Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

From Belgium to Coimbatore, in search of roots

Anasuya Menon

Francine travels village to village to trace her daughter's real mother

TO DAUGHER, WITH LOVE: Francine with her adopted daughter Pristina's photograph when she came to Coimbatore in search of Pristina's actual mother. - Photo: M. Periasamy .

Coimbatore: For Francine, the future is full of uncertainty. She has come all the way from Belgium to Coimbatore with her friend Mia, in search of her daughter's actual mother.

Adoption

She and her husband Buggenhout adopted Pristina through an agency in Belgium 27 years ago.

But, then she never imagined she would travel to a remote town in Kerala years after to trace her daughter's real mother.

When Pristina, who is now a doctor in Australia, expressed her wish to meet her actual mother in India , Francine took it upon herself to trace her.

Abandoned child

She found the orphanage - Providence Home in Malampuzha - from where Pristina was adopted and approached them for information regarding the girl's mother.

But, the home did not have any information.

So, Francine, with her friend , travelled from village to village narrating her story to people, asking them whether they remembered an incident when a child was abandoned 27 years ago.

Photo as proof

"I had a lot of trouble making myself understood. But, with the help of Pristina's photograph when she was young, we tried to get our message across," she said.

After listening to Francine's story, a woman in Palakkad said she remembered the incident of a woman from Coimbatore who had abandoned her child at the orphanage in Palakkad.

"The woman was pretty convinced that her memory was right and so we decided to go by it," Francine said.

Hoping for the best

"We hope to get some information from here," Francine said.

She is sure her search would not be a wild goose chase. She and her friend say they would continue their search for her beloved daughter's real mother.

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