Main content

The selfie that changed my life twice

In 2015 Syrian refugee Anas Modamani took a selfie with Chancellor Angela Merkel. He never thought it would have such a dramatic impact on his life.

Anas Modamani is a Syrian refugee obsessed with selfies. In 2015 he fled his hometown for Europe, and all along the difficult route he would send photographs of himself to his family back home in Syria. When he finally reached Germany he had a chance encounter with the country's leader Angela Merkel. He didn't really know who she was at the time but he took a selfie with her. That selfie changed his life - for better and for worse.

The definition of the idiom 'skating on thin ice' is to be doing something that is dangerous or involves risks. But what is it like to literally skate on thin ice? That's exactly what Swedish mathematician MΓ¥rten Ajne does. When autumn comes around and lakes and rivers start to freeze, he specialises in skating on ice, sometimes just 28 millimetres thick. He told Outlook's Saskia Edwards what it sounds like.

Ukrainian engineer Oleksiy Breus was working at Chernobyl nuclear power plant on the morning of 26 April 1986, when reactor No. 4 exploded. While everyone else left the area, Oleksiy stayed behind, working for 14 hours in the reactor.

(Image: Syrian refugee Anas Modamani and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Photo courtesy of Anas Modamani.)

Available now

53 minutes

Last on

Wed 31 Jul 2019 03:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Tue 30 Jul 2019 11:06GMT
  • Tue 30 Jul 2019 15:06GMT
  • Tue 30 Jul 2019 17:06GMT
  • Tue 30 Jul 2019 20:06GMT
  • Wed 31 Jul 2019 02:06GMT
  • Wed 31 Jul 2019 03:06GMT

Contact Outlook

Contact Outlook

Info on how we might use your contribution on air

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected