Animals & Us
The Orangutans Gave Me Back My Happiness
Kobe Steele
After losing her daughter to a concrete truck, Kobe found her reason to live again in the eyes of a grieving orangutan.
Kintsugi Studio
Animals & Us
Kobe Steele
After losing her daughter to a concrete truck, Kobe found her reason to live again in the eyes of a grieving orangutan.
You don't have to be in crisis to call.
Kobe Steele has always loved animals. She grew up with dogs, worked in media as a TV and radio host, and built a life around the creatures she cared for. Then, in Amsterdam, her daughter Kristen was killed by a concrete truck at a red light. She was in sight of her workplace, waiting to cycle through. Kobe fell into a grief so complete that she stopped leaving her house. She cried for three years. She tried to take her own life twice.
A friend named Stephen, who had just returned from Borneo, made her a promise that felt impossible: the orangutans would heal her. Kobe didn't believe him. But Stephen kept asking until she finally said yes. In the care centre in Borneo, she met a small, bald orphan orangutan named Faisal. When he looked into her eyes, something moved through her that she had thought was gone forever. She felt lightning bolts of joy. Another young orangutan, Krista, took her by the hand and led her into the forest. For the first time in years, Kobe felt purpose again.
She came home to Australia and founded Orangutan Foundation International Australia, raising $250,000 to save the Roakuna Legacy Forest from palm oil plantations. She had no charity experience. She did it anyway, driven by what the orangutans had given back to her. Now she runs eco tours to Borneo, takes people into the wild to see orangutans, and watches their lives change in ways they cannot explain. A woman with terminal brain cancer found the courage to have surgery that saved her life. Others report new compassion, new connection to nature, new reasons to keep going. Kobe's message is simple: find your happy place. Listen to your heart. Give yourself moments of happiness in nature. That is where healing lives.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses grief & loss, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you're not alone. Help is available: • Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au • GriefLine: 1300 845 745 · griefline.org.au
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