Sent for studies, TN kids abandoned in Holland

Sent for studies, TN kids abandoned in Holland

August 29, 2008

Pushpa Narayan,TNN

Dear mother,

I'm so touched to hear that you have been waiting for me all these years. I'm desperately waiting to see you again. We are no longer with our foster parents...I go to college on a motorcycle everyday. I'm not too good at studies, but can read and write. Please send a photograph of yours. I love you very much and I'm sending you kisses from me and Kapil

- Lisaa

CHENNAI: This is the letter 17-year-old Lisa sent from the Netherlands to her mother in Tirunelveli. Dekla, a fisherwoman, has been holding on to the piece of paper and crying to see her little girl. She does not know how she looks, what language she speaks. She doesn't know her hobbies, likes or dislikes.

It has been 12 years since she gave her daughter Lisa and son Kapil to Malaysian Social Services (MSS), an NGO which promised to give them good education abroad. She hoped to see them return home as young adults in white collar jobs earning handsome salaries.

In 2005, when she read news reports about the crackdown on an adoption racket and the arrest of MSS managers, she panicked.

"I gave them four of my seven children. They returned two of them to me. After three years, they did not inform me about my other children. They just told me they were living abroad. I complained to the police, but did not get any response. I tried hard to believe they were safe and happy," Dekla said.

Now she knows her children are in the Netherlands, in a government home, but has no idea how to bring them back.