Two hundred young women from Sierra Leone, west Africa, have been trapped in the Arabian sultanate of Oman, desperate to get home. Promised work in shops and restaurants, they say they were into tricked becoming housemaids, working up to 18 hours a day, often without pay, and sometimes abused by their employers. Some ran away, to live a dangerous underground existence at the mercy of the authorities – but now they’re being rescued and repatriated, and some are empowering themselves as independent farmers back home. Tim Whewell tells their story.

(Image: Sierra Leonean women hoping for repatriation after leaving their employers in Oman. Credit: Do Bold)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of Nigeria’s foremost literary voices. Her writing is noted for its touching examination of homeland, identity and feminism. For more than a decade she has been coaching and mentoring promising young authors through her yearly workshops in Lagos, bringing a new generation of African writers to mainstream attention.

On the subject of transgender people and feminism, Chimamanda Adichie has been criticised by some on social media for comments she made in a 2017 TV interview, in which she said "my feeling is trans women are trans women". She was branded transphobic and there were calls for her to be banned from book events.

This past week, she has hit back, writing a furious online essay slamming some of her critics and arguing that social media platforms have become too toxic.

Mark Coles talks to friends and family about the award-winning writer whose outspoken nature has seen her drawn into a social media firestorm.

Presenter: Mark Coles Producer: Sally Abrahams Researcher: Matt Murphy and Sowda Ali Editor: Alex Lewis

Since December, gangs have seized more than a thousand students and members of staff from schools in armed raids across northern Nigeria. The wave of abductions is having devastating consequences for the country, which already has the highest number of children out of education anywhere in the world. Parents face extortionate financial demands in exchange for the freedom of their sons and daughters, and many families in Africa’s most populous nation are now too afraid to send their children to class. Some have decided to flee rural areas for the relative security of cities, adding to demographic pressures and threatening food supplies as crops go untended. For Assignment, the BBC’s Mayeni Jones travels across north-western Nigeria, meeting those who have been affected by the crisis in order to understand why it has arisen – and what the authorities can do to stop it.

Producers: Naomi Scherbel-Ball in Lagos and Michael Gallagher in London Sound mix: James Beard Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Bridget Harney

(Image: Mrs Sani shows a photo of her two daughters Rejoice and Victory. They were kidnapped from their school in March and were finally released after being held captive for almost two months. Credit: BBC)

Leila Latif explores how the Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène challenged the legacy of colonialism and pioneered a cinema by, for and about the people of Africa, celebrating the lives, languages and communities of the continent in films ranging from Mandabi to Moolaadé.

As you enter Lungelo Gumede’s studio, in the heart of South Africa's coastal city of Durban, you are greeted by the smell of paint, clay and other materials. Across the room, what you see is surprising. At first glance, you are looking at Nelson Mandela, the recently departed King of the Zulu Nation, Goodwill Zwelithini and Queen Elizabeth II. As you get closer, of course, you discover they are wax figures elegantly dressed in real clothes. That's what Lungelo specialises in - life size statues of prominent global figures in politics, sports and entertainment, with a special focus on African heroes. His art is celebrated across South Africa and, at only 36, he’s on a mission to create the country’s first ever wax museum. Mpho Lakaje spends a week with Lungelo to discover what it takes to make a new wax figure.

Kenneth Kaunda, the first President of Zambia was a unique African leader. He led the African continent’s fight against Apartheid, gaining a peaceful transition to power in his own country. He was influenced by reading Mahatma Gandhi yet ruled with ‘an iron fist in a velvet glove’. He loved to sing and play guitar, particularly to his wife of many years Betty and in his 27 years as president. In the end he was voted out of office but left with dignity when he admitted defeat in a multi-party election. Audrey Brown charts the rise and fall of former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda.

Amanda Khozi Mukwashi is the chief executive of Christian Aid, leading development and humanitarian work in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Amanda was born in Twickenham and grew up in Zambia and Rome where her stepfather worked in the diplomatic service. She studied international trade and investment law at the University of Zambia in Lusaka and during this time she began to develop her political outlook and commitment to the issue of social justice.

She moved to the UK in 1996 where she took a master’s degree at the University of Warwick. But even with two degrees and considerable work experience she was unable to find a job and retrained as a care worker. She says her time working in nursing homes “reshaped” and “humbled” her.

Later she worked for the VSO and served with the United Nations Volunteer programme in Germany before landing what she calls her “dream job” at Christian Aid in 2018.

DISC ONE: Pata Pata by Miriam Makeba DISC TWO: Ave Maria (after Arcadelt) Composed by Jacques Arcadelt, performed by Choeur de Chambre de Namur, conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón DISC THREE: My Hometown by Bruce Springsteen DISC FOUR: Jerusalema by Master Kg Featuring Nomcebo Zikode DISC FIVE: You Know My Name by Tasha Cobbs Leonard Featuring Jimi Cravity DISC SIX: (Red)emption Song by John Legend DISC SEVEN: I Believe by Fantasia DISC EIGHT: It Is Well With My Soul by Wintley Phipps

BOOK CHOICE: Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr Spencer Johnson LUXURY ITEM: Quality Street chocolates CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: It Is Well With My Soul by Wintley Phipps

Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinley

Edmund reflects on a phone call with fellow ceramicist Magdalene Odundo and what it means to be a person who make pots.

Produced by Ned Carter Miles A Just Radio Production.

Tony Kofi is the fifth of seven brothers and was raised by his Ghanaian parents in Nottingham in the late 1960s.

At secondary school Tony was turned down for the music course he wanted to do, told he wasn’t focused enough, and directed to do woodwork instead. He stuck with woodwork as he was really good at it, and left school at the age of 16 to become a carpentry apprentice. A few months in, working on a house construction, he fell from the roof arch to the ground floor where he landed on his head. Tony says he experienced the fall in slow motion and he had clear visions of unknown faces and places and saw images of himself playing an instrument. During his recovery it was that image which kept coming back to him. Tony made the decision to quit his apprenticeship and announced his intention to become a musician. He bought a saxophone and taught himself how to play by ear, before earning a full scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in the US.

Scroll forward many years, Tony is now a highly-acclaimed jazz saxophonist and credits the fall with turning his whole life around.

Despite being home to our early ancestors, attempts to find evidence of early burials in Africa have proved unsuccessful. That is until now. Professor María Martinón-Torres explains how findings from a 78,000-year-old Kenyan grave shed light on how our ancestors related to the dead.

In keeping with the theme of clues from the past, Cardiff University academics have been studying the remains of crew who drowned on King Henry VIII’s favourite ship, the Mary Rose. As it turns out, Tudor England was more ethnically diverse than we previously thought.

Victoria Gill speaks with University of Oxford researcher Dr Mehreen Datoo about a promising new malaria vaccine which was shown to be 77% effective in early trials. And Dr Nir Grossman, explains how his team at Imperial College London has been synchronising electrical pulses with rogue brain waves to treat tremors.