{"id":87854,"date":"2024-12-01T00:21:44","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T00:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/01\/georgian-woman-looking-for-birth-parents-found-dad-was-a-friend-on-facebook\/"},"modified":"2024-12-01T00:21:44","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T00:21:44","slug":"georgian-woman-looking-for-birth-parents-found-dad-was-a-friend-on-facebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/01\/georgian-woman-looking-for-birth-parents-found-dad-was-a-friend-on-facebook\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgian woman looking for birth parents found dad was a friend on Facebook"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"BBCBBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Tamuna’s search for her birth parents took eight years <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Tamuna Museridze took a deep breath and made the phone call she had dreamed of since finding out that she might be adopted.<\/p>\n

She was calling the woman she believed was her biological mother. She knew it might not lead to a fairy tale reunion – but she didn’t expect the response to be cold and angry.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe started screaming, shouting – she said she hadn\u2019t given birth to a child. She didn’t want anything to do with me,\u201d Tamuna recalls, explaining she felt more surprised than upset by the response.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was ready for anything, but her reaction was beyond anything I could imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tamuna wasn\u2019t prepared to walk away just yet. She wanted to know the circumstances of her adoption, and there was something else she wanted that only her mother could give her – the name of her father.<\/p>\n

Tamuna\u2019s search had begun in 2016, after the woman who raised her died. Clearing out her house, Tamuna found a birth certificate with her own name on it but the wrong birth date, and she started to suspect she was adopted. After doing some research, she set up a Facebook group called Vedzeb, or I\u2019m Searching, hoping to find her birth parents.<\/p>\n

Instead, she uncovered a baby trafficking scandal in Georgia that has affected tens of thousands of lives. Over many decades, parents were lied to and told their newborn babies had died \u2013 the infants were then sold.<\/p>\n

Tamuna is a journalist and her work has reunited hundreds of families, yet – until now – she couldn\u2019t solve the mystery of her own origins and wondered if she too had been stolen as a child.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a journalist on this story, but it was a personal mission for me as well,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Ano<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Tamuna had already helped reunite other families through a Facebook group, including identical twins Ano (L) and Amy (R) and their birth mother Aza (C) – they were stolen, separated and sold at birth<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The breakthrough in her search had come in the summer, when she received a message through her Facebook group. It was from someone who lived in rural Georgia, who said they knew a woman who had concealed a pregnancy and given birth in Tbilisi in September 1984. That\u2019s around the time Tamuna was born – a date she had shared publicly.<\/p>\n

The person believed the woman was Tamuna\u2019s birth mother – and crucially they gave a name.<\/p>\n

Tamuna immediately searched for her online but when she couldn\u2019t find anything, she decided to post an appeal on Facebook asking if anyone knew her.<\/p>\n

A woman soon responded, saying the woman who had concealed the pregnancy was her own aunt. She asked Tamuna to take the post down but she agreed to do a DNA test.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Family<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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While they were waiting for the results, Tamuna made the phone call to her mother.<\/p>\n

A week later, the DNA results arrived, indicating that Tamuna and the woman on Facebook were indeed cousins. Armed with this evidence, Tamuna managed to convince her mother to acknowledge the truth and reveal the name of her father. It was a man called Gurgen Khorava.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first two months were shocking, I couldn\u2019t believe these things were happening to me,\u201d she recalls, \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe I had found them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once Tamuna had Gurgen\u2019s name, she quickly tracked him down on Facebook. It turned out that he had been following her story on social media – her work reconnecting families is widely known across Georgia.<\/p>\n

Tamuna was amazed to find that he had \u201cbeen in my friend list for three years\u201d. He just hadn\u2019t realised he was a part of her story.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t even know my birth mother had been pregnant,\u201d says Tamuna. \u201cIt was a huge surprise for him.”<\/p>\n

They soon arranged to meet in his hometown of Zugdidi in western Georgia \u2013 about 160 miles (260km) from where she lives in Tbilisi.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"TamunaTamuna Museridze<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

When Tamuna finally found her father, she discovered they were already friends on Facebook<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Looking back, Tamuna thinks she was in a state of shock, but as she walked up to Gurgen\u2019s garden gate, she felt surprisingly calm.<\/p>\n

When the 72-year-old appeared, they hugged, then stopped to take a moment to look at each other, smiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was strange, the moment he looked at me, he knew that I was his daughter,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI had so many mixed emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n

She had a lot of questions and didn\u2019t know where to start. \u201cWe just sat together, watching each other and trying to find something in common,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

As the two of them chatted, they realised they shared a lot of interests – Gurgen had once been a renowned dancer at the State Ballet of Georgia, and was delighted to learn that Tamuna\u2019s daughters – his granddaughters – shared his passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey both love dancing, and so does my husband,\u201d she says with a smile.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"TamunaTamuna Museridze<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Tamuna (L) with her newly-found half sister Rusiko (C) and cousin Manoni (R), who Gurgen introduced her to<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Gurgen invited his entire family to his home to meet Tamuna, introducing her to a large group of new relatives – half siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles. The family agreed there was a strong resemblance between them. \u201cOut of all his children, I look the most like my father,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

They spent an evening sharing stories, eating traditional Georgian food, and singing while Gurgen played the accordion.<\/p>\n

Even though she had now met her father, Tamuna still had a niggling question: had she – like thousands of other Georgians – been stolen from her mother at birth and sold? Her adoptive parents were no longer alive so she couldn\u2019t turn to them for answers.<\/p>\n

She finally got a chance to ask her birth mother in October. A Polish TV company was filming a documentary about Tamuna and took her to meet her mother, who agreed to talk to her in private.<\/p>\n

Unlike many people Tamuna has helped to reunite, she discovered that she had not been a stolen child herself. Instead, her mother had given her up and kept the secret for 40 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"TamunaTamuna Museridze<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Tamuna and Gurgen are in regular contact and plan to see each other over Christmas<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Her mother and father were not in a relationship and had only had a brief encounter. Her mother – overwhelmed by shame – chose to hide her pregnancy. In September 1984, she travelled to Tbilisi, telling people she was going for surgery, and instead gave birth to a daughter. She stayed there until arrangements were made for Tamuna\u2019s adoption.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was painful to learn that I spent 10 days alone with her before the adoption. I try not to think about that,\u201d Tamuna reflects.<\/p>\n

She says that her mother asked her to lie and tell people she had been stolen. \u201cShe told me that if I would not say that I was stolen, everything would end between us\u2026 and I said that I couldn\u2019t do that.”<\/p>\n

Tamuna feels this would be unfair to all the parents whose babies were stolen. \u201cIf I lie, nobody’s going to believe those mothers any more,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Her mother then asked her to leave the house and they have not spoken since.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould I do it all again?\u201d she reflects. \u201cOf course I would, I found out so much about my new family.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"TamunaTamuna Museridze<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Tamuna (R) has become close to many of her biological relatives including Nia (L) who is a second cousin<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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\"A<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Georgia’s Stolen Children<\/a> <\/p>\n

Twins Amy and Ano were taken from their mother as babies and sold. They found out about each other by chance and soon discovered thousands of others in Georgia who were also stolen from hospitals.<\/p>\n

Watch more on this story on the BBC iPlayer<\/a> (UK only).<\/p>\n

You can also watch the documentary on YouTube<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"A<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n


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