Fix The News

Five years ago, the Taliban banned girls from the classroom. One school refused to stop teaching.
 
In August 2021, as the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, the staff and students of SOLA, the country’s first and only boarding school for Afghan girls, managed to escape to Rwanda, where they established a temporary campus to continue classes.  
 
Meet Shabana Basij-Rasikh, co-founder of SOLA, and our very first guest on this podcast when we launched in 2023. Five years since the Taliban takeover, Shabana returns to reflect on what has happened since: from Afghan women running secret schools and girls rationing internet data to keep learning to what has become of SOLA’s first cohort and what it means to create a place where Afghan girls have the freedom to simply be  “girls who go to school.”
 
In this episode:
Why Afghan women are continuing a generations-long tradition of secret schools
How the internet has become a lifeline for girls and women inside Afghanistan
What happened to the first cohort of SOLA girls 
How SOLA built a permanent new home for Afghan girls in Rwanda
The importance of giving girls the safety to be normal teenagers
What five years of exile, education and resistance can teach us 
Why Shabana’s message to the world is simple: “Don’t look away.”

Help keep the doors open for Afghan girls:
👉 Learn more about SOLA
👉 Donate to SOLA
👉 Explore SOLAx

Timestamps:
00:54 Introducing the School of Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA)
03:10 What hope means to Shabana Basij-Rasikh
05:07 The legacy of Afghan women and eduction
08:43 Why the internet is a lifeline for Afghan women and girls
13:10 SOLAx - the online school
18:04 An update on the students of SOLA
21:45 Midpoint Reflections
23:17 SOLA has finished construction on a permanent campus in Rwanda
27:43 The power of partnerships
29:50 The relationship between SOLA and Rwanda
32:18 What the students of SOLA have taught Shabana
35:40 How the story of SOLA expands what's possible
38:31 Final Thoughts

About Fix The News:
Fix The News is a solutions-focused media platform sharing stories from the frontlines of progress - exploring what’s working in the world and the people making it happen.

Subscribe & follow:
If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast and leave a review - it helps more people find these stories.

Production credits:
Hosted by Angus Hervey and Amy Davoren-Rose
Produced by Fix The News
Audio production: Anthony Badolato, Hear That!

 This episode was produced in Australia on the lands of the Gadigal, Wurundjeri and Woi Wurrung peoples.

The story of farming has always been one of adaptation. The next chapter may be its most one important yet.
In this special episode of Fix The News, we bring together two conversations exploring one of the defining questions of our time: how do we feed a growing world without destroying the planet that we depend on?
Meet Professor Rattan Lal, one of the world's leading soil scientists and a World Food Prize laureate, whose life's work has transformed our understanding of the living world beneath our feet. Then meet Alesha Miller, Chief Strategy Officer at Digital Green, who's helping smallholder farmers across Africa and Asia combine generations of local knowledge with artificial intelligence to build more resilient food systems.

Together, they help us unpack that that the future of agriculture isn't about choosing between nature and technology, tradition and innovation, or human and artificial intelligence. It's about strengthening both. 
 
In this episode:
Why healthy soil is the foundation of healthy food systems
How our lifestyle choices today will help shape the future
The importance of the world's 500 million smallholder farmers
How AI can amplify rather than replace human knowledge
Why trust matters as much as technology
Why the future of farming may depend on combining old wisdom with new ideas

Timestamps:
00:13 The most common occupation on earth
03:45 Meet Professor Rattan Lal
04:54 Why soil is a living entity
08:37 What does Regenerative Agriculture actually mean?
12:05 The Law of Return
20:53 Midpoint Reflections
22:47 Meet Alesha Miller
25:47 What is Digital Green?
30:14 Can weather predictions save AI?
37:21 Technology and Trust
43:04 Closing Reflections: Choose Both

Dig Deeper:
👉Professor Rattan Lal
👉 Digital Green

About Fix The News:
Fix The News is a solutions-focused media platform sharing stories from the frontlines of progress - exploring what’s working in the world and the people making it happen.

Subscribe & follow:
If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast and leave a review - it helps more people find these stories.

Production credits:
Hosted by Angus Hervey and Amy Davoren-Rose
Produced by Fix The News
Audio production: Anthony Badolato, Hear That!

 This episode was produced in Australia on the lands of the Gadigal, Wurundjeri and Woi Wurrung peoples.

Since October 2023, much of the world's attention has been focused on the destruction in Gaza. This conversation is about something we hear much less about: rebuilding.

Meet Tala and Farah Mousa, two teenage sisters from Gaza and winners of The Earth Prize Middle East, one of the world's leading environmental competitions for teenagers. Their project, Build Hope is recycling the enormous volumes of rubble left behind by destroyed buildings and transforming it into reusable bricks to help rebuild their communities. The idea began with a Year 9 textbook in Tala's school bag. Today, it has the potential to give communities beyond Gaza, the tools to rebuild using what's already around them. It's an idea that has the potential to reduce waste, lower rebuilding costs and support reconstruction in disaster and war zones around the world.
Podcast Image credit: Ali Awad

In this episode:
Displacement and disruption - life as a teenager in Gaza
The inspiration behind their award-winning project
Their vision for helping communities beyond Gaza
Why rebuilding deserves as much attention as destruction
Timestamps:
00:35 What we know about Gaza and the Middle East Region
04:18 Introducing Tala and Farah Mousa
05:14 What they want us to know about their community
05:58 The inspiration behind Build Hope
08:12 A family and community project
09:21 The problem with rubble
09:54 Why its important for people in Gaza to have the tools to rebuild themselves
10:53 Midpoint Reflections
12:36 The next step for Build Hope
13:17 What Tala and Farah have learned about themselves
13:53 What hope means to these sisters
15:49 Gaza 10 years from now
16:37 Tala and Farah's message for young people around the world
18:54 Final reflections

Support Build Hope:
Contact amy@fixthenews.com for more information
About The Earth Prize
The Earth Prize is one of the world's largest environmental competitions for teenagers, supporting young innovators developing practical solutions to the planet's biggest challenges.

