If we think of William Shakespeare as exclusively English, we should think again. People around the world have adopted his work and made it something that speaks to their own culture. Writer and academic Nadia Davids takes us to Cape Town and Johannesburg to hear how Shakespeare has played an important role in the politics of a troubled country, and how he still matters in post-Apartheid South Africa.

(Photo: A man carries a volume of Shakespeare's complete works. Credit: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images)

In 1980, the newly independent nation of Zimbabwe was invited to enter a women's hockey team at the Olympic Games in Moscow. Despite their unfamiliarity with the pitches - and each other - the players won an unexpected gold medal and were nicknamed the Golden Girls. Claire Bowes talks to Liz Chase, one of the Zimbabwean team.

PHOTO: The Zimbabwean team arrive home to an ecstatic reception (AP).

When apartheid in South Africa ended in 1994, Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached that the only hope for the country to heal its deep wounds was to turn its back on revenge and retribution and embrace the ancient humanist African philosophy of Ubuntu. The Zulu proverb “Umuntu ngumuntu nag Bantu” means a person is a person through others. Ubuntu states that our humanity is inextricably bound up in others. We cannot live in Ubuntu and violate the dignity or humanity of another. The two are irreconcilable. Twenty years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established, the body chaired by Archbishop Tutu in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid in the 1990s, Audrey Brown investigates whether Archbishop Tutu’s championing of Ubuntu has helped South Africa to heal and embrace forgiveness in the shadow of the Apartheid regime. Audrey meets the current day faithful advocates of Ubuntu, who like Archbishop Tutu, continue to facilitate conflict resolution, defend the persecuted and promote peace.

(Picture: F.W. de Klerk, former South African National Party President and Bishop Desmond Tutu, after signing South Africa peace pact, aimed at ending Apartheid. Credit: Laurence Coss/Associated Press)

In 1994 apartheid ended in South Africa and Nelson Mandela was elected president. He promised in his inauguration speech to “build a society in which all South Africans will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts...a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.” These promises were enshrined in South Africa’s post-apartheid constitution, the first in the world to outlaw all forms of discrimination.

In 1994 Motshidisi Pascalina Melamu was born, making her one of the first of the so-called ‘born free generation’. Pasca, as she was known, dreamed of becoming a politician, and studied hard at school. She loved singing, dancing and football. And, Pasca was a lesbian.

In December last year, Pasca’s body was found in a field. She had been beaten and mutilated. She was one of three LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex) people murdered in a six-week period last year. Hate crimes against the LGBTI community have long been a problem in South Africa, and the government has tried to tackle them. But activists say these recent crimes are just one sign that things are not getting better. James Fletcher travels to the townships south of Johannesburg to speak with Pasca’s family and friends, and to ask whether the government is failing LGBTI South Africans.

(Photo: Betty Melamu holds a picture of her daughter Pascalina, who was murdered in December last year)

Nkem Ifejika cant speak the language of his forefathers. Nkem is British of Nigerian descent and comes from one of Nigeria's biggest ethnic groups the Igbo. He's one of the millions of Nigerians, who live in the diaspora - almost two hundred thousand of them living here in Britain. Nkem wants to know why he was never taught Igbo as a child and why the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, has warned that Igbo faces extinction in the next fifty years.

In this week's Crossing Continents, Nkem travels to the Igbo heartland in the southeast of Nigeria to explore the demise of a once proud language. He discovers that recent history has had profound effects on Igbo culture and identity. He discovers too that some Igbos are seeking to reassert their language and culture. Part of this is a resurgence of Igbo identity under a new 'Biafran' movement. Is this likely to find traction or will it ignite painful divisions from the past and lead to renewed tensions across Nigeria. From Nkem's own London-based family - where his wife is teaching both him and their son to speak Igbo - to the ancestral villages of Anambra State, 'Forgetting Igbo' reveals shifting perspectives on Nigeria's colonial past, emerging new ambitions for its future - and deep fault lines at the heart of its society.

