Global News Podcast - The Happy Pod: Getting engaged in the ashes of our home

Episode Date: March 8, 2025

We meet a couple who got engaged amid the ashes of the LA fires. The ring survived and was found in the ruins of their home. Also: grandmas bringing power to remote villages; and how going viral got a lost soft toy home.

If you leave something behind at an airport, what are the chances you'll ever see it again? So we have over 10,000 items that are lost yearly and only 30% that actually end up making it back to the owner. But what if it's something really important like a much loved soft toy? Stay with us. Hi, I'm Stephanie Rayner. And I'm Brian McShea. And you're listening to the HappyPod. On the BBC World Service. This is Andrew Peach and on the way,

how Stephanie and Brian's engagement ring survived the LA fires. We're both kind of in the mess of our home. My tears under my goggles and glasses. I remember saying at least we got engaged in this house. We did, we were inside the house. The grandma's bringing solar power to parts of Madagascar. My daughter goes to school and now she has enough light to study after class. It's really changed a lot for us. And why a former soldier and triple amputee wants to set a solo sailing record. If someone said I didn't know if I could sail or I didn't know I could do something until

I saw you and you really helped, I think that's where I'd be like, oh wow, I really did what I wanted to. Let's start with the story of a man who feared his marriage proposal plans had gone up in smoke in the LA fires. Brian McShea had been planning to pop the question to Stephanie Rayner and had hidden the engagement ring at their home in San Gabriel Valley until the right moment. But when their house and all their belongings were destroyed, he assumed the ring had been lost.

The couple, who met at music college in 2013, told their story to my colleague Harry Bly. I had bought the ring a little less than a month earlier. It had been a big thing I had been planning all year trying to find the ring. I went shopping with my best friend to get the ring and it was stashed in the corner of my desk drawer in my music studio. When the house went up I was really scared about being back to square one on the proposal. I just thought that like, if I'm super lucky, I'll be able to find a literal diamond in the rough.

Stephanie, can you tell me what it was like to return to the house or rather the remains of the house that day? It's just completely leveled and I think both of us basically instantly were in tears. It was pretty unreal, even though we're looking at it, just to see everything you own, everything you've gathered. You know, I've had, I had stuff since childhood that wasn't there. Just gone was an unreal experience. We'd kitchen colanders from Target, like not even real sifters, we had just kitchen colanders.

And we had all the PPE that the National Guard was giving out, these checkpoints in our house. And I went straight to the spot where my desk was. I'm digging through and you find it, you see like a ring hanging out from something, you pull it out and it's a washer. And which is all of these like false alarms and weeds to dig through. But just really just one time you just pull in the ring and on the end there's

a diamond and I mean it's all black except for the diamond. I was just in disbelief and I was already on my knees and I heard myself say, hey, showing her, will you marry me? And I also remember, and I remember just being like, ah, dude, hey. Hey is, I had a big plan for this originally. Like, you get one chance. I had a whole thought of how I was gonna say this and hey was not what I had imagined presenting the ring with.

But- That's what you did. It was so complicated. That's what I did. It came from the heart. It did, absolutely. I just knew that I couldn't wait. So I am glad that it was automatic.

Yeah. Well, I did hear him gasp first. And then a, hey. You know, we're both kind of in the mess of our home and we kind of immediately hug and I obviously say yes. My tears under my goggles and glasses. It was a special, it was a really special moment. Perhaps not quite the proposal you were planning, Brian, but a very, very special one nonetheless.

you were planning, Brian, but a very, very special one, nonetheless. It was, in addition to being wonderful, just because we're engaged now, that day could have been of digging through our house could have just been so morose. It really changed the mood of the whole day and just weeks after, because it had just been this numb feeling for a couple of weeks at that point. And it really just changed everything. I remember saying, at least we got engaged in this house. At least we got engaged in this house, yeah. We did. We were inside the house. That's a lovely way of thinking about it. And how are things now? You've said that your

landlord is rebuilding your house, but how are you guys, first of all, and how is your community? Community is spirited. The community is trying real hard, which is one of the things that we love about them. The businesses that have survived, they've become places for the larger charities to have distribution points. They've been making food themselves and giving it away, which is just insane, and just becoming venues for community meetings and whatnot. Steph and I are living with our parents

and Sierra Madre, we're very close. Super fortunate. We see the same mountains in the background. Yeah, we're super fortunate. I mean, of all things, we really are fortunate to feel very grateful for a lot of things. I would say it's been super nice to see so much kindness in today's current climate.

