This is The Happy Pod from the BBC World Service.
Hello, I'm Oliver Conway and in this edition, a remarkable Christmas meeting.
Meeting them in person and meeting his family and his kids and his wife just really has hit home that I did save a life.
It's been the most amazing special Christmas that I'll ever have.
The woman who flew thousands of miles to meet a stranger whose life she'd saved.
Also a restaurant known for helping people get support from the local community in its time of need.
The fact that we took a negative situation and made it positive is amazing.
You might have something that doesn't go your way, but you can transform it into a positive situation and I feel like when you do good, good comes your way.
How giving up a seat on a train led to happily ever after.
I really remember getting off the train and looking back at him and thinking what a lovely man that I'll never see again.
I do believe that we're meant to be together, when I think about everything that had to be in place for us to meet.
The company giving staff time off to work on their friendships and...
I think when you're singing Auld Lang Syne, you can almost feel your ancestry bearing down on you.
And that's what the song's about.
It's about remembering people from your past and raising a glass to them.
Why millions of us mark the new year singing a song we probably don't understand.
Just before Christmas, a 27-year-old American student arrived at an airport in Australia.
She was greeted by a man she'd never met before with the words, you saved my life.
Thank you so much.
You're very welcome.
Nice to meet you.
Well, that was recorded by a news crew from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Gennaro Rapanese, a father of three from Perth, had lived with a form of blood cancer called acute myeloid leukaemia for years.
But he is now in effect cured, thanks to bone marrow donated by Cassidy Feeney, who flew over to spend Christmas with Gennaro and his family.
Tim Franks spoke to them, starting with Gennaro's search for a donor.
I was first diagnosed in 2015 and I went into remission and I relapsed in 2019 and the only cure from that point was to get a bone marrow transplant.
So the hunt began to find the match and we found Cassidy all the way on the other side of the world.
He turned out to be a 12 out of 12 perfect match for me.
And just for those who don't necessarily know but 12 out of 12 just means she could not be a more perfect match.
Correct.
And Cassidy, tell me how you were even on the registry.
I joined the registry when I was a freshman in college.
I was in a sorority and we got some points if we signed up.
It was pretty common for most of the younger incoming freshmen to sign up.
In the US, it was just a simple cheap swab and they sent it off and that was it.
So how many years later was it that you then were notified that there was somebody who you matched with who needed your bone marrow?
It was about three years later.
And when you got the news, can I ask what you thought?
Honestly, at first I thought it was a scam.
I was working, so I had a voicemail.
I called my mom.
I was like, is this real?
And yeah, I called him back and started the process of additional testing.
They call and let you know that you're a potential match.
And then you go in and do some blood work.
And then it's kind of a waiting game to see if you are the best match.
I've seen the footage of when Gennaro met you at the airport and you know he said to you you saved my life.
Yeah, it's a lot.
I was telling them you hear, you know you saved a life, you're a hero, anything along those lines and back then it kind of was you know, just words.
I knew that I had donated and it went on to someone and hopefully it was going to save their life.
But meeting them in person and meeting his family and his kids and his wife just really has hit home that I did save a life and they get to keep making these amazing memories and now I get to be a part of it as well.
It is a stunning story.
Gennaro, when did you decide that you wanted to bring Cassidy over for Christmas?
Oh, look, the moment we made contact January this year, we knew that we were going to meet one day.
And I think it was probably only three to four months ago where we made the decision to tee it all up.
It's been the most amazing special Christmas that I'll ever have.
And in terms of you and your health, how are you?
Yep.
Tickety-boo.
I've got some of the best bone marrow in my system now.
Couldn't have come from a better source.
So my health is 100% cancer-free and technically cured.
Cassidy, just if I can finish with you, I was reading that there is also I mean, very sadly there's quite a big dropout rate, even for those people who are positively matched.
What would you say to those people who are thinking first of all about whether they should bother getting on the registry and then secondly, whether they should stick with it?
Yeah, when I had the call and the decision, I just thought, if it was my family member, what would they do?
And I think that is something that has stuck with me through all of this.
If it was my mom and they had one match...
Even halfway across the world, I would be devastated if they backed out.
So I think it's important that we all care a little bit more about each other and not so much about ourself.
Cassidy Feeney and Gennaro Rappinese, whose life she saved.
On Christmas Eve, a restaurant owner in Montreal Canada, was left with an unpaid bill, after several members of an eight-person group left without paying.
Abdul Razik Khan, who's known for running community-focused initiatives like a soup kitchen and pay-it-forward meals, shared the incident online.
His post prompted an outpouring of public support, including from a good Samaritan who covered the missing amount.
Harry Bly spoke to Abdul.
I took the surveillance footage that I had inside the restaurant and I made a post about it.
And I'm telling you, overnight, we had over 130,000 views.
I was called by the CBC radio.