Produced by Michael Gallagher.

The winner of the 2016 British Sociological Association & Thinking Allowed Ethnography award, Maxim Bolt, Lecturer in Anthropology and African Studies at the University of Birmingham, talks to Laurie Taylor about his groundbreaking study of insecure lives on the border farms between Zimbabwe and South Africa. How do people create homes and stability in times of mass unemployment and uncertainty? Also, transcultural sport: Max Mauro, Associate Lecturer in Sports Studies at Southampton Solent University, considers young Congolese migrants establishing a sense of belonging in a Dublin football team.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

The majority of white and black rhinoceros are found in South Africa. This stronghold for these magnificent creatures is now being threatened by poachers killing rhino for their horns.

Rhino horn, traded illegally in parts of Asia, is thought to be a cooling agent in traditional Chinese medicine. It's recently been hailed as a cure for cancer, and is seen as a status symbol in Vietnam. Made from keratin, the same stuff as hair or fingernails rhino horn has negligible medical properties, yet people are willing to pay up to £40,000 a kilogramme for it.

International trade in rhino horn has been banned under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) since the 1990s. Trade in horn was banned within South Africa in 2009. Since then, poaching has increased exponentially, reaching more than 1300 rhino poached in 2015.

Protecting the rhino in National and Provincial parks and privately owned reserves is a very dangerous and expensive undertaking. The government-run parks, such as Kruger National Park have about 75% of the South African rhino and are losing the most animals to poachers. The best protected rhino tend to be in the privately owned farms.

Many private rhino owners want the ban on the sale of rhino horn to be lifted.

This is because, unlike elephant ivory, pangolin scales and the bones from lions, rhinos can be dehorned without harming the animal. Many rhino owners are already removing the horns from their animals to stop them attracting poachers. So they are sitting on stockpiles of harvested horn.

With education and demand-reduction schemes not working quickly enough, rhino owners hope to satisfy the demand by legally selling their harvested horn. Some just want to trade within South Africa, while others want CITES to allow a trade agreement between South Africa and China or Vietnam. They say they would use the money earned to put back into conserving and protecting rhino.

Others worry that this would just increase demand for horn and that by making trade legal, you are encouraging people to think that it has an actual medical benefit.

It's a huge dilemma.

Producer: Fiona Roberts

Image: baby Ruby, credit Fiona Roberts

In 1994 apartheid ended in South Africa and Nelson Mandela was elected president. He promised in his inauguration speech to "build a society in which all South Africans will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts ... a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world." These promises were enshrined in South Africa's post-apartheid constitution, the first in the world to outlaw all forms of discrimination.

In 1994 Motshidisi Pascalina Melamu was born, making her one of the first of the so-called 'born free generation'. Pasca, as she was known, dreamed of becoming a politician, and studied hard at school. She loved singing, dancing and football. And girls - Pasca was a lesbian.

In December last year, Pasca's body was found in a field. She had been beaten and mutilated. She was one of three LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex) people murdered in a six-week period last year. Hate crimes against the LGBTI community have long been a problem in South Africa, and the government has tried to tackle them. But activists say these recent crimes are just one sign that things aren't getting better. James Fletcher travels to the townships south of Johannesburg to speak with Pasca's family and friends, and to ask whether the government is failing LGBTI South Africans.

Will Einstein’s successors be African? It’s very likely - and some of them will be women.

Back in 2008 South African physicist Neil Turok gave a speech in which he declared his wish that the next Einstein would be from Africa. It was a rallying call for investment in maths and physics research in Africa. The ‘Next Einstein’ slogan became a mission for the organisation Neil Turok had founded to bring Africa into the global scientific community - through investment in maths and physics, the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences. That search for an African Einstein now has some results, with 15 ‘Next Einstein fellows’ and 54 ‘Next Einstein Ambassadors’. These are young African scientists, often leaders in their fields, working and studying in Africa. This programme visits the first ‘Next Einstein Forum’ – a meeting held in March 2016 in Senegal which celebrated the Next Einstein Fellows and also make the case for greater investment in scientific research in Africa.

