Thanks to the kindness of a Toronto man, a woman has been reunited with the father she barely knew following an anguishing, 30-year separation.
Cuban-native Abelino Corrales met the love of his life — a Polish woman named Danuta Tarnawa — at a textile factory in communist-ruled former Czechoslovakia around 1985, while he was was there on a four-year work contract.
A year later, Tarnawa gave birth to their daughter; they named her Karolina.
Karolina was just two years old when Corrales, a mechanic, was forced to return home to Cuba. He was in Czechoslovakia on a work contract between the two communist-ruled countries, and it had expired.
Heartbroken, Corrales returned to Cuba and Tarnawa took Karolina back to Poland, where she received a cold reception from her family, who did not approve of a child out of wedlock.
Still, the couple remained deeply in love and communicated through secret letters transmitted by a friend.
But after 14 years of communication, the letters to Corrales abruptly stopped.
[…]
Read more at Toronto Star