The Current - These penpals met after 43 years and they can't stop giggling together

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

Michelle Anne Ng travelled from her home in Singapore to Newfoundland to finally meet (and hug) Sonya Clarke Casey. The pair have been exchanging letters since 1982 when they were both in elementary school.

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Donate at lovescarbro.cairbo. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. My next two guests have been friends since they were kids. 43 years now, they have been close friends. That's pretty special. Not that unusual, though. People have long friends around them for a long time.

People might have close ties that they've kept since grade school. Over those decades, though, from the grade school years to middle age, These two women that we're talking about have never actually met face to face. They'd written letters, they'd communicated via mail, but they never met until now. Until a few days ago, when Michelle Ann Ung flew from Singapore to Newfoundland to meet her pen pal, Sonia Clark Casey. They're both on the line with us now from St. John's, Newfoundland, Michelle Ann, and Sonia, good morning. Good morning. Good morning.

Good morning. Glad to have you with us. Sonia, how did this start? How did you become pen pals? In elementary school, I'm thinking it might have been grade five that our teachers introduced us to the concept of writing letters to people internationally. And I guess for us it was a way of sharing cultures and learning about life outside of our island that we live on here. And so we were given names or we signed up somehow. I don't remember the exact, you know, how I signed up. but I know that I did start writing letters in December, I believe it was, 1982 to Michelle.

And when I got my letter back from her, I was so excited. Do you remember what you wrote in that first letter, Sonia? I actually have it in my hand. Oh, my goodness. She brought, I didn't remember it until she brought it, of course. So what does it say? Hi, Michelle. Dear Michelle, I am fine.

How are you? And apparently that's how I started every letter for about. 10 years. How are you? I am fine. We are having examination soon, so I will be busy. I have two brothers, and I name them, and my mom and my dad. My hobbies include indoor and outdoor recreation skating and best of all reading. I like to write letters, and I kind of go on a little bit. And I tell her about my dog and my cat and my parrot and what their names are. And I say, well, I guess I better say goodbye now. So goodbye from your new pen pal, Sonia. Michelle Ann, do you remember getting that letter? Yes, I do. In fact, how it started on my end is we were encouraged to improve our English language. And so we have subscribed to the EP magazine. And I've picked Sonia because she's from Canada, and Canada is a huge country.

And where I'm coming from, Singapore is a very little red dot. So I thought, hey, why not? I mean, it would be nice to know someone from the other side of the world. And that's how it got started. And I wrote to her. And the first letter was stated 14 October 1982. And yeah, it started the same way as Sonia. Hi, how are you?

I am fine. I guess this is how we were taught in school. And I went to introduce my name. And at the time, I used my Chinese name. which was a bit of a, you know, baffling perhaps in this side of the world and it's a bit hard to pronounce and my Chinese name is Go by Chi Ping So I went on to explain to her where I'm from and where I live in Singapore Where I'm studying in which school

I'm also having my exams and I introduce my family members and my hobbies So I kept it short because the latter is only that that kind of limited space but we always made an effort to give each other the best stationery in our pen paling days the best stationer had to look good to send to your pen pal

yeah you know those letter pad that they have little cartoons printed on them yes so I gave her the hello kitty one and she was sent a big effort to give me all the little nice pen paling letter pads too yes so on your 43

years is a long time. I mean, you would spill your life out in these letters, right? Oh, absolutely. She learned all about, you know, all the stages of my life. And I did the same, she did the same for me. So, you know, when I finished high school, I was going to go to university and how I felt about going to university. And I was scared, but I was excited. And then, you know, when I met boys, you know, I really liked this one and, you know, that sort of thing. And then we got married. You know, I sent her my wedding pictures, and then I told her I'm pregnant with my first child. So, like, all of these, she walked through my life with me, just like my friends here in Newfoundland. She walked through my life with me.

Michelle Ann, what did you tell Sonia? What were some of the deep, dark secrets that you told her? Oh, feel the bins. Yeah, we talk about our schoolwork. Well, I'm surprised. I actually shared my grades with her. They were not fantastic though And we move on to sharing more

About the boy-girl relationship As growing up teens And from Asian family We are not like the Western family Where they are open to talk about Such subjects Those days in the 80s

So Penn Powelling gave me that chance To share with Sonia And she's a very patient listener And she also gave dish out Some good suggestions and she's now actually a counsellor. So that's like a, you know, a preview to her future. You got free counseling over the years from her.

