what do you know... facebook CAN be useful
Quote:
A mother who said her son was kidnapped by his Hungarian father more than a quarter of a century ago was reunited with him after he was located on Facebook.
Avril Grube, 62, from Poole in Dorset, claimed that in 1982, when her son Gavin Paros was aged three, his father took him to Hungary for what should have been a weekend away. Her marriage had broken down and, after her son failed to return, Grube contacted the authorities and made repeated attempts to locate Gavin.
She even tried to enlist the support of the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, in the search for her son, but after spending years looking she thought she would never see him again.
But her younger sister, Beryl Wilson, 59, from Liverpool, searched for Paros's name on Google and discovered his Facebook page on which he had written his mother's name.
It transpired that Paros, 30, who has three children of his own, had been using the website to try and find his English family following the death of his father four years ago.
He only replied to his aunt's Facebook message several weeks after she posted it, explaining he rarely checked the website.
Paros and his mother, who had a stroke recently and lives in sheltered housing, met for the first time as adults in her home. Conversing has been difficult, requiring automated translation software.
Grube spoke of her excitement at seeing her son after so many years apart, and said she hoped she would soon get to meet her grandchildren. "It means so much to me," she said.
Her sister described the experience as the happiest in Grube's life. "As soon as I found him on Facebook I phoned Avril and said, I have some important news, and told her to sit down, and then I heard a merciful scream," she said.
"It was the happiest day of her life when she met her son. She said there were no words to describe it.
"Gavin has got a family and three children and they are desperate to come to England and live but he needs help to find a house and job."
| http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...facebook-paros |
