A childhood she cannot remember, a family she has never known and a homeland she left nearly 45 years ago. Armed with little more than a faded photograph and a handful of old documents, a Dutch woman has returned to Bangladesh in the hope of finding her birth parents.
Selina Gomez, 46, was born in Malumghat in Dulahazara, Chakaria, Cox’s Bazar.
When she was just 18 months old, she was taken to Dhaka by a woman and subsequently adopted by a Dutch family, who brought her to the Netherlands. She grew up there surrounded by love and care, but the questions about her roots have never gone away.
Now, Selina is travelling around Cox’s Bazar, distributing leaflets and visiting different areas in search of her biological parents and relatives. She hopes that her long search will finally lead her to the family she has spent years longing to find.
Selina first visited Bangladesh around seven or eight years ago and has returned several times since. She arrived again on 28 October.
Her travel companion, Russell Alam, said he became acquainted with her through a mutual contact and has since been helping her trace her family.
On Saturday, Selina visited several areas of Chakaria with leaflets, hoping someone might recognise her or provide information about her family.
Her search has now produced a possible breakthrough. A man has come forward claiming to be her brother. Identified as Abu Syed, he met Selina at a hotel in Cox’s Bazar city on Sunday.
According to sources, Selina collected a DNA sample from Abu Syed and plans to have it tested in Dhaka. If the results establish a biological match, it could bring her a major step closer to identifying the family she has been searching for.
Selina’s hopes rest largely on a few surviving documents.
These include a black-and-white photograph from her childhood and a photocopy of the passport she held when she left Bangladesh for the Netherlands. The passport records her date of birth as 7 July 1981 and her nationality as Bangladeshi.
“I am looking for my parents. I miss them very much, although I cannot remember what they look like. I know that my adoptive mother’s name is Helena Gomez and my adoptive father’s name is Benedi Gomez,” Selina said.
She spoke of the loneliness she sometimes feels in the Netherlands and her longing to reconnect with her roots.
“I feel lonely in the Netherlands. I hope I will find my parents and the rest of my family,” she said.
Russell Alam said Selina would stay in Bangladesh for another 10 to 15 days. She is currently in Cox’s Bazar, and they will continue searching for her family together.