About Fix The News:
Fix The News is a solutions-focused media platform sharing stories from the frontlines of progress - exploring what’s working in the world and the people making it happen.

Subscribe & follow:
If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast and leave a review - it helps more people find these stories.

Production credits:
Hosted by Angus Hervey and Amy Davoren-Rose
Produced by Fix The News
Audio production: Anthony Badolato, Hear That!

 This episode was produced in Australia on the lands of the Gadigal, Wurundjeri and Woi Wurrung peoples.

Antarctica isn't just a climate story.
 
For more than 65 years, Antarctica has been governed by one of the most remarkable international agreements ever created. At the height of the Cold War, countries with competing territorial claims agreed to set conflict aside and dedicate an entire continent to peace, science and environmental protection.
Meet Claire Christian, Executive Director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) - the only environmental organisation invited to participate directly in meetings of the Antarctic Treaty System. With more than 15 years working inside the Treaty System, Claire offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at how the world cooperates to protect one of the most important places on earth.
In this episode:
Why the Antarctic Treaty remains one of humanity's greatest diplomatic achievements
How Antarctica shapes climate, oceans and sea levels around the world
What Antarctica can teach us about our relationship with nature
The challenges of protecting the Southern Ocean in a changing climate
Why consensus is the Antarctic Treaty System's greatest strength and biggest frustration
The future of our coldest and driest continent
Timestamps:
00:31 Why Antarctica Matters
04:19 Meet Claire Christian
05:58 How Antarctica Shapes the World
08:59 The Ross Sea Success Story
10:55 Inside the Antarctic Treaty
16:25 Midpoint Reflections - The Human Side of Diplomacy
18:54 Antarctica and the News
20:26 What Claire Has Learned From Visiting Antarctica
22:27 A Wonderful World of Invertebrates
23:27 The Issue of Krill
25:09 Thwaites Glacier
25:57 The Climate Challenge
28:10 A Vision for Antarctica's Future
30:02 What Antarctica Can Teach Us
31:46 Final Reflections

Find out More:
👉 Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition - ASOC
👉 Claire Christian

About Fix The News:
Fix The News is a solutions-focused media platform sharing stories from the frontlines of progress - exploring what’s working in the world and the people making it happen.

Subscribe & follow:
If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast and leave a review - it helps more people find these stories.

Production credits:
Hosted by Angus Hervey and Amy Davoren-Rose
Produced by Fix The News
Audio production: Anthony Badolato, Hear That!

 This episode was produced in Australia on the lands of the Gadigal, Wurundjeri and Woi Wurrung peoples.

What happens when you redesign education around the people who have been left behind?

Meet Alice Achan - social worker, educator and founder of the Te-Kworo Foundation, a boarding school in Northern Uganda that is helping young mothers and vulnerable girls rebuild their lives. What started as a small support group during the aftermath of war has grown into one of the most remarkable educational models in Africa. Today, Te-Kworo's three campuses support more than 1,000 young women through education, childcare, healthcare, counselling and community support.
 
Alice shares how her own experiences as a child of war shaped what she calls a "School of Restoration" - a place where education, healthcare and healing work together to empower young women to create better futures for themselves, their families and change entire communities.
 
In this episode:
• Why Te-Kworo calls itself a "School of Restoration"
• The link between education, healthcare and opportunity
• The ongoing challenges of child marriage and cultural expectations
• How boarding schools help keep vulnerable girls safe
• The power of defeating shame and rebuilding confidence
• Why educating girls can transform entire communities

 Timestamps:
00:46 Why giving partners are a core part of Fix The News
04:48 Interview with Alice Achen
07:38 Education as a pathway out of poverty
10:15 The tension between creating different futures while protecting cultural boundaries
12:12 From education to healthcare - Te-Kworo's holistic model
14:57 What happens when women have access to healthcare and education
15:31 Gus & Amy - Midpoint reflections
17:35 From trauma to triumph - Alice's personal story
20:57 How Alice started a school under a tree
26:52 The power of defeating shame
28:38 Intergenerational ripples
30:08 Alice's biggest lesson
30:38 Bunk beds from Fix The News
31:19 The big vision for Te-Kworo
33:33 Alice's remedy for the world
34:46 Gus & Amy - Final thoughts

Become part of the Te-Kworo community:
If Alice's story resonated with you, you can learn more about Te-Kworo and support their work below.
👉 Website
👉 Feed the School campaign

About Fix The News:
Fix The News is a solutions-focused media platform sharing stories from the frontlines of progress - exploring what’s working in the world and the people making it happen.

Subscribe & follow:
If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast and leave a review - it helps more people find these stories.

Production credits:
Hosted by Angus Hervey and Amy Davoren-Rose
Produced by Fix The News
Audio production: Anthony Badolato, Hear That!

 This episode was produced in Australia on the lands of the Gadigal, Wurundjeri and Woi Wurrung peoples.