Whilst the idea of having a traditional penpal may have declined in popularity since email became widespread, there are those that have remained in touch via post for years – even decades.

Of course, for others, it's inevitable they lose touch as time passes and they enter adulthood. That was the case for one woman, who appealed to locate her childhood pen-friend she hadn't heard from in almost 20 years.

Amy took to TikTok after finding a letter she had received as a child all the way from Egypt. She said: "I found one of her old letters and I’d love to find her again!"

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The social media user shared a snap of the letter, urging: "TikTok please do your thing and help me find my penpal from nearly 20 years ago! Her name was Hana. She was from Egypt."

Amy included a passport photograph, as well as several other images of Hana as a child. She added: "She had siblings. These are the only photos I have of her. She sent me a [2008] calendar. I think she was around my age so she would be around 28 now."

Before ending the post, she said: "We lost touch sometime in 2008 I think! Hope you're good Hana."

Within four days, Amy's appeal had gone viral and was seen by more than two million TikTok users. One of those responded: "You’ve reached Egyptian FYP [for you page] girl, hope you and Hana reunite."

A second shared their success story: "Good luck. I found my New Zealand penpal from 1990 on Facebook!"

Meanwhile, a third person recalled: "I had a penpal from Africa/ I hope she’s doing good! Still is one of my fav childhood memories! Always looked forward to our conversations."

And sure enough, five days on from her post, amazingly Hana had made contact.

Amy shared a follow-up in delight: "TikTok worked its magic! We did it. Thank you for helping two little girls from different countries nearly 20 years later."

Indeed, she posted a screenshot of their online reconciliation - instigated by Hana, who sent her a message which simply read: "Haiii Amy."

"OMG Hello," she replied. "What a crazy journey." To which Hana followed up: "Yaaah. That's so cool. How's it going?!"

Writing in response, one TikTok user cautiously asked: "How do you know that’s really her?" Amy clarified: "It definitely is, same last name, which I hadn’t originally shared and she spoke about things someone that wasn’t her wouldn’t know."

Another gushed: "Yay! That’s amazing! Hope you guys are able to reconnect!" And a third declared: "Now it’s time to meet in person!"

And a fourth pondered: "Do kids still do penpals? Because I would love to introduce my homeschool kids to this!"

They received a reply, which confirmed: "Yes! I homeschool and my kiddo penpals! It’s totally a thing."