Mika Naatula -- Finland

The next four members are all from Finland, two male and two female. The first in my phone book from the camp is Mika Naatula. He is one of the camp members with whom I still have regular contact. He wrote me many letters while he was doing his military service and then when every one got email, we continued there. He is a brilliant man. A computer genius. He has a lovely wife and two sons. His children are almost exactly the same age as mine. I think there are just a few weeks' difference. At the camp, he was very quiet. He had a habit of putting his finger in front of his mouth when he smiled or laughed. You can see it in the last picture. Do you still do that, Mika? He was one of the younger memebers of the group. In my phone book he wrote "it's hard to leave from this camp. I'll miss you all! Good luck!" I think that is exactly what we all felt at the time. Again, I don't have any stories to tell about Mika. He is a wonderful person and I am glad we have managed to keep in contact over these 20 years! Here are a few pictures of Mika. In one, he is at the Stelle Statue museum in Poggibonsi, he is the blonde. Next to him are Alexander (Austria) and Resat (Richard, Turkey). Another picture is of Mika with the two Icelandic girls Johanna Lara and Kristin. They are at the rock formation in Castelnuovo ne'Monte. In the third picture, I am on the left and Mika is on the right. This was taken at the big disco in La Spezia.
The worst part of the campo trip for him was that someone stole money from his suitcase. That is the only stealing that I have heard of. It does make things seem less rosy.

Mika is a real adventurer. At one point he and some friends bought 5 cars and drove from Sweden through the Sahara. 3 volvos, a peugeot and a jeep. The jeep only made it as far as denmark and that group had to turn back. The rest made it and they sold the cars in Africa and flew home! That would be a great book or film!