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Brazil's 'baby swap' boys: 15 years on

In 2010, two mothers found they had unknowingly taken home each other's baby boys. It was an unthinkable mistake that ended up building - rather than destroying - their lives.

In 2010, Elaine Gomes Oliveira Pires and Queila Fegundes found themselves at the centre of a high-profile hospital scandal. They had been unknowingly raising each other's sons for over a year, before DNA tests revealed the mistake and a judge ordered the mothers to swap the children back. Outlook reporter Gibby Zobel visited Elaine and Queila in 2011 to ask them about that traumatic event. The two boys - Lucas Daniel and Davidson Samuel - have recently celebrated their 16th birthday. So Gibby Zobel has returned to their home in Ner贸polis in Central Brazil to find out how their unusual start in life has affected them and their mothers in the years since.

The number of treasures contained in the Outlook Memory Box continues to grow. A 100-year-old stringed instrument called a tar is the latest addition nominated by listener Jamshid Khazenie. Jamshid left his home in Iran and headed for the US during the Iranian Revolution but found the culture shock hard to bear. He immersed himself in traditional Iranian music as a way to keep his connection to home alive. One day, his father sent him a gift - a rare tar made by the master tar-maker Yahya, of which only a few hundred are believed to have survived. Jamshid told Mobeen Azhar what it means to be the custodian of this cultural treasure and the role it has played in his life.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Anna Lacey

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

(Photo: The baby swap boys and their mothers. Elaine, Davidson Samuel, Queila and Lucas Daniel in Neropolis, 2025. Credit: Gibby Zobel)

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