It's really hard to see good in people and kindness and helping others. And we've seen a lot of that, which is really encouraging. Mm-hmm. When the time comes, people do want to do good that which is really encouraging. When the time comes people do want to do good which is a great feeling. Congratulations to Brian and Stephanie. We've been hearing recently about great advice people have had from their grandparents but in the African island nation of Madagascar a group of grandmas are also helping to bring electricity

to their families and villages. They're being trained to install solar panels in remote areas and grandmothers were chosen for this as they were thought to be the most likely to return and then stay in their villages after learning these skills. The scheme hopes to train more than 700 by 2030, bringing electricity to around 630,000 homes. Cira Thierry has been to meet some of those who benefited. Mobile Sarsin. Mobile Sarsin. Huércateira.

Huércateira. The teacher is holding up different objects, a screwdriver, cables, lamps, and the students repeat after her to name them. This is a classroom full of grandmothers who are learning how to install lamps and solar panels. Most of the women never went to school or know how to read or write, but soon they will bring electricity to their villages. These classes are run by the World Wildlife Fund and an international NGO called Barefoot College, which trains communities worldwide to be self-sufficient.

Nearly a hundred women have been trained here to install and fix solar panels, but they also learn about women's and children's rights, micro-entrepreneurship and health. Before the training, I didn't have a real job. But now I know how to spell my name. I learned how to read or write other words as well. That's really changed my life. When I came back from the training center, the other women admired me, and I've become an inspiration for them.

At 43, Mum has four children and two grandchildren. I visit her at home in Kivalu while she's peeling vegetables for dinner. The fishing village can only be reached with small wooden boats, and only in the morning, when the water between the mangroves is high enough to traverse it. Like most villages in Madagascar, it's very far off from the electricity grid. After finishing her training at the college, Mam has come back here to bring power to her community. So Mam is now installing a small solar panel on the top of a wooden hud. She can't climb

up there herself, so she's instructing all the boys and men around her and she knows exactly what she's doing. Before the WWF and the Barefoot College started training grandmothers in this village, people used petrol lamps, candles and torches to have at least a little bit of light after the sun sets. One family would easily burn through 30 batteries a month. That's expensive and creates a lot of waste. But that wasn't the only harm to the environment. People are now cutting fewer trees because we get our light from solar panels. Before we often made fires to have enough light to prepare fish for dinner. The sun is shining all year round, even during

the rainy season, so using solar panels is really good for us." Mam's neighbor, Nivo, a teacher, received a solar panel in May. It can only charge phones and small electronic devices. Yet for this family, having a reliable power source has been life-changing, Nivu tells me as she's preparing dinner for her family. My daughter goes to school and now she has enough light to study after class. And we can now eat without worrying about insects in our food or things like that. It makes my work easier too. I can prepare classes in the evenings. It's really changed

a lot for us. That report from Sierra Thierry and you can hear more about renewable energy projects on People Fixing the World wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Now we all know how upsetting it can be for children to lose a much-loved soft toy. So when a cuddly rabbit got left behind at Pittsburgh International Airport, staff there were determined to reunite it with its young owner. Rather than simply adding it to the lost property pile, they made Bunny a social media star, documenting adventures from exploring baggage claim to taking escalator rides. Word soon spread and reached the relatives of six-year-old Waylin who dropped Bunny on

the way home from Florida. Rachel Carlson from the airport social media team talked to my colleague Tony Livesey. It's crazy because we have over 10,000 items that are lost yearly and only 30% that actually end up making it back to the owner. And so when my customer service team reached out to me and said, we should really put this on social and Bunny should go on some adventures, I was like, yeah, let's do this. So in my mind, I'm like, how can we do this in the most eye catching creative way possible? So Bunny lived his best life, his or her best life, went out on the baggage claim where they were found.

