Love Stories: The matchmaker

Love Stories: The matchmaker

From Lives Less Ordinary by BBC World Service

August 30, 2026 · 39 min

About this episode

The episode tells the story of Gina Ceccarelli and Dwight Moberg, who find love later in life with the help of a former acquaintance, Menbere Akiklu.

At 83, Gina Ceccarelli thought the romantic chapter of her life was over. Then she met Dwight Moberg, a 91-year-old widower from California. There was just one complication, Gina speaks Italian and Dwight speaks English, so most of their conversations happen through hand gestures and a translation app. The person who brought them together is Menbere "Menbe" Akiklu. Forty years earlier, Menbe was a young Ethiopian mother living in a shelter in Rome, trying to rebuild her life after escaping an abusive relationship. One of the few people who showed her kindness was Gina, who brought food, knitted clothes for her baby son and helped her find her feet in a foreign country. Over the years the two women lost touch, but decades later, after building a successful life in America, Menbe found herself thinking about the woman who had helped her. Determined to thank her, she went back to Italy to track Gina down. When she finally did, Menbe saw that Gina, now widowed, was living alone and so decided that repaying an old kindness would require something more than a simple thank you. She brought her to the US, setting in motion an unexpected matchmaking mission and a little nudge towards…

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