大象传媒

Douglas Ochwodho Ondari is incredibly lucky to be alive. Ten days ago he was travelling on a bus in northern Kenya when it was attacked by gunmen from the Somali militant group Al Shabab. He was made to lie on the ground with twenty seven other non muslim passengers who were shot - he only survived because he was covered in other people's blood and the gunmen thought they had killed him.

The Iranian writer Farnoosh Moshiri had a traumatic time after the Islamic revolution of 1979. She was forced to flee the country and lived as a refugee for four years. She describes how those experiences have influenced the five novels she has published from her adopted country, the United States.

Jani Toivola is Finland's first ever black member of parliament and is also openly gay. He has been at the forefront of the campaign to bring about equal rights and last week his efforts paid off when the Finnish parliament voted to legalise same-sex marriage. Gay couples in the country now have the same rights as anyone else to share a surname and adopt children.

(Photo: Security forces walk by the Kenyan bus after it was attacked. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)