(Image: Rwandan President Paul Kagame answers a question during the NEF Global Gathering 2016 Presidential Panel, credit: NEF/Clément Tardif)

Kevin Connolly travels to Morocco, which sees itself as a beacon of moderate Islam, to visit the institute for training imams, which has been set up to create a new generation of Islamic teachers and leaders from the West African states of Nigeria, Mali and Guinea. They are being prepared to fight on the front line of a battle of ideas and being equipped to take on the teachings of extremists who support the so-called Islamic State, both online and face-to-face in their own mosques. We ask whether mainstream and establishment political and religious organisations are likely to have the technical know-how and the presentational skills to compete with the slick video processing and focussed messaging of IS.

Kevin also travels to Tunisia, which five years ago was the cradle of the Arab Spring. It is the ideal vantage point to ask whether the political and cultural stagnation of the decades before the Arab Spring helped to create the conditions for the rise of IS. We assess whether a lack of prosperity and hope is driving young men into the arms of extremist organisations. If the main driver of the rise of IS was a long accumulation of economic and political failures does that mean a problem that took decades to create might take decades to fix?

(Photo: Young Imams from West Africa learning how to combat extremism)

Fi Glover looks at how communities in Uganda have revolutionised the justice system by taking matters into their own hands.

The complexity of the law system in Uganda can be a tough one to follow – and causes particular difficulties for its residents. Solving that problem are the Barefoot Lawyers. In 2012, a technically competent group of legal experts began providing legal advice through social media to anyone who requested it. And it is now an award-winning, non-profit social enterprise assisting 300,000 people every month and answering around 50 enquiries per day. A particular achievement came in winning a sexual assault case for a twelve-year-old girl.

Our local reporter delves into the inner workings of the legal group to hear why they wanted to help and how they have made it work. They hear from the individuals whose lives have been changed as a result – as well as how the country’s official legal system are responding to the group.

Is a DIY law system the basis for a perfect country? Presenter Fi Glover, entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, professor Henrietta Moore of the Institute for Global prosperity and special studio guests – give their verdict.

(Photo: Gerald Abila, the Managing Director of Barefoot Lawyers, at his office in Kampala. Credit: Isaac Kasamani/AFP/Getty Images)

Matthew Parris's guest this week is the epidemiologst Precious Lunga, who nominates for Great Life status that of the Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Muta Maathai.

In the course of her life, Professor Maathai made a huge contribution to re-establishing environmental integrity to Kenya by working with the women who lived there. She founded the Green Belt Movement and became a politician. In 2004 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The expert witness is Maggie Baxter from the Green Belt Movement. Producer Christine Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.

The UN forecasts that the number of people living in Africa will double in the next 35 years. Nigeria, the fastest-growing nation, is expected to become the third-largest country in the world by 2050. By the end of the century, almost 40% of the world’s population will live on this one continent. It raises questions about how countries – some of which are already facing big challenges – will cope with twice the number of inhabitants in just one generation. There are fears about the impact a demographic explosion will have on health, society and the environment. But others say Africa’s population boom could turn out to be a good news story. How will a population boom change Africa? Ruth Alexander investigates.

