Dispatches from CBC Radio

The Dispatches feature for the August 6 holiday highlights some of the young reporters who contributed to the final season of the show -- and will bring you the world in the future.

This week - we say good-bye. It's our last program but we're going out with boats, baboons, and a bang. We'll touch on some of the stories we've brought you over the years, some of the places we've been, and some of the strange and sublime people we put into your radio. Along the way, we'll hear some of the moments that stopped us in our tracks. And hear some untold stories from our our correspondents. We saved the best for last.

Redemption songs. A con turns pro on the South African music scene, delivering on the promise his friend saw in him. A story of toothsome tourism. Why some Americans are going south for their dental care. Then, the peace after Jody's War. We catch up with the Canadian sniper who lost his feet in Afghanistan, but found hope at home. The doctors dilemma. A Canadian physiotherapist questions his time helping injured Haitians when no one's improving the conditions they'll live in. And the rise of the rappo-corrido. Mexico's drug culture infiltrates another musical genre. This is "Dispatches."

Why Italy illegally walled off the sea to would-be refugees and sent them to certain abuse in Libya. Dining out on a country specializing in famine. There's more than kimchi at a North Korean-themed restaurant. Speaking of menus, there's a celebrity cook on Egyptian TV pitching comfort food for an uncomfortable economy. Then, a Bosnian memoir from a correspondent seething about the perils of the Balkan region's unresolved history. And from Cuba, how to get along with your neighbours when you're a temperamental artist and your neighbours are the Castros.

from Kabul, Afghanistan - Lima, Peru - Florence, Italy - Hong Kong - Mumbai, India

How does a hairdresser recruited for work in Dubai, wind up slaving for the U.S. military in a war zone in Iraq? We look at the plight of those known as "The Invisible Army." In Uganda you can inherit a wife, marry more than one, and beating them isn't much of a crime. And changing that is proving problematic. Then, a young award-winning reporter on shoe leather, social media and his first time in a free-fire zone. And, Florentine steak, well-aged parmeggiano, and an egg-rich gelato to die for. How to find best food in Florence.

From Zimbabwe, a foreign photographer emerges from jail telling of political tyranny, sadistic guards, and a first-hand fear of the lost freedoms he was sent to cover. In Ukraine, a political protest that takes its top off. Half-naked women take to the streets saying it's their way of struggling for gender equality. And from the vaults, Visions Of Joanna: the story of a picture that sent a man in China on a twelve-year quest. And, we'll re-visit the Tree of Forgetfulness as author Alexandra Fuller recounts her memoir of family madness and colonialism in Africa.

The shifting conflict in Syria. From stand-and-fight to guerilla warfare and a cry for outside help. The German locomotive hopes to pull Europe's flailing economies out of trouble. But there's a ghost in that machine. In Brazil, David Rocha makes garbage instruments. Or rather, instruments from garbage. That's why they sound so good. Illegal immigrant, deport thyself. How an experiment in immigration went wrong in Alabama. Hotels aren't in the charity business, so why would the Red Cross want into the hotel business, in Haiti? And from the Netherlands, a cafe where you don't pay for the food. We take repast in a restaurant for these recessionary times.

In China, a dead man, a live dissident and a disgraced party boss make for an embarrassing challenge to the country's Communist party. The F-word erupts into French presidential politics. Are foreigners the future of the Gallic identity or its undoing? The campaign revives a rift. Then, hate camps versus haute couture. A new documentary examines why some girls in India are subjugated, while others are liberated. In Haiti, the lacklustre government moves to appease restless former soldiers with the promise of a payday but there's a Fifth Column to worry about. And, a sting on wheels. Bicycle theft in free-wheeling Amsterdam pushes our correspondent to extremes.

A journalist in Azerbaijan discovers Big Brother isn't just watching her. He's filming her. Stop with the honking! The quest for quiet in one of India's noisiest cities. Then; a Danish filmmaker turns diamond-smuggling diplomat. Mads Brugger sets up a sting in central Africa. And, the rebellious New Farmers of China. Young. Well-educated. And they get no respect.

The drug cartels have stolen Mexico's dignity. Journalist Luis Najera wants his back. The new entrepreneurial Cuba. Forget what you thought it was. The Fixer's gonna show you what it is. Then, the school everyone goes to but no one attends. Children of the Bombardment learn hard lessons in Yemen. Plus, the View from Peru, of an extraordinary Easter re-enactment. And, in times of war, this much is true. Everybody lies. That said, we consider the source of reporting from Syria.

Remember Libya? The one before Syria. Some Libyans think we've forgotten and it's helping tip the country into chaos. If a neighbour killed your kin and went unpunished, you'd have an idea what it's like in Liberia, where victims of war crimes live in peace without justice. And from the archives, we strut with The Society of Revellers and Elegant People. Of course they're French. French-African. Then, as cholera makes a comeback in Haiti, a Canadian author tells why it's poised to become the quintessential disease of our time.

The power of rumour in Haiti. It's enough to shut down a city. Greeks and Turks make nice. Together! A cautious change in a troubled relationship. And from the vaults, a story of Italian factories powered by Chinese labour. Business turns a profit, but both cultures take a loss. Then, something few in Israel want to talk about. How the state uses, and abuses, its Arab informers.

All the death that's fit to print; Mexican journalists wrestle to report their country's descent into drug violence, and survive. Rare earth is in everything from smart phones to smart bombs. But after one bad experience with the radioactive metal, is Malaysia smart to start refining it again? Then, gambling on the Golden Triangle. A colorful entrepreneur is betting the punters will come to play in his golden casino in the Laotian jungle, despite trigger-happy druglords for neighbours. And, after the deluge; as Japan counts the cost of last year's terrible tsunami, the latest casualty may be public trust.

The boy with the bullet in his back; why the Syrian conflict makes for a nervous neighbour in Jordan. A journalist in hiding talks about the consequences of exposing the brutal tactics of an African secret society. Then, aftermath of the Asian tsunami. People in Sumatra look to their past to find a future. India's movie business. It's big business but leaves human casualties in its wake and we'll hear how the fallen can be raised. And, Twitter, but not as we know it. The Chinese embrace their own version while keeping the censor at arms-length.