So why, Michelle Ann, did you get on the plane 43 years into this and come to Newfoundland? Why did you do that? Well, so every time we sign off the letter, we always make an effort to say, hope to see you soon. And that soon became more of like a possibility when I started traveling as I started working

and yeah so one of the I think it was during COVID we connected via FaceTime and we started talking via FaceTime and that really sent that message to say hey perhaps this can be possible and I thought okay this is our at least for me I'm celebrating my 55th

years of age and I say if not now then when so sister day if not now then when sony what was it like when you went down to the airport sonya oh my god man um I went with a sign that had her name on it and held it up and I saw her and it was really emotional actually I can hear it in your voice now what was it what was so emotional about it that she's actually here because you know you write somebody for so long and you don't really like I know she's real I saw her on face time we continue to write letters I get my Christmas cards from her I know she's real but you know even when I was putting my annual leave in at work I was like I'm putting this in but I may have to take it back if she doesn't actually show up were you worried that she wasn't going to get off the plane well I don't

know I told her how brave she was I think she's being very brave you know to come all the way across by herself. Her flight was 14 hours from Singapore to London and then from London over here was another six hours. So, you know, it was a very big commitment for her. And I said, of course, you're going to stay with me, right? Like, you're going to stay in my house. And she was like, no, I'll get a hotel. And I said, no, no, no. You have to stay with me. So I think she was being very brave. And I wake up in the morning and she's like sleeping in my spare room. And I wake up and I'm like, She's actually here in my spear room. I'm going to have coffee with her this morning.

Like, you know, it's been really surreal. What's it been like, Michelle Ann? Exactly, it's how Sonia has put it. It's so surreal. And we actually try to binge each other that we are for real. So before I flew off, some of my friends were a little worried because of so much scams. And I have never thought about, like, it will be. be a scam. In fact, I have never

taught much about it, but just go, go, go. And I'm here to meet my Pampel of 43 years and I'm going to make this happen before it's too late. Yeah. And so I was so looking forward when I arrived at the immigration and I saw her with the

welcome card. I'm so touched. Yeah, she really puts in the effort. And I guess the connection grew even more after COVID when we have FaceTime. Yeah. Sonia, why do you think you kept in touch all these years? I mean, why not?

Like, we kept going, you know, like, I was reading some of the letters that she brought that I had written. And on the cards, I say, wow, we've been writing for 20 years now, or we've been writing for 25 years now. And, you know, you just want to keep it going. And relationships are so important, you know, like, we're in a world now where, you know, we really need to be able to understand. understand each other and differences and kindness is important. And as I age, I think relationships become even more important to me. So this was one that I, we nurtured it. You know, it, as with all relationships, you have to take care of them. And we nurtured it and took care of it. And during COVID, like we were writing letters all along. Even when email came, we did a little bit of email,

but we were avid writers. And when COVID happened, we had connected actually on Facebook as well. She had messaged and she said, are you okay over there? And I said, yeah, I'm okay. Are you okay? And so we decided to do a FaceTime. And, you know, it really puts things in perspective when you're sitting in your living rooms, you know, so far away and realizing the same exact thing is happening to us here as there. And, you know, it's important to connect and take care of one another. So I think that's part of why we kept writing. And Michelle, Ann, what you said was really powerful. I mean, if not now, then when, right? Like, if you're, you're, If you're in touch with somebody, if they're your friend, go and see them.

Yes, yes, yes. I mean, you know, the movie from Pam Palling to Facebook and FaceTime, I think sometimes when we get news about like snow blizzard on our news channel, I will always think what is it like? And I will ask Sonia, what's the snow blizzard? because we don't have snow in Singapore and she will take pictures and I am shocked because the height of the snow is wow overwhelming Sonia I have to let you go

but I mean now it's your turn right you have to I mean I'm sure you've been shown her the sights and out to Cape Spear and all the things but now you can need to go to Singapore I know it's so hot there Matt I don't know if the landers aren't built for the heat but yes you're right I'll have to go It's a wonderful story I mean, I think there's a great lesson in a lot of this.

One, keep in touch with your friends and two, if not now, when? What are we waiting for? Do these things now. I'm really glad to talk to you both. And I'm just glad that this friendship has injured. Thank you very much. Thank you, Matt. Thank you, Matt.

Sonia Clark Casey, in St. John's, Newfoundland, along with Michelle Ann Ung, who flew from Singapore to Newfoundland to meet her friend after 43 years as pen pals. This has been the current podcast. you can hear our show Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30 a.m. at all time zones. You can also listen online at cbc.ca.ca slash the current or on the CBC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.