“We may have our differences, but nothing’s more important than family.” –Coco
Kandhamal: Man is a social animal while for many nothing is more important than family. Perhaps that is very true for a girl from Belgium named Mamina who recently travelled all the way to India to meet her parents, siblings and native villagers after a long gap of 29 years in a remote village of Kandhamal. And before and after meeting her family, Mamina was extremely happy and yet emotional.
This is the life event of Mamina, originally born to her biological Odia parents from Kandhamal district of Odisha and later was adopted by a couple from Belgium. She has happily lived the last few years of her life but she had not the knowledge of her actual identity. However, now she knows everything. She came down to Odisha and met her family.
Mamina was born in Raikia area of Kandhamal district in Odisha. Her biological father Krushna Chandra belongs to Gujapanga village in Raikia block of Kandhamal district in Odisha. About three decades ago when Mamina was merely three months old her mother passed away. Now, not getting any other way to bring up the toddler, her biological father left her at the Subhadra Mahtab Ashram of G Udaygiri. Mamina was brought up in the Ashram.
Later, a couple from Belgium visited Kandhamal. They went to the same Ashram where Mamina was bring brought up. After seeing her they got attracted to her and decided to adopt her.
Accordingly, they fulfilled all the government formalities as required by the State for adoption of a child by a couple from a foreign country. They adopted her and took her with them to Belgium.
Mamina was brought up by her adoptive parents in Belgium. Few years back she came in contact with a young man during her studies in the University. Soon they started loving each other and later got married.
Mamina had been told a different story about her family and she was living her life with this belief. However, few years back during a trip someone asked her whether she is Anglo Indian. The question stroke her mind and she started top find out a link if there is something like this in relation to her birth. She talked in detail about her birth to her adoptive parents who informed her about her Kandhamal link.
Like we discussed earlier that family is priority to many, Mamina started digging about her original identity. She contacted an organisation in Pune that works on finding original identity of such children. A lady advocate named Ali Pawar was given the responsibility by the organisation to find out identity of Mamina. Accordingly, Ali started digging about it. In course of her investigation she also visited Kandhamal and interacted to Mamina’s family.
Recently, Mamina came all the way from Belgium along with her husband. The happy couple visited her native village along with the lady advocate and met her family members. She felt like she is in cloud 9 after meeting her original family. She became emotional. Mamina spent some time with her biological father, siblings and villagers and then returned to Belgium.
– written by Himanshu Guru
Ms Kalinga