Photo by Ken Odor
Karna Jandzinski holds a picture of her throwing her letter in a bottle into the water in Augusta, Maine last year. The letter crossed the Atlantic Ocean and was found by girl on an island in the Azores, who wrote back to her last month.

Message in a bottle launches new friendship for Goochland girl
BY KEN ODOR


Nov 26, 2008

Note made it to Corvo, an island off the African coast

It was June, 2007, and Karna Jandzinski was on vacation at her grandparents’ home in Augusta, Maine.

“It was a rainy day,” said her mom Kristin, who came up with a project for Karna (8) and her sister Maya (3) and brother Keith (11).

Why not write letters and put them in bottles and throw them in the Atlantic?

Like in the movies.

Actually, Kristin had some experience to draw on, since she once found a message in a bottle when she was a little girl. But water had gotten inside and the writing was illegible.

“That was a big letdown,” recalled Kristin.

So Karna and her siblings, who until last year lived in upstate New York before moving to Goochland in November, wrote their notes and put them in both glass and plastic bottles, sealing their twist on caps tightly and coating them with water resistant fabric paint.

Karna, a third grader at Goochland Elementary School, wrote about herself and her family and their menagerie of pets (two dogs, two cats, a guinea pig and a lizard) and asked whoever received the letter to write back.

“I thought someone would find it, but I didn’t think it would go that far,” said Karna.

Like about 2,100 miles, all the way to Corvo, the smallest of the nine islands that make up the Azores, a group of islands off the coast of Africa. The islands are governed by Portugal.

Although Portuguese is the official language, Karna got back a letter from 9-year-old Nadia Cabeceira, written in English.

Only about 300 people live on the island, formed by an extinct volcano. Most live in the one town called Vila Nova.

Many of the inhabitants make their living as fishermen. They also raise goats and make cheese, said Karna. The whole family has been studying the Azores, and Corvo in particular, since the letter came.

The letter arrived at her grandparents’ home in Maine, since that was the address Karna used because she was going to move to Virginia.

So last month Karna got a call from her grandparents.

“Karna got a letter from Portugal!” they said. But they didn’t open it.

They sent it on to Karna and she received it around Halloween.

Turns out Nadia and Karna are just a year apart in age. Nadia is in the fourth grade and has a sister and a baby brother, she said. She asked Karna to write back with a photo, promising to send Karna a picture too.

Karna’s wasn’t the only bottle letter that drew a response. Keith got a letter back from Patty and Victor Cole, who are caretakers of Mosquito Island in Maine, not far from where they tossed their bottles into the water.

Karna has already written Nadia back and included the photo she asked for, and is waiting for the next letter from her new friend in the Azores.

Contributed Photo
Karna’s bottle traveled 2,100 miles to Corvo, the smallest of the nine islands that make up the Azores, a group of islands off the coast of Africa.

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