Martin, 31, came to Bulgaria from Friesland in North Holland to look for his birth father, whom he had never seen.
In addition to him, quite unexpectedly, she found 3 sisters aged 33, 21 and 18, some of whom did not know each other, as well as a little niece, whom she did not even suspect.
Martin’s older sister flew to Sofia from Italy to not only meet her brother, but also her father, whom she last saw 22 years ago, when she was just 11 years old.
This is the story in a nutshell, full of unknowns, many vicissitudes and unexpected turns, which began in Holland, passed through Italy and arrived in Sofia. It was filmed by a team from the Dutch television series Spoorloos – ‘Leaving No Trace’, who specialize in finding and collecting people, and unveiled with the help of a ’24 Hours’ reporter.
“For me, this search was like a door into the unknown. I wanted to open it and see what was behind it to fill a void in my life. Now I need time to realize everything”. So Martin explains his decision about a year ago, after a long period of curiosity, hesitation and fear of the unknown, to go in search of the biological father more than 2,000 km from where he lives.
The Bulgarian-born man left his homeland when he was around 2 years old, along with his mother and her then-husband. They settled in the northern part of the Netherlands.
The boy discovers that his mother’s husband is not his biological father when he is 14 years old.
“I was both surprised and confused. I started wanting to see who the person whose genes I carry, what they look like, what happened,” says Martin.
He tried to find out more from his mother, but he saw that it was difficult for her to talk about it and did not insist.
So passed nearly 15 years of obscurity and speculation. Until about a year ago, when a friend encouraged him to try and find his biological father.
According to her mother’s terse accounts, she and her father met in the early 1990s. At that time, she was the head cook, and he was her colleague, in a fast food restaurant in the center of Sofia called “Zdravets”. Her father’s name was Hristo. According to her mother’s recollections, she had a daughter by her first wife, who was an assistant to a famous magician. Martin’s mother and Hristo had a brief affair, but split when she found out she was expecting a baby.
With little information available to Martin, finding his father proved to be quite a challenge. The surname, which is spelled one way in Dutch, can be pronounced two different ways in Bulgarian.
Several men with similar surnames in Sofia and Plovdiv say they do not recognize the story. The same is said by several young women, each of whom could be a daughter of Christ from her first marriage.
Little by little, the unveiling of the truth reaches Italy.
There, in a small town in northern Botusha, lives a young woman who confirms that her biological father’s name is Hristo, and also that for a short time in the late 1980s, her mother was assistant to the fakir Jotte.
Not only is Stephanie surprised that someone is looking for her father, but she’s also completely honest: “I’m sorry I can’t help you. I haven’t seen him in person for 22 years. As far as I know, he has a new wife and kids that I don’t know about. The last time I saw him I was 11 years old,” Stephanie says. The little she remembers is that her father lived in Kostinbrod at the time.
She says her parents separated when she was about a year and a half old. However, her paternal grandmother wanted to see her granddaughter, so her mother took her there. Gradually the contacts became more and more rare.
The last time the parents saw each other was when the father had to sign a document agreeing to Stephanie traveling abroad with her mother.
The young woman feels bitter because she feels that her father has not cared about her over the years. However, she is curious to see Martin, her brother whom she barely suspected.
He agrees to have a DNA test done to confirm if the two are actually related. Soon the report is definitive: she and Martin are brother and sister! “I don’t know what to tell you. They are both happy and it seems a little unusual that after so many years a brother has appeared in my life,” says Stephanie.
In one of the districts of Kostinbrod there really lives a man with the same name as the one we are looking for. At first he’s surprised. He says he doesn’t remember much of the events over 30 years ago. While working at the diner on “Maria Luisa” Blvd., he dated several times with a co-worker, but according to him they had no serious intentions towards each other. “As far as I know, she had another boyfriend at the time,” Hristo says.
Their versions of Martin are different. According to the mother, he informed Hristo that she was expecting a baby that he wanted to keep. Hristo says that if he had known that his baby was his, things could have been different. He expresses his willingness to meet Martin. “No problem. I’ll be happy to see him, he’s welcome to visit us,” says the father.
He has the full support of his wife Didi. She herself has a son from her first marriage, who is Martin’s age, and she regards their children as theirs together. And also – and that children should not suffer if their parents separated for one reason or another.
