My Loneliness United 10,000 Strangers

Available for over a year

When a young Danish man called Patrick Cakirli posted on an online message board he was shocked by the response he received. He said: "I am desperate to meet new friends. I'm lonely and going through the hardest period of my life. I'll sit on the stairs in front of the town hall from 2pm to 8pm". He couldn't have predicted what happened next. Sergey Kosyak is a Protestant pastor who lived in Ukraine until the conflict there forced him to move. Even though he lives abroad, he helps at an orphanage in the east of the country. During the violence he found himself protecting the disabled children who live there. A British woman called Christine Gallagher has set up a unique party-planning business in Los Angeles. The parties don't involve birthdays or weddings, but divorces. Christine believes the celebrations can help divorcees make a fresh start. In the last 14 years, she's thrown around 200 parties. Image: Patrick Cakirli Credit: Kelly Jensen