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Shari Ho from Taiwan was just seven years old when she was sold by her father to a woman for 300 US dollars. She spent the rest of her childhood as a domestic slave, was never allowed to go to school and was only given scraps of rotten food to eat. Shari finally escaped after she was taken to the United States by the woman who 'owned' her. She describes how August 18th 2005 has become her ‘freedom birthday’ – as she had never had a birthday, and tells Emily Webb about the thrill she felt when she was allowed to choose a new pair of shoes for the first time. Shari has now rebuilt her life and has set up her own childcare business. She's written a book about her life called My Name Is Also Freedom.   

Dr Robert Raven is a spider expert from Australia, but it's an unusual profession for him to have chosen, given that he has a phobia of spiders. His job involves going into the outback, finding spiders and naming them. We'll be hearing about some of his favourites of the 450 spiders he's named ..including Judi Dench, Helen Mirren and Bob Marley.

Image: child covering her ears
Credit: Getty Images/Favour_of_God