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Catalina Lundkvist, 18, was only a few months old when she was adopted from Ecuador by a Swedish family in Lund.
– My mother was only 17 when I was born. She didn’t have a chance to take care of me. That’s why I came to Sweden, he says.
An additional circumstance was that Catalina was born with a cleft lip and palate, something that could only be fixed temporarily in Ecuador.
But throughout her upbringing, Catalina sought her origins and biological parents in South America.
The thoughts and reflections led to uprooting and problems at school. At 16, Catalina ended up with adoptive parents.
– I felt an exclusion. On days when life burned, I would talk to my birth mother in my dreams, she says.
In this context, Catherine is careful to point out that her adoptive parents in Sweden did their best.
– They are really loving people that I love. I am Swedish and I know that I am doing well in Sweden, much better than I probably could have done in Ecuador. But thoughts of my past never left me, he says.
As Catalina grew older, attempts to find her biological parents in the country where she was born also intensified.
– My Swedish parents also tried to help, she says.
However, several of the attempts failed and it was not popular to request the current information.
– I had a name for my biological mother, but when I was browsing social networks there was nothing that was true, says Catalina.
But the solution was much closer than he could have imagined.
The adoption documents contained information about who her grandmother was. After some detective work, the clues led to a woman who lived in Geneva, Switzerland.
– We contacted on Facebook and everything turned out to be correct. She wrote that she also tried to find me.
Through her grandmother, Catalina received her mother’s contact details in Ecuador. Her name is Raquel Salazar, today she is 35 years old, educated and single with three children from a second relationship.
– But it was my birth mother who called first. We both shouted with happiness and cried for half an hour. Then we talked on the phone all night, Catalina describes it.
The fact that they could talk to each other was due to purely lucky circumstances. The biological mother spoke Spanish, the same language that her adoptive mother in Lund had as her mother tongue and that Catalina brought with her while growing up.
He says the only memories the mother had of her abandoned daughter were a couple of yellowed childhood photographs.
In the same way, Catalina had always carried a photo of her mother with her daughter in her arms.
– I understood that my mother always had a bad conscience because she left me. He also said he wanted to make contact. Today I understand everything and I don’t want anyone to have feelings of guilt.
Catalina has also tried to establish contact with her biological father, but so far she has not succeeded. However, she knows that he lives in the same area as his mother and also has a new relationship and several children.
All the pieces in place
Catalina herself says:
– I’m happy now, it feels like I’m whole again. All the pieces of the puzzle have finally fallen into place.
Catalina shared her story with joy on a Facebook group and received a lot of love.
As soon as the pandemic is under control, perhaps in the spring, Catalina wants to visit Ecuador.
– Then we will hug for a long time, my biological mother and I, he says.
