What’s women’s experience of homelessness across Europe? In Finland it's on the decrease, but in Portugal it's rising. Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two women who are fighting to eradicate homelessness.

Saija Turunen is the head of research at Y‐Foundation, the largest nationwide non-profit landlord in Finland. The organisation promotes social justice by providing affordable rental housing - they currently own over 19000 homes in nearly 60 locations.

Luísa Gomes moved to Portugal as a child from East Timor and was homeless for 15 years. She is the co-founder of SOMOS, an association created by and for women who have experienced or are currently facing homelessness.

Produced by Emily Naylor

(Image: (L) Luísa Gomes, courtesy of Luísa Gomes. (R) Saija Turunen, courtesy of Saija Turunen.)

The infamous Dakar race (formerly known as Paris-Dakar) is a gruelling off-road endurance rally. Since its inception in 1978, there has only been one overall female winner. Ella Al-Shamahi meets two women who took part in this year’s event.

Aliyyah Koloc is the youngest driver to take part in the race. She’s a 19-year-old professional race driver born in Dubai, raised by a Czech father and a mother from the Seychelles. She grew up with motorsports as her father, Martin Koloc, was a well-known racing driver in the 90s and two-times European Truck Racing Champion. After a first successful career in tennis, Aliyyah switched to motorsports only four years ago.

Motocyclist and rally driver Annie Seel from Sweden is a legend in the motorsports world. She’s been the female Dakar champion for both the motorbike and car categories, and this year was her 11th time taking part. She was also the first woman to set a record climbing Mount Everest on a motorbike and is an advocate for women in motorsports.

Produced by Emily Naylor

(Image: (L) Aliyyah Koloc, credit Buggyra ZM Racing. (R) Annie Seel, credit MCH Photography/X-raid.)

Beatriz de La Pava Hucke talks to two women committed to reducing the stigma and harm caused by drug addiction and tackling the damage done by the illegal drug trade in Europe and the United States.

Angela Kennecke is a journalist in the United States who lost her 21 year old daughter to fentanyl poisoning. Emily was three days away from being checked into a treatment centre and died after taking what she thought was heroin. Angela has since founded Emily’s Hope – a non-profit organisation to raise awareness in the opioid crisis and end the stigma of addiction.

Laura d’Arrigo works in Paris as diplomatic advisor at the French Interministerial Mission on combating drugs and addictive behaviours. For six years (2016-2021) she chaired the management board of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction which is the leading authority on illicit drugs in the European Union. The agency provides independent scientific evidence and analysis on all aspects of this constantly changing threat to individual lives and wider society. She spoke to us in a personal capacity.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Angela Kennecke, credit Chris Reistroffer. (R) Laura d'Arrigo, credit Nuno Saraiva.)

Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two women about the magic of storytelling through puppetry. From the moment she played the part of a clock in a school play, Heather Lai from Hong Kong knew she wanted to go to drama school. It was there she fell in love with puppetry. After completing her training at The Curious School of Puppetry, she's performed on both the stage and in the television studio. Heather's currently starring in the award-winning My Neighbor Totoro at the Barbican Theatre. Ana Crăciun-Lambru is an award-winning theatre director and puppeteer from Romania. Her one-woman show 'Dust' uses puppetry to tell the stories of the Romanian women who emigrated to the US. Ana has performed worldwide and has also featured on Romania’s Got Talent with her puppet troupe.

(Image: (L) Ana Crăciun-Lambru, credit Cristian Vasile (R) Heather Lai, credit Ori Jones.)