Tune-in Tuesday: Episode 138

Episode 138

Iván Gastañaga & Catalina Galarraga

A poem meant for a father became a welcome for his son.

Every episode of The Anna Jinja Show pairs a guest with a poet who writes in response to their story. Iván Gastañaga knew that, so he introduced Anna to fellow adoptee and poet Catalina Galarraga. 

The three met a couple of weeks before Iván was due to become a dad. Then his son, Eli, arrived, and when Ivan shared a photo holding him, Cata’s poem grew into a bilingual welcome for Eli: “Manos que sostienen / Hands That Hold You.”

It’s Eli’s very first poem. Ivan is framing it for his room. 🤍

On this episode of The Anna Jinja Show, Anna sits down with Ivan and Cata:

Iván was born in the Soviet Union and became the first Russian child ever adopted into Spain. He spent 20 years finding and making peace with his birth families in Russia and Armenia and then became a dad.

Cata was born in Argentina and is now raising two teenagers in England. While in labor, she asked her midwife, “Is this what she felt when she gave birth to me?”

Together they talk about the hands that hold us, and why, for so many adoptees, the hardest part is letting ourselves be held.

“Some children come through blood, and others come through the heart.”

Here is what this episode asks you: whose hands have held you? 💛