Our Los Nórdicos-member Kaj Kunnas, 63, describes himself as primarily a fellow human being – and a sports journalist and writer.
He is half Swedish-Finn and Finn, meaning he is fluent in both Swedish and Finnish. This condition gave him a lot of grief when at school. That, and his remarkable, outstanding ears.
He used to love his job at the Finnish Public Service TV and Radio, YLE. As a journalist he attended and reported on 17 Olympic Games (the Paris one as a “tourist”) and 24 ice hockey World Championships. Always on the run… until he almost died from a stroke on his way to the studio, ten years ago. He survived. A few months later his wife Marianne was diagnosed with breast cancer. She also beat that.
They took this as a sign. Both quit their jobs, to enjoy life differently before it would be too late. They ended up in Almuñecar wintertime and back in Finland for summer. It was Kajs in-laws who advised on the location. They were among the first Finnish tourists to visit Almuñecar almost 20 years ago.
Kaj and Marianne started a small company, organising specialised trips to Costa Tropical from Finland and other things, led by Marianne. Kaj still organizes sports tours around the world and makes appearances in TV studios and as a speaker. He wrote three books since his stroke, based on meetings with amazing people on the topic “Conversations about life”.
The people he meets include former presidents, authors, journalists, gold medal winners, refugees and activists, among many others. They all have experienced greatness and/or major challenges or grief in their life, found the strengths to overcome these, and create hope. People that inspire, for what they do and how they share humanity and struggles.
Kaj gave an inspirational talk to 120 of our members in October, sharing his and others’ stories from his latest book. Thoughts of people he met from Oravais, Armenia, Afghanistan, Darfur, Gaza, Riihimäki, Monaco, and Florida.
The stories ranged from war to peace, from sorrow to joy – but always ending with a message of hope and the power a positive approach to life can have on the future. “Peace starts with someone who listens”, said Pekka Haavisto, who worked at the UN as peace negotiator. Or a grandmother who after living through a terrible war always used a hug or body contact as encouragements for greatness, as in the case of hockey player Jukka Jalonen.
Kaj said: “Thanks to our own near-death terrible health situations in 2016, we are so enjoying every opportunity for life now, it turned out to be a kind of blessing. When we are here at Costa Tropical, the conflicts of the world feel so far away. As if evil cannot reach us here. Especially when visiting the villages of Alpujarra or meeting up with friends. The warm weather, the light, or not falling on slippery ice make it so easy to live here. All that does something to people, even the Scandinavians and Finns are much more friendly here! Never forget, we have so much to be grateful for.”
In September 2016, Kaj Kunnas was named the most positive Finn of the year, by Positiivarit (a company created to promote positivity) and the Junior Chamber of Commerce of Finland. Here in Almuñecar and among the Nordics, we can certainly agree on that!
Los Nordicos-Almuñecar (Costa Tropical) is an Association of more than 500 Scandinavians, independent from politics and religion, with the purpose of supporting each other and to build bridges with the Spanish society.
(Feature/Nordic: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)
Keywords: Kaj Kunnas, Sports Journalist, Swede, Finn, Finnish Public Service, Tv, Radio, Yle, Marianne
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