A man did not hesitate to travel more than 9,000 km to find the nanny who took care of him when he was still only a child.
The nostalgia of childhood sometimes pushes us to delve into our memories to recall these tender and beautiful years marked by carelessness and innocence.
During this blessed time, many have been blessed with loving and dedicated nannies by their side whom they have never forgotten.
Juanito Jonsson, a pastor living in the southern Spanish town of Fuengirola, is one of those people who grew up under the watchful eye of a wonderful nanny.
If the first four years of his life were magnificent, this man, now 49, owes it to a certain Ana, a Bolivian nanny who took very good care of him, considering him as her child.
45 years later, he finally finds his nanny after having traveled 9,000 km
At the time, Juanito, born in Sweden in 1973, was living in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where his father served as a missionary in local churches while his mother worked as a nurse, reports the Epoch Times website.
His parents, who are very often on the move, therefore called on Ana to take care of little Juan, who was able to forge an unbreakable bond with his nanny.
“Before Ana came to our family, she was very sick. She had lost her husband in a work accident, she had two daughters aged 4 and 1, and everyone said she was going to die of her illness. No one had any hope that she would live. She was offered to give her daughters up for adoption, and that’s what she did,” says Juanito.
After giving her children to Swedish adoptive families in order to give them a better life, Ana began to do better against all odds. Finally cured, she certainly regained her health, but life was no longer quite the same without her daughters who had left for Europe.
She then transferred all her love to Juanito, raising him as her own son, between 1973 and 1976.
Alas, the Jonsson family returned to Sweden before settling permanently in Spain afterwards. Juanito therefore never saw his beloved nanny again.
The years will pass but the pastor, who has meanwhile become the proud father of three children, will never forget Ana. So when he attended a conference in Peru (a neighboring country of Bolivia) in 2017, he said to himself that the opportunity was too good to reconnect with his past.
“I had two or three days free and I thought that Peru was too close to Bolivia not to return to Cochabamba. I took a plane (…) Then after nine hours of bus through the mountains, I finally reached Cochabamba”, he explains as well.
Unfortunately, after visiting his old home, he was unable to track down Ana and had to return. Despite this failure, his decision was made, he absolutely wanted to find his nanny and he succeeded.
Earlier this year, after being forced to postpone his trip several times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Juanito was finally able to grant his dearest wish.
It was thanks to an old Bolivian acquaintance of his mother that he was initially able to find one of Ana’s sons (now 79 years old) and the two decided to organize a meeting. surprise.
This very moving reunion took place last April in the small town of Yacuiba, located on the border with Argentina.
“When I said, ‘I’m Juanito,’ she knew exactly who I was. She said to me: ‘Are you Juanito, the one who hugged me saying Ana, my Ana?’ And we hugged… For her, this feeling must have been like reconnecting with a son that she hadn’t seen for 45 years”, says the pastor who also remembers that his ex-nanny asked him if he served God, because she was very religious.
“I said, ‘Yes, I’m a pastor and I serve God,’ and she threw her hands up in the sky and said, ‘Thank God…I’ve been praying for you to serve God all my life,'” continues -he.
After sharing a meal together, they exchanged for long hours, recalling old memories.
“We talked until the end of the night, then I walked with her, hand in hand, to the bus station (…) She is 79 years old, she sometimes has problems with her lungs. She also has some sight problems, but she is very strong, she is very independent. I never would have thought she would be so vivid in her head,” says Juanito.
And to add: “She prayed for me all her life. Seeing me again was a miracle for her.
After this very emotional day, the Spanish pastor finally had to leave his nanny for a second time, not without offering her some money to do some work in her house.
Once again the goodbyes were heartbreaking but this time Juanito promised he wouldn’t wait 45 years to come back to see Ana.