I was called by CTV.
And I think what happened is that the fact that I'm a very community-oriented restaurant, the community had my back.
And I'm telling you, it was the first time ever I felt this surge of positive words.
I was getting phone calls, emails, people were donating money.
And it's to a point where we raised over $1,600.
And it, for me, was shocking, overwhelming.
I'm super grateful we got away with it.
But I think it's to a point where They saw what happened.
And for a Dine and Dash situation to get this as much as views it got.
I think for future people who are watching this video or watching this podcast or watching anything in regards to Dine and Dash, they're going to think twice about doing something now.
I think it's a beautiful thing that people can learn from it.
So Mama Khan is named after your mother.
Exactly.
It's named after my mother.
The logo, the hijabi woman with green eyes and glasses.
That's exactly how she looks like.
And it's her cooking.
So it's all the recipes that she shows me and she cooks herself.
My mom is also a nurse.
And the taking care of people, providing meals is something that I learned from her.
Tell me, Abdul, about some of the community work that Mama Khan has done in Montreal.
So in 2023, we had an ice storm happening in Montreal where people lost power.
We decided to transform our restaurant into a, a center where people are able to come and grab hot meals.
In a span of three days, we've given out over 200 meals to those affected by electricity.
Whenever it's very cold outside or very hot outside, we invite first responders nurses, teachers to come in and warm up or cool off.
We have a soup kitchen in our restaurant.
And we also, every Friday, we go out in the streets.
We go to low-income neighborhoods.
We provide meals.
Anyone in Montreal knows that if there's a meal that you can't afford to eat, Go see Mama Khan in the month of Ramadan as well.
We've provided meals this year, actually, in 2025.
In one month, we've given out 1,388 meals for free.
So it's something that we track every number.
We work with a nonprofit as well.
And we work with sponsorships as well.
And our initiative is literally, it's limitless.
That's really wonderful.
What I love about the story is that you have given so much to this community in Montreal, and this community, and even even wider, the wider community has given back to you in this time of need.
What is your message to everyone who has donated and has kind of helped pick you up?
What is your message to them?
My message is no matter what situation you go through, at the end of the tunnel there's always going to be some light that comes out of it.
The fact that we took a negative situation and made it positive is amazing.
And I feel like you could take the exact same formula anywhere else and think the same way, where you might have something that doesn't go your way.
But think about it.
You can transform it into a positive situation.
And I feel like when you do good, good comes your way.
It might not come right away.
It might not come in a couple of weeks, but eventually it will pay off.
And I am forever grateful for the community, for everyone that stepped up, for everyone that donated.
We even made a message that we're going to donate all the money that we received and we're going to provide it to the homeless people who live outside.
Abdul Razik Khan talking to Harry Belay.
Next to a chance meeting and a small act of kindness that has transformed two people's lives.
Just over a year ago, Hale was boarding a train from London when Steve asked if she'd like his seat.
On the anniversary of that encounter, he proposed on the same train.
Jane Killick has the story.
You will be notified at 4.13.
Payal Pandya had been on a date in London with a man she describes as nice enough, but not for her, when she realised her train home was absolutely packed.
But she boarded anyway, clutching the food and drink she'd bought on the concourse.
Basically, I got on the train and I went to the nearest table and I asked the family that was there would you mind if I put my drink down?
And this voice from behind me said, you can have my seat.
I just thought he was a really friendly guy.
I'd see that he was already speaking to other people that were on the train and it was just nice to have a chat with somebody.
He was really chatty, really friendly.
I really remember getting off the train and looking back at him and thinking what a lovely man that I'll never see again.
Sometime after I got a message online he said I promise you I'm not a stalker, I just want to make sure you got home OK.
So began the relationship between Payal Pandya and Steve Higgs.
So a few weeks later, we sort of got together, went on a first date.
You know, we had quite an open conversation from the outset in terms of, I think, what we were both looking for in relationships.
And it sort of just went from there.
And as we got towards the back end of the year, I felt that, yeah, we're destined to be together.
Everyone we see tells us we should be together.
So I thought, well, what's meaningful?
And I thought, well, yeah, that encounterversary...
That would just be nice because ultimately it was this train that we're on that brought us together.
Steve contacted the train company and asked if they could put out a message over the public address system on the same train exactly one year after they first met.
Steve recorded the moment on his mobile phone.
As a special couple, we celebrate the encounter of this train here.
Then Steve passed his phone to another passenger and asked her to keep filming.
Excuse me, do you mind coming on the corner?
Payal heard the announcement but didn't realise that was just the start of the surprise, because Steve got down on one knee and asked her to marry him.
And then he was on the floor and I wasn't quite sure why.
He didn't seem to drop anything but I was just really confused as to what was happening.
And then he just asked me the question and I was just And I think I said to him what's happening.
And he's like I've asked you a question and we're waiting for your answer and you've gone really quiet.