“I was very violent, I made some mistakes, but now it’s all over. I want us to look forward,” admits Hristo. He adds that now his family – wife Didi and daughters Chrissy and Simona – are everything to him. “I like more to go home to them, to be together,” says the man and points to his wife and the two girls.
His wife adds that their little daughter has always dreamed of having a brother and will be very happy with the news. “Now her wish will suddenly come true,” they both smile.
When that evening Simona receives the news that she has a brother, all in Holland, at first she can’t believe it. “My mom and dad sat down beside me and started smiling. At first I wondered what was going on. When they told me I had a brother, I thought they were joking, then I was in shock, but when they showed me the photo, it warmed my heart. I can’t wait to see it,” says Simona a few days before the meeting.
She is an eighth grade student and is still undecided about which future to choose: whether to become a police officer or a cook. She is fond of sweets and promises that she will make cakes and a cake for her brother according to her recipe when she comes.
In addition to Martin, Hristo also asks about his eldest daughter Stephanie, whom he hasn’t seen for 22 years. He wonders if she’s okay and where he can see her. “I don’t even know if she is in Bulgaria or abroad. I was sad that things turned out like this and we lost contact. My wife Didi and I tried to find her. We also went to the address in Sofia where she lived with her mother, but the neighbors told us they had moved from there. My wife also tried looking for her, but without success,” says Hristo.
Now there is hope that contact will be restored. “I could be wrong, nobody is perfect. I want us to leave the bitterness in the past and look forward,” says Hristo and hopes to see his daughter one day.
In their backyard in Kostinbrod, he and his wife have a vegetable garden with a small greenhouse where they grow tomatoes and cucumbers. “It’s a pity that the season has passed and Martin won’t be able to taste our beautiful tomatoes. We hope he is successful next year. We grow 2 unique varieties that you cannot buy on the market,” Hristo is proud.
A few days later, the dream of seeing Martin came true. The whole family is in feverish preparation. Simona prepared the promised cake and pastries, Hristo got up early to knead the bread and prepare the grill, and Didi made sure that everything was perfect and that nothing spoiled the first meeting between father and son.
When the day comes, everyone is excited, but also a little nervous.
They don’t know what to expect. “I’m a little worried. I hope everything goes smoothly. We are happy. I hope this is a pleasant experience for Martin too,” says Hristo.
His son is no less worried when he crosses the threshold of Kostinbrod’s house. “I wanted to open a door to see what was behind it. I’m a bit confused now. I need time to realize everything that’s happening to me and to decide how to proceed,” admits the young man.
The surprise is tripled when, a few minutes after Martin, Hristo’s eldest daughter enters, whom she hasn’t seen for 22 years, bringing a 4 and a half year old girl. It turns out that Hristo has become a grandfather and has a granddaughter that he didn’t even suspect. The two arrived for the meeting from Italy, where they have lived for years.
“I made the decision to come to Sofia spontaneously a few hours before the meeting, when I learned that Martin would also be traveling to Bulgaria. It’s a bit strange for me, I haven’t seen Hristo for many years. But I have nothing to lose”.
Stephanie says. She’s open to calling her mother’s husband “dad.” For the 4-year-old daughter, she is her grandfather: «she is still too young to understand the situation», explains the young woman.
Both she and her brother didn’t expect such a warm welcome and are a bit confused. They say they need to be alone with themselves to think about how to proceed. “I want to realize everything that happened to me. I was both curious and it’s not easy to deal with so many emotions and new things all at once,” says Martin.
For him, analysis and self-centeredness are not unusual. After studying for a year and a half at a dance school in Friesland, he enrolled at the Rotterdam Dance Academy. He studied play there for 2 years, came back to Friesland and started teaching modern dance. For some time he combined this profession with work as a fitness instructor.
Soon after, however, she realizes that dancing isn’t all she wants and starts getting to know the so-called. experienced expert.
“These specialists share their experiences when they collaborate with psychologists, psychiatrists and other medical professionals to work on cases of people with a variety of problems – from depression and suicidal thoughts to drug abuse or communication difficulties. For each patient, it is assessed whether does he need to be hospitalized or if he can be helped by going to the medical center one or more times a week,” explains Martin.
In this system, experts like Martin can be helpful by sharing their experiences with patients. “I treat patients as an equal, I am one of them, unlike doctors who provide specialized medical care in one direction only,” says Martin.
For 2 years he has been working in a clinic specializing in the treatment of people with mental problems. She is part of a larger team that helps people recover from trauma.