We went into our martini bar. Bunny was denied the martini, I will say. Oh, good. Yeah, I got to hear that. Yeah, kind of. Yes, underage, underage. Yeah. And then went around an airplane and just had a ton of fun all around the airport.

And then I posted it on social media. And it was just incredible to see our community really rally around it. Comment after comment was, I am so invested in the story. We need to find this owner. I kept seeing invested in the story. I need to find, we need to find this owner. I kept seeing it on the news. I saw it being shared by even parent Facebook groups that I'm a part of. Like it was just a really special thing to be able to be a part of. So what clues did you have? You knew that the owner lived in the Pittsburgh area because they'd landed there from hard at home. I had nothing.

Oh I see. Yeah. My customer service rep said, this bunny looks so loved. We really need to find its owner if we can. But I had no clue if they lived in the Pittsburgh area, which they ended up living about an hour and a half outside of the Pittsburgh area. The great grandparents who called and was like, do you have this bunny? We had relatives that were commenting on the social feed and she had left her phone there too and was like, I have this phone.

Do you have this bunny? You know, her son-in-law was seeing someone that was commenting on it. So it was really, it was a magical affair. So has Bunny been presumably been reunited with Waylon? Yes. Yeah, so her great-grandmother came and picked up the bunny and she was just so emotional in terms of she never thought that we would be able to reunite her with this bunny again. She wasn't even sure if it was left in Orlando.

She had no idea that it had been dropped in the baggage claim area and you know I was showing her all the comments about how invested people were and she got really emotional in terms of just how much people gravitated to this positive story and were just wanted it back in little Wayland's arms. Yeah so Bunny effectively is retired now then Rachel. Bunny won't be doing as much as he she was at the airport then, quiet life. Retired for now, happy home with the little owner but I mean who knows what adventures will have people go on or have stuffies gone again. I mean I as a parent would be horrified if we left a stuffy at the airport. Has Bunny been in touch since?

Bunny has sent photos, yes. Just checking. A little while in with the Bunny, yes. Yes, we are all very invested in the story still, but really happy that Bunny was reunited with her owner. Rachel Carlson on the adventures of Bunny the cuddly rabbit. On the way in the Happy Pot, how going for a walk can improve your mental health. There are so many studies to show going on like a 20 to 30 minute walk, the difference it has on mental health but also your physical health. When you're walking you feel more inclined to talk about stuff.

Craig Wood was just 18 when he lost both of his lower legs and his left hand in a roadside bomb while serving with the British Army in Afghanistan. 16 years later he's hoping to become the first triple amputee to sail solo, non-stop, across the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to Japan. Before setting sail, Craig talked to my colleague Shabnam Yunus Jool and told her why he decided to take on this challenge. I want to try and change people's perception on what people with disability are capable of achieving and when people look at me they might not think that I could sail across an ocean never mind on my own so I'm hoping to dispel some of them thoughts. Yeah so wide sailing then in particular was it something that's already been part of your life

then? Yeah sailing was a really logical choice for me because I actually live on the boat that I'm sailing across the ocean so I've been sailing around the world for the past eight years now. It just made so much sense. For example, we just did a 600 nautical mile passage from Costa Rica to Mexico. As the sun was setting, my son and daughter would sit next to me. We'd watch the sunset. There's dolphins in the background. It really is so magical. We got to the marina and the guys in the marina were asking what planet it was amongst themselves. And my son was through, he was like, oh, it's Venus. Because we've been looking at stars for the last six days and pointing out each one. Yeah, so he's like learning it, parrot fashion, but he's learning it.

Why is it that you decided to spend so much time on a boat then, basically living your life out there? What does it give you? For me specifically, it's a leveling platform. My skill set may equal able-bodied person's skill set. So that completely levels the playing field for me. It means I don't have to walk very far to do any of that sort of stuff. I'm a water baby anyway, so it all really suits my lifestyle. I like minimalist things and I don't feel like I need a 10-bedroom house to feel like I'm winning. I've got a four-room catamaran in purely content. For this challenge, you're going to be on your own for quite a long time, so how are

you preparing for that? I haven't been, basically, because I don't think you really can. The only way you can prepare for it is do a little bit longer each time you're away. But I'm quite like, well, I may as well just stick it out and do the passage and then take it as it comes. I'm quite fortunate enough to be able to, when I feel like I'm missing my parents, for example, I'll just call them on video and that eases all that feeling. However, when it's with my children, it is very much, you know, daddy, where are you? I want to hug you.

