For Dan Jeffries, an act of kindness proved to be a turning point that saved his own life. Robert Maxim, faced homelessness but found a way to survive for three months, and Alan Pickard turned his social life around – with dance.

Also, Festo Michael Kambarangwe who lived with 50 siblings and 14 stepmothers; Oladipupo Adeola meets a Muslim for the first time and Pam Hawley finds love in an unexpected way.

With contributions from Alla Salah, Misha Anker, Saba Fahim, Jean Richter.

The Response is a new programme which gives you the chance to broadcast a unique story about yourself. The next theme is What My Parents Taught Me. To take part, just find the voice recorder on your phone, make a two minute recording of yourself telling the story and email that recording to us, marked The Response at worldservice.letters@bbc.co.uk Show less