UK student forms friendship with French pensioner
(SOUNDBITE) (French) WARWICK UNIVERSITY STUDENT ELLIOT BELLMAN, 20, SAYING:"My name is Elliot, I'm 20 years old, I'm a student in my third year at the University of Warwick in England. I'm speaking with Madam Tolu to improve my French and to help those in isolation."
Elliot Bellman has formed an unlikely friendship
with 98-year-old Jacqueline Tolu
The two have been chatting weekly over Skype
after being brought together by Shareami
a scheme that pairs elderly people with language students
(SOUNDBITE) (French) ELDERLY CARE HOME RESIDENT, JACQUELINE TOLU, 98, SAYING:"I said, 'yes I would like to speak to a young person', and at the same time, it will surely be of benefit for them to speak to me, and for me too, for my morale, and there you go, that's why I accepted it, as it would be make me happy."
(SOUNDBITE) (English) WARWICK UNIVERSITY STUDENT ELLIOT BELLMAN, 20, ASKED ABOUT FIRST MEETING WITH TOLU, SAYING:"I was nervous, meeting a new person, completely different generation, different culture, different language, obviously. But as soon as I started talking to her, she's very easy to talk to, she's very funny, she just keeps the conversation going so easily, and always having that kind of interest and wanting to know about it, not just asking questions just for the sake of asking, just to fill time, as we've created a friendship."