You know, when they're sad, it really pulls on the heartstrings. I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye to them off of the dock one bit, because yeah, it'll probably be a blubbering mess. But yeah, I'm very much looking forward to seeing them when I arrive, 70 days later. But it's going to be difficult, yeah. What do you think will be your biggest challenge then? Will it be missing the family,

or is there anything else that you think that is really going to test you out there? My biggest fear really is the unknowns. I think health and safety is probably the biggest thing and then it's probably weather. If I hit some bad weather that's not being forecast and then yeah, then it'll be the pure emotional missing my family. But that just gives me more incentive to get there quicker and do one piece, you know, and do things correctly to be able to get there and see my family. So I think that's more of a positive driver.

Just how much of an achievement will you feel when you've completed it? I think that's specific part would be more feeding my ego. And it will be a great sense of achievement. Don't get me wrong, but I'm not aiming for that. I think I'd feel a lot better and a lot more like I've achieved what I set out for. If someone said, I didn't know if I could sail until I saw you, and then I tried sailing, or I didn't know I could do something until I saw you and you really helped. I think that's where I'd be like, oh wow, I really did what I wanted to.

I mean, hopefully I am inspiring and yeah, it's really important. If I can inspire people, then I want to be able to do that effectively and inspire as many as possible. Yeah, for sure. It's quite important, I think. Craig Wood talking to the BBC Sports Hour programme, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts. We heard earlier about Brian and Stephanie getting engaged in the unusual surroundings of their burnt out home. Our next story also involves a couple who found love in circumstances not normally associated with romance, a car accident. Asia Pacific editor Celia Hatton has been telling Rebecca Wood the unexpected story. Becca Wood, The Unexpected Story. So we have to go back to December 2023 when a man whose name is Mr. Li, he was driving

through a city in China's central Hunan province and he suddenly crashed into a young woman who was riding an e-bike. And you can see photos that he took from the scene. She's shown on her back, lying in the road, and she's talking on a mobile phone. And she looks like she's in great pain. But what he says from that incident is that it struck him immediately how calm she was and how she didn't blame him. She wasn't yelling at him. In fact, she told him not to worry even though it was clear she was in pain. She went to the hospital

right after and it was discovered that she'd broken her collarbone and she was actually in hospital for quite a few weeks after that recovering. And so how did, from this accident, how did love then blossom between the pair? The man says that he committed to paying for the woman's medical care but beyond that he actually started visiting the hospital not just once but every single day for weeks he would visit and he would bring her breakfast. and the couple started spending a lot of time together And actually after ten days or so the woman said to have professed her Interest in this man to telling him that that she liked him in a romantic way

But he has told Chinese media that he felt a little uncomfortable because he was actually 13 years older than her. She was around 23, he was around 36. So he just wasn't too sure. But shortly after getting out of hospital, she then asked if they could go and see a movie together. And he says that he thought that was the least he could do because he'd knocked her over. And he admits that he was starting to feel a warm feelings for her as well at this point. And this wouldn't be the happy pod without a happy ending so what happened next? Well basically the two became inseparable and they admitted that they just really enjoyed their time together long after her broken bones had healed. And so the woman then

found out that she was pregnant last fall and they just got married last month. And they say that they're really really happy together. And the man admits that he was actually in debt when they first met when he crashed his car into her. And her parents had offered him a dowry of around $26,000 when they were getting married. But he refused it because he just wanted to marry her. But they insisted to help him set up his business and to help pay off his debts. So financially they're a little bit more secure, but they really talk about the fact that they really do love each other.

