
Show Notes
From Deptford to the Amazon - For the final episode in our Joy January mini-series we’re joined by a very inspiring guest. Kwesia, also known as City Girl in Nature, grew up on an estate in South East London and struggled with violence and trauma from an early age but after a life-changing expedition to the Amazon she connected with nature in a way that sparked joy and transformed her perspective on life.
Kwesia is now the award-winning host of the birdwatching podcast ‘Get Birding’. Through this and her initiative ‘City Girl in Nature’ she encourages inner-city kids to connect with nature through local adventures.
In this episode, Kwesia explains how her trip to the Amazon helped her realise her capabilities, how nature can be a source of strength and happiness, especially in times of darkness and why she's now on a mission to inspire others to find joy in unexpected places. This is a gorgeous episode to end Joy January. You will immediately want to embrace some element of nature near you!
You can subscribe to Kweisa's You Tube channel City Girl In Nature and find more about her story here: https://youtu.be/4P0UQ50yKHc?si=rJsI-dcTTTBfN4ql
Her original Rainforest Adventure video is here: https://youtu.be/-bpw5yinOMU?si=E82zy41RGfJxTNUp
Kwesia is now an ambassador for the British Exploring Society https://www.britishexploring.org/welcoming-our-new-explorer-ambassador/
Content warning: references knife crime, murder and shootings.
GET IN TOUCH Contact us at [email protected] with your emails and voice notes.
Changes is a deaf friendly podcast, transcripts can be accessed here: https://www.anniemacmanus.com/changes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Changes with Annie Macmanus
This week, Annie has some news. Changes is changing! Annie talks through how she has come to the decision to pause this podcast and shift the Changes conversation onto Substack.
DJ Fat Tony is one of the most iconic figures of London’s nightlife scene. Tony’s extraordinary four-decade career at the heart of music and clubbing has seen him spinning tracks for everyone from Madonna to Prince, but his rise to stardom was paired with a drug addiction that almost killed him. Tony’s 2022 Sunday Times bestselling memoir ‘I Don’t Take Requests’, is a shocking, honest yet also at times hilarious account of his life. It’s filled with wild stories about his past and heartbreaking reflections on his journey through addiction, recovery, and transformation.
There are few writers more renowned for pushing the boundaries of modern fiction than Scottish literary icon and author of the 90s cult classic Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh.
Sometimes to move forward, you have to look back and in today’s episode Annie is joined by her dear friend Clara Amfo who opens up for the first time publicly about the life-altering event in her childhood that changed her forever. Broadcaster, pop culture aficionado and British ‘it girl’ Clara Amfo is an unstoppable force when it comes to British tv and radio. She has hosted many of the UK's biggest music and cultural moments, from Glastonbury to the BRIT Awards. But for Clara, living authentically is at the heart of everything she does and earlier this year, after a decade of success on BBC Radio, including on 1xtra and presenting the Live Lounge and Future Sounds on Radio 1, Clara felt it was time to explore different parts of her professional and personal journey, marking a time of significant change and reflection.
Bestselling author of ‘The Outrun,’ Amy Liptrot is proof that change is not only possible but life-saving. When Amy found herself in rehab for alcoholism aged 30, she left London behind and returned to her family’s farm on Orkney, a remote Island off the coast of Scotland. Overcoming addiction on an isolated island, Amy found solace in the wild landscapes that she’d grown up in. Her outstanding memoir ‘The Outrun’ is an account of these experiences and in 2016 the book was awarded the Wainwright Prize and the PEN/Ackerley prize. The film adaptation of The Outrun starring Saoirse Ronan is in cinemas later this week, it is incredibly beautiful and an absolute must see.