Daughter embraces her father after 21 years of being apart: "the joy of both of us was uncontainable"
Sometimes, you may have to leave your country to pursue an important career, or to get a good education. And although starting a new life in a completely new place can be a stimulating and pleasant experience, love and longing for one's homeland never wanes.
Valentina knows this very well. She is a young woman who left her country, Colombia, as a child, and reunited with her father only 21 years later.
Valentina Aragundy moved to the United States at the age of 14 on a visa to get a better education. "When I arrived in the USA, the situation in Colombia was complicated. So, my family allowed me to go to study in the United States. We never imagined it would be 21 years before we would see each other again", explained Valentina - now 36 years old and a citizen of Miami, Florida.
For over two decades, Valentina tried several times to return to Columbia to see her parents, but complications arose that prevented her from leaving the United States. When she finally obtained permanent US residency, other challenges prevented her return.
Instead of giving up, the young woman used the waiting time to plan a wonderful surprise for her family in Colombia. One day, she phoned her father, Joffre, and asked him to go to the airport to pick up a relative. "He never imagined it would be me and my husband he was picking up!" said Valentina.
Upon arriving at the airport and seeing his daughter, Joffre was overcome with emotion. Valentina also got a surprise: she met her brothers, now teenagers, for the first time. A close-knit family, Valentina emphasised that it was not by choice that she had been away for so long. "I don't want people to think that my father is a horrible man because he sent me to the States, or that I am horrible because I didn't come back until now. It's just that circumstances have prevented me from doing so for a long time. So now we will make the most of the time that we have,” she added.
We wish this family all the best and that they can make up for lost time.
