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Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Unaids

Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Unaids, shares the eight tracks, book and luxury item she would take with her if cast away to a desert island. With Lauren Laverne.

Winnie Byanyima is a human rights advocate and executive director of Unaids, the joint UN Programme which was set up to eradicate Aids as a threat to public health by 2030.

Winnie was born in the village of Ruti, in south west Uganda, where her teacher parents raised her and her siblings to follow their example of doing good things for others. From an early age Winnie adopted the family motto of ‘truth and justice’.

Winnie fled the country in 1978, during the regime of President Idi Amin, and came to the UK as a refugee. She won a scholarship to study aeronautical engineering at Manchester University, graduating in 1981. She returned home where she found a job as an engineer for Ugandan Airlines while secretly working for Yoweri Museveni’s resistance movement that opposed Amin’s successor, Milton Obote.

In 1994 Winnie was elected as an MP in the Ugandan Parliament and was instrumental in drawing up a new constitution for the country. In 2013 she was appointed executive director of Oxfam International and became executive director of Unaids in 2019. She currently lives in Geneva.

DISC ONE: Sanyu Lyange by Juliana Kanyomozi
DISC TWO: Cantata No. 147: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by New London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski, with the Norman Luboff Choir
DISC THREE: Le Bûcheron by Franklin Boukaka
DISC FOUR: Heart of Glass by Blondie
DISC FIVE: Umqombothi by Yvonne Chaka Chaka
DISC SIX: Steal Away (Remastered) by Nat King Cole
DISC SEVEN: Don't Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin
DISC EIGHT: I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free by Nina Simone

BOOK CHOICE: The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir
LUXURY ITEM: A basket weaving needle
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free by Nina Simone

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinley

Available now

36 minutes

Last on

Fri 1 Apr 2022 09:00

Music Played

  • Juliana Kanyomozi

    Sanyu Lyange

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Cantata No. 147: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

    Orchestra: New Symphony Orchestra of London. Conductor: Leopold Stokowski. Choir: The Norman Luboff Choir.
    • Leopold Stokowski: The Stereo Collection 1954 -1975.
    • RCA Red Seal.
  • Franklin Boukaka

    Le Bûcheron

    • Franklin Boukaka.
    • Sonafric.
    • 1.
  • Blondie

    Heart Of Glass

    • Blondie: Greatest Hits.
    • Warner Music UK Limited.
    • 4.
  • Yvonne Chaka Chaka

    Umqombothi

    • Be Proud To Be African.
    • Universal Music (Pty) Ltd.
    • 5.
  • Nat King Cole

    Steal Away

    • Every Time I Feel The Spirit.
    • Capitol Records.
    • 12.
  • Bobby McFerrin

    Don't Worry, Be Happy

    • Summer Beach.
    • UMG Recordings, Inc.
    • 12.
  • Nina Simone

    I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free

    • Forever Young, Gifted And Black: Songs Of Freedom And Spirit.
    • RCA/Legacy.
    • 3.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 27 Mar 2022 11:00
  • Fri 1 Apr 2022 09:00

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