Africa Eye

‘What Is Eating My Mind’ is an insightful and deeply personal story of living with bipolar disorder in Kenya, where the issue of mental health is often taboo. Noella Luka was living out her dream of studying filmmaking in the US when a manic episode turned her life upside down. She was hospitalised and diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Noella quit film school, returned to Kenya, and picked up a camera. For years, she has kept a record of her battle with bipolar disorder and her search for answers to one burning question: ‘What Is Eating My Mind?’ While filming, she faces her biggest challenge yet, but her story is one of hope. Noella is also working to give a voice to others navigating mental health challenges – including a friend, who was diagnosed with Schizophrenia and received unorthodox treatment within a religious group.

A joint investigation between BBC Africa Eye and Panorama has uncovered widespread sexual abuse on farms which supply some of the UK’s most popular tea brands including PG Tips, Lipton and Sainsbury’s Red Label. Women in Kenya say they’ve been forced into sex by their managers while working on plantations which have been owned for decades by two British companies.

The Seychelles is known as a tropical paradise with a multi-million-dollar tourist industry. But beyond the 5-star hotels and azure beaches is a country in turmoil. Based on population, Seychelles has the biggest heroin problem in the world with around 10% of Seychellois dependent on the drug. Joseph Fady Banane, who’s lived on the islands all his life, was one of them. Now free of heroin, Fady investigates the secret epidemic that lies behind the luxury. Meeting drug users, dealers, police, and the communities caught in the middle, Fady confronts a painful past and tries to reconnect with those he loves… and almost lost.

In the wake of the pandemic, reports emerged from Uganda of a 300% increase in girls aged 10–14 becoming pregnant. Sexual violence has been further fuelled in the north by the traumatic legacy of a 20-year insurgency led by notorious warlord Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army. Africa Eye investigates the true scale of the problem and the price of justice for many survivors.

This is the story of a country where the path to womanhood can bring pain, trauma, and even death. A country where children can be left motherless because of the ancient traditions of Bondo — a Sierra Leone secret society which cuts out female genitals as part of centuries old rite of passage ceremonies. FGM — female genital mutilation — is woven so deep into the female fabric of Sierra Leone, most women there have had their genitalia cut. No-one really knows how many have died as a result. BBC Africa Eye reporter, Tyson Conteh, believes his girlfriend, Fatmata, bled to death after undergoing FGM in 2016. He investigates whether her death was then covered up to protect Bondo. It is a journey driven by Fatmata, who, says Tyson, spoke to him in his dreams demanding justice.

When Nigeria passed some of the toughest anti-homosexuality laws in Africa, the internet became a place for the LGBT community to connect with others more safely — until criminal gangs went digital too. Africa Eye investigates how members of the LGBT community in Nigeria are targeted by criminal gangs who pose as potential dates on popular apps, only to extort, beat and even kidnap them. This crime is so prevalent it even has a name: Kito. Africa Eye speaks to dozens of victims who have been "kito’d", and meets the activists, and even law enforcement officers, who are using the very tactics of the blackmailers to fight them back.

At just six months of age, Lea Kilenga Bey was diagnosed with sickle cell. Her parents were told by doctors that she wouldn’t reach her teenage years. Instead, Lea has become a beacon of hope for sickle cell sufferers across Africa, battling both the stigmas surrounding the disease and the authorities who fail to provide adequate care.

Could anti-slavery efforts in Ghana be doing more harm than good to local communities? BBC Africa Eye goes undercover to investigate one of the world’s leading anti-slavery organisations and their West African operations. On 6 September 2022, in northern Ghana, four children were taken, at gunpoint, from their home in the middle of the night. They were brought to a hotel, photographed, washed and fed. At sunrise, they were relocated to a shelter. Their families were left in the dark as to where and why. For the American charity coordinating the raid, it was a successful mission to rescue child slaves. For the families, it felt like a kidnapping leaving them bewildered and traumatised. What really happened to these children? With a trail of WhatsApp messages, secret filming, and a journey to some of the remotest areas of Ghana, Africa Eye brings you the story of what happens when good intentions go horribly wrong.

