Origines Liban

I was born in Lebanon in 1966 and adopted in France a few months later. In the spring of 2014, at the age of 47, I felt the need to fill a deep void and unfold the story around my birth. After three years of lengthy and exhausting search efforts and two visits to Lebanon, I took a DNA test which led me to my biological mother. I always thought about my mother’s pain after our separation and I never held it against her: giving me up for adoption must have been dramatic for her. All I could hope for her was to be happy, wherever she was. From the moment I found her and went to meet her in Australia a few months later, I feel at peace and have a better self-esteem. I am aware that in most cases, our biological mothers have often been compelled to abandon us and did not have a choice. Each one of her has most certainly suffered a lot, in silence, because of the secrecy surrounding the pregnancy and the delivery. My mother was not willing to abandon me but her parents forced her to; she was not allowed to see me after she gave birth to me, and neither did she know if I was a boy or a girl. She went looking for me for years. Today she is very happy that I found her and I am very close to my half-sister. These biological mothers feel guilty and paralyzed by the weight of an imposed secret… they probably can’t even imagine that they have the right to look for us. Today, I wish for them to know that a lot of us are looking for them! Some of them are maybe looking for us themselves, without success… Apart from the various steps taken in Lebanon or in our countries of adoption, a considerable number of adoptees resorted to DNA tests. DNA tests are a scientific lead allowing us to find biologically-related persons. I therefore encourage our mothers, and also our fathers and any member of our family looking for us, to take their DNA test. The approximate cost of a test is 100 USD and it is possible to do the test using a pseudonym. The test is painless and very simple to do at home. I recommend the following genealogical databases: AncestryDNA, 23andME, MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA (Family Finder) One of my cousins had done his test in the same database as me. This is how it led me to my mother!

Dear mums who carry us forever in their hearts, Help us find you: do your DNA test!

Emmali
origines.liban.961@gmail.com