Georgian girl in search of start dad and mom discovered dad was a good friend on Fb

Tamuna Museridze took a deep breath and made the cellphone name she had dreamed of since discovering out that she may be adopted.

She was calling the lady she believed was her organic mom. She knew it won’t result in a fairy story reunion – however she did not count on the response to be chilly and offended.

“She began screaming, shouting – she mentioned she hadn’t given start to a toddler. She did not need something to do with me,” Tamuna recollects, explaining she felt extra stunned than upset by the response.

“I used to be prepared for something, however her response was past something I may think about.”

Tamuna wasn’t ready to stroll away simply but. She wished to know the circumstances of her adoption, and there was one thing else she wished that solely her mom may give her – the identify of her father.

Tamuna’s search had begun in 2016, after the lady who raised her died. Clearing out her home, Tamuna discovered a start certificates along with her personal identify on it however the fallacious start date, and he or she began to suspect she was adopted. After doing a little analysis, she arrange a Fb group known as Vedzeb, or I’m Looking out, hoping to search out her start dad and mom.

As an alternative, she uncovered a child trafficking scandal in Georgia that has affected tens of 1000’s of lives. Over many a long time, dad and mom have been lied to and informed their new child infants had died – the infants have been then offered.

Tamuna is a journalist and her work has reunited a whole bunch of households, but – till now – she couldn’t resolve the thriller of her personal origins and puzzled if she too had been stolen as a toddler.

“I used to be a journalist on this story, however it was a private mission for me as effectively,” she says.

The breakthrough in her search had come in the summertime, when she acquired a message by means of her Fb group. It was from somebody who lived in rural Georgia, who mentioned they knew a girl who had hid a being pregnant and given start in Tbilisi in September 1984. That’s across the time Tamuna was born – a date she had shared publicly.

The individual believed the lady was Tamuna’s start mom – and crucially they gave a reputation.

Tamuna instantly looked for her on-line however when she couldn’t discover something, she determined to put up an attraction on Fb asking if anybody knew her.

A lady quickly responded, saying the lady who had hid the being pregnant was her personal aunt. She requested Tamuna to take the put up down however she agreed to do a DNA check.

Whereas they have been ready for the outcomes, Tamuna made the cellphone name to her mom.

Every week later, the DNA outcomes arrived, indicating that Tamuna and the lady on Fb have been certainly cousins. Armed with this proof, Tamuna managed to persuade her mom to acknowledge the reality and reveal the identify of her father. It was a person known as Gurgen Khorava.

“The primary two months have been surprising, I couldn’t imagine these items have been taking place to me,” she recollects, “I couldn’t imagine I had discovered them.”

As soon as Tamuna had Gurgen’s identify, she shortly tracked him down on Fb. It turned out that he had been following her story on social media – her work reconnecting households is extensively recognized throughout Georgia.

Tamuna was amazed to search out that he had “been in my good friend checklist for 3 years”. He simply hadn’t realised he was part of her story.

“He didn’t even know my start mom had been pregnant,” says Tamuna. “It was an enormous shock for him.”

They quickly organized to fulfill in his hometown of Zugdidi in western Georgia – about 160 miles (260km) from the place she lives in Tbilisi.

Wanting again, Tamuna thinks she was in a state of shock, however as she walked as much as Gurgen’s backyard gate, she felt surprisingly calm.

When the 72-year-old appeared, they hugged, then stopped to take a second to have a look at one another, smiling.

“It was unusual, the second he checked out me, he knew that I used to be his daughter,” she recollects. “I had so many blended feelings.”

She had plenty of questions and didn’t know the place to start out. “We simply sat collectively, watching one another and looking for one thing in frequent,” she says.

As the 2 of them chatted, they realised they shared plenty of pursuits – Gurgen had as soon as been a famend dancer on the State Ballet of Georgia, and was delighted to study that Tamuna’s daughters – his granddaughters – shared his ardour.

“They each love dancing, and so does my husband,” she says with a smile.

Gurgen invited his total household to his dwelling to fulfill Tamuna, introducing her to a big group of latest family members – half siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles. The household agreed there was a robust resemblance between them. “Out of all his kids, I look essentially the most like my father,” she says.

They spent a night sharing tales, consuming conventional Georgian meals, and singing whereas Gurgen performed the accordion.

Regardless that she had now met her father, Tamuna nonetheless had a niggling query: had she – like 1000’s of different Georgians – been stolen from her mom at start and offered? Her adoptive dad and mom have been now not alive so she couldn’t flip to them for solutions.

She lastly bought an opportunity to ask her start mom in October. A Polish TV firm was filming a documentary about Tamuna and took her to fulfill her mom, who agreed to speak to her in personal.

In contrast to many individuals Tamuna has helped to reunite, she found that she had not been a stolen baby herself. As an alternative, her mom had given her up and stored the key for 40 years.

Her mom and father weren’t in a relationship and had solely had a short encounter. Her mom – overwhelmed by disgrace – selected to cover her being pregnant. In September 1984, she travelled to Tbilisi, telling folks she was going for surgical procedure, and as a substitute gave start to a daughter. She stayed there till preparations have been made for Tamuna’s adoption.

“It was painful to study that I spent 10 days alone along with her earlier than the adoption. I attempt not to consider that,” Tamuna displays.

She says that her mom requested her to lie and inform folks she had been stolen. “She informed me that if I’d not say that I used to be stolen, every thing would finish between us… and I mentioned that I couldn’t do this.”

Tamuna feels this could be unfair to all of the dad and mom whose infants have been stolen. “If I lie, no one’s going to imagine these moms any extra,” she explains.

Her mom then requested her to go away the home they usually haven’t spoken since.

“Would I do all of it once more?” she displays. “In fact I’d, I came upon a lot about my new household.”

Georgia’s Stolen Youngsters

Twins Amy and Ano have been taken from their mom as infants and offered. They came upon about one another by probability and shortly found 1000’s of others in Georgia who have been additionally stolen from hospitals.

Watch extra on this story on the BBC iPlayer (UK solely).

You can even watch the documentary on YouTube.