And I said, yes.
You will?
Yes!
It was a real, really big surprise.
Really, really, really, really big surprise.
I was not prepared for that in any way, shape or form.
Not expecting it.
But so lovely.
So lovely.
There's a real kind of bond in something special about what we've got.
And that's important, yeah, because I think a lot of the time people lose sight of that.
I do believe that we're meant to be together.
When I think about everything that had to be in place for us to meet at that time, in that moment, of all the carriages, I could have got on it, so could have not happened.
And the last year has been amazing, probably the best year of my life.
Still to come.
On The Happy Pod, I think there's been about a dozen sightings in the last 200 years, but now that we're all out there with our phones and cameras, who knows what it's going to turn up.
..a rare variety of one of Australia's most unusual animals...
For many years, Sweden has been ranked as one of the happiest places on earth to live.
But the country also has a problem with loneliness.
The government has described it as a major public health problem, with 8 of Swedish adults saying they have no close friends.
In some cases it's because people are simply too busy to keep up with old friends or make new ones.
So one company is experimenting with giving staff time off dedicated to friendship.
Maddy Savage has been finding out more.
My name is Jasmine.
I work at a pharmacy that's called Apotek Hjertet.
I'm in the store.
When Jasmine's not at work, she's often busy with her two teenage children, who live with her every other week.
She separated from their dad a few years ago and says she's felt more lonely since then because they used to socialise lots as a couple.
To be kind of dramatic, it felt like I died a little because people didn't get in touch anymore.
And it's like it's not acceptable to invite a single woman.
In early 2025, Jasmine saw an advert on her company's internal website looking for volunteers for a project designed to tackle loneliness.
And she became one of 11 workers who can use 15 minutes of work time a week or a full hour each month to focus on making or strengthening friendships.
They can use the time to chat on the phone, make plans over text or meet up with someone in person.
And they're given a thousand kroner, around 100 US dollars a year, to pay for activities.
For Jasmine it was a chance to push herself to invite people to do things rather than waiting for an invite.
Today, she's meeting an old school friend called Helena for coffee and cake.
That's called a fika in Swedish.
Jasmine didn't initially tell Helena about the project because she didn't want it to influence whether she said yes or no to hanging out.
Have you noticed any changes in her mood or behaviour since April?
Or that she's been reaching out a bit more?
Yeah, we've been talking more.
Yeah.
Yeah, we have.
Talking.
We've been texting a lot more.
Yeah, but we have seen a lot more of each other.
Yeah.
Not just because of the project, because I want to see you more.
That's good.
No, we went to one party.
Yeah, we did.
And we...
A few times we've been to IKEA for lunch.
It's the most Swedish lunch date ever.
The global furniture store that most of our listeners will have heard of.
Meatballs?
Yeah.
Or chicken.
Chicken meatballs.
Chicken meatballs.
The results of self-assessment questionnaires so far suggest all the participants feel a higher level of life satisfaction compared to before the project.
Here is Monica Magnusson, the pharmacy chain's CEO.
What we hear, because the engagement is very big, they have their own chat.
They exchange ideas and reflections on their participation in this project.
And they're all very, very happy with their own capabilities and how they all develop during this pilot.
Skeptics might argue has this just come from the marketing team?
Isn't it just a public relations initiative to make you look like a friendly company?
No, we are truly passionate about health and we work with that every single day.
Monika says it's too early to decide whether to roll out the project to more people.
But in the meantime, all of the company's 4000 employees have been offered online training with tips and tools for how to identify and prevent loneliness.
And the pharmacy chain says.
Representatives from several other Swedish companies have participated in this training too, and they're watching the project to see if it's something they could implement in their own organisations.
I asked Helena if she realised Jasmine was so lonely before the project.
No, not really, I think.
No, but I'm really bad at reaching out.
You know that.
So, no, but I didn't know.
But as I said to you, Maddy, I'm not as good at talking about it that I'm feeling lonely.
So I keep it to myself.
Stop doing that.
Yeah, I will.
Promise.
That report by Maddy Savage.
And you can hear more about the project and other ideas to boost friendship.
On People Fixing the World, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
The platypus is already one of the world's most unusual and odd-looking creatures an egg-laying mammal with a large, flat beak like a bird and a brown furry body more like an otter or seal.
But now one's been spotted that appears to be a very pale pink, or even white.
It was filmed by an Australian fishing enthusiast in a river in East Gippsland in the state of Victoria, though to protect the animal, he won't say exactly where
Rebecca Kesby spoke to Anne Gillis from the Tasmanian Platypus Conservation Group.
They're just fascinating creatures.
They're a very ancient mammal doing their thing for about 160 million years.
So, while they're extremely rare in the mammal world these days, they were all the go some millions of years ago.
Yes, the idea of laying eggs and then cycling their young with milk is just mind-blowing to me.
