In this episode Manchán speaks with Tika from in a town in the southern part of Malawi, Blantyre. Her happiest memories are of her secondary school and the beautiful places they visited, ‘like Mount Mulanje which translates in the local language as ‘you don’t go there’, as people believed there were ghosts there that used to take people. This is because you need a guide there, or you won’t easily find your way back.

She speaks the national language in Malawi, Chichewa, and a local language, ‘Tumbuka, which makes me feel connected to my tribal village in the northern part of Malawi. There was no electricity or television there, but life was so much fun compared to living in town, as grandmother would tell us stories, and everyone would do things together. In the village you have the privilege of not having to buy food, but of growing it yourself. People didn’t have proper jobs; they’d sell their farm products and then buy whatever products they might need. Whereas in town you are buying everything.’

Home Stories was funded by Creative Ireland alongside the county councils of Laois and Westmeath.

In this episode Manchán sits down with Fortunate from Zimbabwe. Fortunate grew up in a village in a mountainous region of Zimbabwe with many dangerous snakes, ‘All the mambas that you've ever heard about are in those mountains: black mamba, green mamba, white mamba. And we've got baboons - when we plough our maize they come to steal from us.’

She insists that snakes aren’t dangerous, ‘sometimes when you go to the field to cultivate with horses you might step on a snake, but they realise it’s a mistake and they won't bite you. They will flee. But if you really attack it it will bite, and even follow you, and kill you.’ She says that a small child can touch and play with a very poisonous snake ‘but the snake will not bite that child’.

She has fond memories of harvest parties when ‘all the villagers would come together. They would kill cattle and we would eat a lot and celebrate the summer season.’ They’d also offer prayers for a good harvest, and for suitable rains. This communal aspect of life in Zimbabwe suffered under colonisation, and Fortunate sees a similar impact in Ireland, though ‘the Irish are still very social. They have come together to support me, through thick and thin.’

Home Stories was funded by Creative Ireland alongside the county councils of Laois and Westmeath.

In this episode Manchán speaks with Ivann from from the Guatemalan city of Quetzaltenango. He had to flee his home when drug cartels moved into the region. ‘It's close to the border with Mexico and five or ten years ago terrorists with guns set up in the area with drugs, and it changed everything, especially for the kids. Now it is very dangerous.’

His grandmother spoke the traditional Mayan languages K'iche' and Katchiqua. She mixed aspects of Christianity with Mayan practise. ‘In springtime we used to pray to a god of rain to see how the corn was going to grow up in the land. A Mayan god can be all of nature, or one tree, or a lake or mountain, or the clouds. God is everywhere.’

He misses teaching and is ‘focused on trying to be a teacher here in Ireland, and maybe even teach about Mayan culture or Spanish culture here. Since this country is doing so much for me why can't I contribute in return?’

Home Stories was funded by Creative Ireland alongside the county councils of Laois and Westmeath.