Mom, children reunited after 32 years

Mom, children reunited after 32 years Amira Agarib / 21 June 2013 There were moist eyes all around at Al Ghusais police station on Wednesday when a mother and two of her separated children cried, kissed and rushed into each other’s arms after 32 years. “I waited so long for this and I thought this day would never come,’’ the 55-year old woman said, holding her now grown-up children and showering them with kisses. The woman told her children that she never stopped searching for them even for a minute all these years. ‘‘Sorrow engulfed me all these years and I cannot hold back my emotions and feel like crying my heart out,’’ said the daughter, who is now 36 years old. Their father, a GCC national who passed away two years ago, had been living in Dubai after divorcing the mother. He separated the children from their mom in 1981 and gave them to different families and none of the siblings knew the wherabouts of each other until two year ago. The son was three years old when he was given to a family in the UAE; the older daughter was four and lived with her father’s relatives in Oman, while the third child, who was only one, has not been traced yet. The Dubai Police believe she may be living in one of the Gulf countries. First Corporal Reem Mohammed Al Amiri helped the 35-year-old son and his sister in their quest to find their mother. The daughter, who is now married and has been staying in Oman, often asked her father about the rest of her family, but he refused to provide details and later stopped talking to her, she said. After her father died in 2011, she spoke to her relatives and visited the UAE every month to trace her family. During her search, she received information that her brother lived in the UAE. The brother and sister together searched for their mother and managed to get photographs of her from old files and albums of friends and relatives. First Corporal Reem said when they narrated their story with the photograph, it broke her heart. Last weekend, she stumbled upon a match which fit the description of the mother and called her. ‘‘She was first scared, but calmed down when I told her she could receive some joyous news.’’ The mother has since been married to an Asian and has nine children, the oldest being 30 years old. ‘‘I asked her about her former marriage and she said her former husband had run away with the kids. “When I told her she may get to see them soon, she screamed and held me in a tight embrace and cried.’’ Reem then asked the daughter and son to come to the police station. The rest is a scene out of a lost and found movie. ‘‘I can’t express the joy they felt. I’m glad I could help reunite a family,’’ she said. news@khaleejtimes.com Taylor Scott International