	So join me and a panel of brilliant comedians to weigh in
0:15.1	on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or more genius.
0:19.0	I just think every celebrity, said with respect, Russell,
0:22.2	is out of their minds.
0:26.5	Evil genius with Russell Kane.
0:28.6	Listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:34.3	We received a phone call from Birmingham saying there had been a fire,
0:40.4	my auntie had passed away and my cousins were injured.
0:45.2	And I think at that time they didn't fully know either what exactly had happened.
0:51.8	We knew it was a house fire and there was lots of like speaking of, was it
0:56.8	arson or, you know, there was a lot of that. Loss, depression, homelessness.
1:05.6	Cressier X has had a lot to deal with in her young life, but she's found a remedy in nature. Even in the
1:13.5	concrete jungle that is London, she looks for the green and the blue and listens for the birds
1:19.7	between the sirens. It saved her. You're listening to Lives Less Ordinary from the BBC World Service. I'm Joe Fidgen.
1:36.6	Kwasia is the daughter of a Jamaican mum and Pakistani dad, now in her mid-20s.
1:42.7	She came to the BBC studios in the heart of London on a rather cold day,
1:47.1	and we warmed up chatting about the joy of the natural world.
1:52.4	When you're kind of operating in this, I guess, city mentality is constantly like everything's fast and like hustle bustle and not as centred, I feel.
	...

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