Right, so they're sort of the great survivor then of the ancient world.
Absolutely, absolutely, yes.
The platypus and the echidna are the only two egg-laying mammals left in that family of monotremes.
So Anne, what did you think when you saw this video that this fisherman has managed to capture?
He's not saying where he found this pink platypus because he doesn't want people to go looking for it and to destroy the environment, that sort of thing.
But I mean, it looks so weird, doesn't it?
I mean, did you think it could be a hoax even?
No, I didn't Rebecca, because I'm actually monitoring a platypus with white hands white oars, we call it as a nickname in my own river system.
So I just went, nice, that's really white, when I saw his platypus.
Nice.
Why do we think it's pink though?
Has it got some sort of disease or what makes it that colour?
It's suspected of having albinism, which is a genetic inability to create melanin.
So there is just no pigment at all in the animal.
Unfortunately, the one thing we can't tell from the video is whether it has a red eyeball, and that's.
Red eyes are the sign of a true albino albino.
Right.
So we know that albinism affects all sorts of animals, including humans, of course.
But the fact that you are also monitoring one which has got white hands, as you say, white paws, you call it.
Does that kind of indicate that maybe this is a feature of platypuses?
It could be more common than perhaps we expect.
I think there's been about a dozen sightings of white platypus in the last 200 years.
But now that we're all out there with our phones and cameras, who knows what it's going to turn up.
There was another white platypus photographed and reported in 2023.
So...
Yeah, the numbers are starting to add up.
Anne Gillis from the Tasmanian Platypus Conservation Group.
Now, if you went to a party to celebrate the arrival of the new year, you're likely to have heard people singing Auld Lang Syne.
But how did a simple Scottish folk song with words most people don't fully understand become so popular?
Pete Ross has been finding out.
And speak of love, of strength, of love.
Every year, Auld Lang Syne is sung by millions of people around the world, usually just after the stroke of midnight, to help mark the beginning of the new year.
The exact origins of the song aren't entirely clear, but the Scottish poet Robert Burns is credited with bringing it to prominence.
Burns wrote the lyrics in 1788, claiming he used fragments of traditional Scottish folk songs...
But according to Burns' scholars, the reel or melody we know today wasn't introduced until after Burns died.
Written in Scots, Old Lang Syne roughly translates to old long since.
More colloquially, it means the good old days or back in the day.
The song itself tells the tale of two old friends looking back fondly on old times.
Here are some Scottish celebrities explaining what the song means to them.
That song will bring me to tears every time.
Not actual floods of tears.
I'll not be, But I will get just a little pricking behind the eyes because it does make you think of times gone by.
I think when you're singing Old Lang Syne, you can almost feel your ancestry bearing down on you.
You remember grannies, aunties, uncles that aren't there anymore.
And that's what the song's about.
It's about remembering people from your past and raising a glass to them.
That song means different things on different levels.
The older you get, and that's the sign of a really good song.
The song's popularity outside of Scotland coincided with the age of Scottish emigration to places like Canada and the US in the 19th century.
US military historian Robbie Wintermute says that during the American Civil War, the Union tried to discourage people from singing Auld Lang Syne.
There's a condition, a medicalised condition, described by Civil War physicians as nostalgia.
We would recognise it today as PTSD.
And the fear was that anything that would cause a soldier who was so afflicted to think back upon home might lead them to desert or cause other complications.
Later, Hollywood brought Auld Lang Syne to an even bigger audience.
Should old acquaintance be...
Nine-year-old Shirley Temple sang the song to a dying soldier in the 1937 John Ford film Wee Willie Winky.
And in 1989, Billy Crystal's character in the comedy.
When Harry Met, Sally confessed he had no idea what the song meant.
What does this song mean?
My whole life, I don't know what this song means.
I mean, should old acquaintances be forgot?
Does that mean that we should forget old acquaintances?
It doesn't mean that if we happen to forget them, we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot them.
It's now been translated into dozens of different languages.
The words are often changed, but the core of the song's message remains.
CHOIR SINGS
In India and Bangladesh.
The melody was the direct inspiration of the popular Bengali song Memories of the Good Old Days.
From 1919 to 1948, the lyrics of the Korean national anthem were sung to the tune which was introduced to the country by Western missionaries.
And in China, Old Lang Syne is so established that many assume it's a native song.
With its themes of friendship and reconciliation, many would agree Auld Lang Syne is the perfect New Year song.
Pete Ross reporting there.
And that is all from The Happy Pod for now.
If you want to contact us.
The address is globalpodcast at bbccouk, and you can now watch some of our interviews on YouTube.
Just search for The Happy Pod.
This edition was mixed by James Piper and produced by Harry Bly and Rachel Bulkeley.
Our editor is Karen Martin.
I'm Oliver Conway.
Until next time, goodbye.
