The Happy Pod: The teenager empowering thousands to succeed
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.3K Ratings
🗓️ 4 October 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
An 18-year-old entrepreneur who has helped more than twenty thousand teenagers get skills, training and mentoring has been recognised with a global student prize. Adarsh Kumar grew up in poverty in rural Bihar and says he was inspired by wanting to solve the problems he saw around him - and the example set by his hardworking single mother. He plans to use the ten thousand dollar prize to help improve the lives of even more people - and believes the first step in changing the world is to change his home state. Also: we find out how teenagers who've been struggling with school attendance are learning important life lessons - from three year olds. The scheme pairs them with a nursery child to give them a sense of responsibility and helping others. We celebrate the winner of Fat Bear Week in Alaska - which saw tens of thousands of people around the world vote for the brown bear who'd done best at gorging on salmon and berries to prepare for winter. How new technology is helping Premier League football fans with sight problems, the jollof rice wars heat up with a record breaking dish in Nigeria, and the people spreading joy over the internet through memes. Plus an inspirational speech from a 12-year-old who wants to improve understanding about autism. Leo Bird says he's not broken, just different, and that's why his friends love him. Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world.
Presenter: Jannat Jalil. Music composed by Iona Hampson
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.5 | We definitely do not have quiet days anymore in American politics. |
| 0:12.5 | Our podcast will help you cut through all the noise. |
| 0:15.9 | Make sense of what's happening in the US, with new podcast episodes arriving throughout the week. |
| 0:20.8 | AmeriCast, Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:24.5 | This is the happy pod from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:32.5 | I'm Jean-Auk Jalil and in this edition... |
| 0:34.8 | I saw the challenges in my family, you know, the people around me, the community, etc. |
| 0:39.8 | That is what you sort of inspired me to, you know, to push me harder. |
| 0:44.2 | A remarkable 18-year-old who's won a global prize for helping thousands of others get the skills |
| 0:50.1 | and support they need to lift themselves out of poverty. |
| 0:54.1 | Also, how other teenagers are learning |
| 0:56.4 | life lessons from three-year-olds. She teaches me like that I need to be more confident so I can |
| 1:04.0 | communicate and help other people. We celebrate the fat bears of Alaska as a bowl cup for winter. |
| 1:11.6 | They were playful, they were mating, bears that normally would fight were getting along. |
| 1:17.1 | If bears are relaxed and well-fed, they're happy. |
| 1:19.5 | So people and bears, they have a lot common as far as it goes. |
| 1:22.9 | And? |
| 1:23.6 | It helps me to see the game, how I want to see it. |
| 1:28.7 | And it allows me to see the players. |
| 1:31.6 | I can see that skills. |
| 1:32.9 | How new technology is helping partially sighted football fans see the beautiful game in all its glory. |
... |
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