Across Africa, the elderly have traditionally been cared for by their families. Now, with life expectancy increasing by ten years in the last two decades, many Africans are turning to care homes for help. But are elderly relatives getting the care they need? Undercover reporters gathered evidence of mistreatment and neglect of vulnerable residents at an elderly care home near Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. Secret filming shows staff members physically mistreating residents and dumping unplated food on tables, leaving struggling residents to feed themselves. Medical conditions were also left untreated. Africa Eye reporter Njeri Mwangi investigates the dark side of elderly care in Kenya.

In Morocco and Sudan more than 80 women said they had been raped, assaulted or manipulated into having sex. It is the first time an investigation of this kind has been conducted into the abuse surrounding this unregulated practice

A network of anti-migrant groups is emerging across South Africa, spreading anti-migrant rhetoric and even attacking migrant communities. The groups blame illegal migrants for the state of the country’s economy, lack of housing and an explosion of drug abuse. But their critics accuse them of being violent vigilantes, who target some of the country’s most vulnerable people. #BBCAfricaEye reporter Ayanda Charlie gains rare access to Operation Dudula, South Africa’s most notorious anti-migrant group. Dudula say they are standing up for ordinary South Africans who have been let down by the government and deny allegations that they are a vigilante group who preach a doctrine of violence. As she takes to the street with Dudula members, Charlie not only hears xenophobic rhetoric but also witnesses small business owners from neighbouring countries being physically threatened, forced to hand over their business, and hears how Dudula intend to establish a political party to contest South Afric

In Gabon, it’s the dream of most young footballers to play internationally. But in 2022, a long serving coach for youth national teams admitted to charges of raping, grooming, and exploiting young players. He faces up to 30 years in prison. Africa Eye’s Khadidiatou Cissé travels to Gabon to investigate one of the biggest sexual abuse scandals in the history of football. She speaks with victims and eyewitnesses who reveal a shocking culture of sexual abuse that has plagued all levels of Gabonese football for three decades - with claims that many people knew, and many stayed silent. We follow a coach who, at personal risk, is determined to bring about change. FIFA are facing accusations of failing to take effective action over the sexual abuse scandal.

In 2020, #BBCAfricaEye exposed a network of child traffickers who preyed upon some of Kenya’s most vulnerable women. The traffickers ranged from homeless drug addicts to organised criminals and even corrupt medical staff. At the time, our undercover investigators managed to infiltrate underground rings selling stolen children for as little as 400 USD. After the broadcast of the ‘The Baby Stealers’, officials made public promises of firm government action and some of those involved in the underground trade were arrested. Three years on, Africa Eye reporter Njeri Mwangi revisits some of Nairobi’s poorest neighbourhoods to find out how much impact the film had in the fight against child trafficking in Kenya. Has justice been served? And how much have things really changed since?

In Kenya, corporal punishment in schools has been banned for over twenty years, yet young students are being beaten by their teachers on a daily basis, and the consequences can be fatal. In the last five years alone, it’s believed more than 20 children have died at the hands of their teachers. In this hard-hitting investigation, #BBCAfricaEye’s Tom Odula, whose own school years were marked by brutal and degrading treatment at the hand of teachers, goes on a journey to investigate the extent of the problem and what can be done to address it. He speaks to young victims who bear the scars of vicious beatings. To families who are seeking justice for their children who have reportedly been beaten, one of who died. And to teachers who have turned their back on the cane and are now trying to spread the message that violence in the classroom is wrong. Through all of this, Tom asks the question, why is this happening, and what is being done to protect the most innocent

Across the world, debates are raging about access to safe abortion. Complications from unsafe, backstreet procedures are a leading cause of maternal death in developing countries. In Kenya, where almost two-thirds of pregnancies are unintended, unregulated terminations are estimated to claim the lives of over 2,000 women every year. BBC Africa Eye reporter Linda Ngari investigates a hidden crisis that has led to an estimated seven Kenyan women dying from unsafe abortions every day, with many more facing life-altering complications.