(Photo: Onitsha-Asaba Highway. Credit: Pius Utomi Ekpei/Getty Images)

The first episode focuses on Nigeria, where migration caused by desertification is leading to bloodshed as cattle herders move south from their traditional routes and into conflict with settled farmers. Meanwhile, increasingly intense rainfall in southern Nigeria causes flooding and creates enormous gulleys which are swallowing houses, farmland and even schools. Presented by Ugochi Oluigbo - a business and environment correspondent and news anchor for TVC News in Nigeria – the programme asks how far Nigerians can afford to take action over global matters like climate change. Yet somehow the country has to adapt. Ugochi explores how climate change is making an impact on women in rural Nigeria. She also discovers how young people in Nigeria are engaging with the issue. (Image: Ugochi Oluigbo and Prof. Damian Asawalam examine an erosion gulley in Imo State, Nigeria. Credit: BBC)

Founded 220 years ago, the Orange Order is a Protestant organisation which, its members say, stands for civil liberties, fraternity and faith. However in the divided society of Northern Ireland it is rarely out of the news. Many Irish Nationalists and Republicans view it as an anti-Catholic, triumphalist organisation and disputes over some contentious Orange parades have generated headlines around the world.

What is less well known is that three thousand miles away there are Orange lodges made up of African men and women. Members of the Orange Order in Ghana share the same emblems and follow the same rituals as their brethren in Northern Ireland. While there may not be sectarian conflict in their homeland, the Orangemen on the Equator feel they too are misrepresented and misunderstood.

Chris Page travels to West Africa to find out how the Orange Order took root there. Comparing the African brand of Orangeism to that found in his native Northern Ireland, he peers into the soul of an organisation which has been characterised by its ability to survive. While members in Ulster say they have been demonised by Irish Nationalists opposed to their Unionism, their counterparts in Ghana describe their challenges in the face of prejudice from churches and wider society.

(Photo: Members of the Orange Order, Ghana, courtesy of Connor Garrett/Chris Page)

What does it mean to be a grown-up in the 21st Century? If the path to maturity is about stable work, marriage and a home for your family where does that leave those who haven't achieved these goals? In the first of three programmes Jake Wallis Simons meets young graduates in Ghana who dream of greater things but find the passage to adulthood blocked. Jobs are hard to come by and one student, Kwabena Ankrah, tells us that if you are a graduate in Ghana, you are in the wrong place. If you don’t have a job then it is hard to attract a wife. And, if you do not have a wife you are seen as irresponsible, impotent.

For Dr Samuel Ntewusu from the University of Ghana, the problems of waithood are caused by impatience and consumerism. He feels that many would not accept jobs in the north or west of the country - instead they feel their futures lies elsewhere. A large proportion of Ghana’s young hope to leave for Europe and America but do their dreams match the reality?

(Photo: Eric and David, bus driver and his apprentice in Ghana)

Oil accounts for around 75% of Nigeria’s economy, but no-one knows how much the country produces or refines. It means corruption is rife. Hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil are stolen every day, at each level of the supply chain. It is a problem that has cost the Nigerian economy billions of dollars, and weakened its public services and infrastructure. Schools and hospitals are paid for, but never built; citizens are forced to pay bribes for basic services. Many believe Nigeria’s new president, Muhammadu Buhari, is the man to end this decades-old problem. He says he will do it, and has taken personal control of the oil ministry. But it is a huge task he has set himself. So, can Nigeria end oil corruption?

(Photo: Buhari inauguration. Credit: AP)

In 2005, the Ivorian national football team - led by Chelsea superstar, Didier Drogba - began campaigning for an end to their country's devastating civil war. The side insisted on playing their matches across Ivory Coast - including an emotional game in the rebel capital of Bouaké. Robert Nicholson talks to Ivory Coast midfielder, Gilles Yapi-Yapo. The programme is a Whistledown Production.

PHOTO: Ivory Coast striker, Didier Drogba, is escorted from the pitch. (Getty Images)

In September 1983, Gerrie Coetzee, nicknamed the Boksburg Bomber, thrilled apartheid South Africa by becoming the country's first world boxing champion. Although an Afrikaner, the mild-mannered Coetzee was popular among all races, and millions stayed up to watch his bout against Michael Dokes of the USA. SABC commentator, Heinrich Marnitz talks to Ashley Byrne. The programme is a Made in Manchester production.

Photo: Gerrie Coetzee (Right) in action. Credit: AP)