And not surprisingly, this story has caught a lot of attention on social media. There've been quite a few well-wishers online as well, haven't there? Yeah, lots of comments on Chinese social media talking about how this is a collision that sparked love. Some people joking that this man will pay eternally for this car accident that he got involved in. Some people even joking the fact that if you're single you should go out if you want to find love. Leave your house even if it means getting into a car accident. Celia Hatton reporting. Now to a group that's tackling loneliness and mental health issues all through the simple idea of going for a walk. It was set up by a Scottish couple in Glasgow to help people make friends and benefit from the

restorative powers of getting out into nature. One of those who joined the group, Sam, explained what it meant to him. I think as I've gotten older and I've finished university, socialising is a lot more difficult. I think you have to take active steps to get involved and meet people and that can be really nerve-wracking. So I think loneliness can be almost like an epidemic as a result of just how much effort you have to take and when you're working as well you have so much responsibilities, you have so much things to think of that it's hard to make time for it. I think making that first step to come out and connect with others is incredibly important to me.

It's helping me beat people that I otherwise wouldn't. Both coming and being able to socialise with new people, but also knowing in your head that you've got something to look forward to at the end of the week. It's critical to getting you through those hard days during the week. It was set up by Jack Glass and Billy-Anne and Mandeville, who got the idea after they were left feeling isolated by the Covid pandemic. The social anxiety that was caused by Covid, a lot of people are still recovering from that and maybe are a bit nervous to talk about it. Maybe you hit 30 and you're like, I don't have as many friends. Look on social media and obviously social media is roasting the glasses. And so you're seeing the best parts of people's lives and it makes you feel like,

oh, I'm not where I want to be. We really want to try and make sure we're removing the stigma and talk about being lonely and making it not feel embarrassed. Cause I've felt it myself where I felt embarrassed to say, I don't have a friend that I could just message to say, do you want to go for a coffee? And that is perfectly normal.

So we started walking as mental really to get outside it's something easy and accessible for all. We make sure that we are near transport links so we really find people who might feel isolated or they might have low incomes and it's free and that's really the main thing is that anyone and everyone can come and we do different kind of levels and ability level walks too and we get outside we get the fresh air and I think so many of us are stuck inside and it gets us out and talking to people and confidence building ultimately. You know there are so many studies to show just that like going on like 20 to 30 minute walk, the difference

it has on your mental health but also your physical health and even stuff like you know when you when you come home from like a walk like this you sleep better. When you're walking you're because your endorphins are going to go and you feel more inclined to talk about stuff it's it feels a bit less intense than sitting in a room and sometimes if you're walking forward and you're talking to someone beside you it feels a bit less intense than sitting in a room. And sometimes if you're walking forward and you're talking to someone beside you, it feels a bit easier. It's absolutely made a change in my mental health.

I think I found my purpose, and I think really it's finding that routine as well, helping others and really seeing other people and how positively that impacted, it makes me keep wanting to do this. When me and Billy were starting it, our thing thing was like if even one person comes to a group and they go away feeling great that's that's one person that we've helped and it's really we get messages from people that have come to the group saying this

is exactly what I needed. Now as the seasons change for many of us getting out into nature can bring extra happiness at this time of year with warmer weather and blossoming flowers of spring or a welcome autumn chill in the air after a long hot summer. We'd like to hear what you love about this time of year. Hello, I'm Jean Lanham and I live up in Ayrshire in Scotland. I'm a garden designer. My studio is a converted outhouse in the garden. My desk sits up against a big picture window looking onto the garden, which includes a very old, gnarled pear tree and a bird box, which is often home to a family of bluetits. I never know if they'll return. The bird box is attached to the top of a post in a corner of the pergola, which is next

to a weeping birch, and has a climbing rose and a honeysuckle cambering up it. At this time of year after brushing my Labrador, I attach her fur to a branch on the pear tree with a clothes peg for premium nesting material for the birds. I'm not sure whether this is an added attraction to this particular nesting box, but I like to think so. As I worked at my desk yesterday, I was delighted to see a pair of blue tits flitting through the branches of the birch tree, landing on the tangled old climbing rose and as one sat on a branch of the pear tree to look out, the other flew to the bird box and started the spring cleaning ready for nesting this year. They're back again. Such an absolute joy. And if the changing seasons are bringing you joy in your garden or when you're

out and about we'd love to hear about it. Drop us a voice note. The email address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk And that's all from the Happy Pod for this week. This edition was mixed by Mark Pickett, the producers were Holly Gibbs and Rachel Barkley, the editor is Karen Martin. I'm Andrew Peach, thanks for listening and until next time, goodbye.