HIDDEN IN THE DARK I was separated from my twin at birth after my dad sold me to an adoption ring – I had no idea until I saw a TikTok vid
A WOMAN has shared how she discovered she was separated from her twin sister at birth and sold through an illegal adoption ring.
Ano Sartania, 21, was left stunned when she was reunited with her sister Amy thanks to a TikTok video but the real shock came when the pair found out they shared three more siblings.
Ano was reunited with Amy after 19 years after they were separated at birth
The twins born in June 2002, had been sold to an illegal adoption ring in Georgia
They reconnected thanks to a TikTok video after a friend noticed the resemblance
The sisters messaged each other and decided to meet at the train station
Ano told The Sun how she felt when she saw her sister for the first time
The pair, born in June 2002, in Kirtski, Georgia, discovered they were both sold in a twisted scheme to an illegal adoption ring.
One of them grew up in the capital, while the other one was raised in Zugdidi, Migrelia, by the Black Sea.
Despite being grateful that they reunited after 19 years, the duo are still looking for answers.
Ano told The Sun: "My whole life, I thought, and I wanted to have a twin sister. Thank God I got her.
"So I wondered my whole life thinking 'it must be awesome if I had a twin sister."
It all started when a friend of Ano's came across a TikTok video of a woman bearing a striking resemblance to Ano and sent it to her.
Ano said: "My friend found that video of her getting piercing, and sent it to me, she was like, 'It's you'.
"And I said: 'it's not me, but it's me. So I was searching for that person, and I couldn't find her."
The 21-year-old was eventually able to track down Amy and the first thing she texted her was "How long I have been searching for you."
The two of them met at the Rustaveli station in Tbilisi - neither of them suspected they were related.
Recalling the moment they met Ano said:" We just met because we look like each other. And that was awkward because someone told me 'some girl looks like you exactly.
"'You talk the same way, your movements, your voice, everything is matching. And it was weird for me like I was looking in a mirror.
"It was awkward, it was awesome, it was everything."
LOOKALIKES
Now that the pair has had some time to meet Ano said that even though they have different personalities they feel like they've known each other for years.
She added: " I can say that even on the first day we started talking, I was feeling like I had known her for like 90 years, I knew her my whole life.
"It didn't feel like meeting a stranger."
It was after posting their photos on Facebook that they found the truth when a family friend messaged Ano asking "have you found your sister?"
And DNA test results later confirmed that the two women were indeed twins.
But their revelations wouldn't end there.
The Facebook group's founder, Tamuna is still looking for her biological family
The twin sisters travelled to Germany to meet their biological mum Aza
The two girls were born together but grew up in different parts of the country
Ano and Amy had heard different stories about how they were separated at birth - one was told their dad had sold them shortly after they were born while the other heard they were stolen from the maternity ward and then sold.
The twins shared their incredible reconnection story on a Facebook group - only to receive a message a few days later from a woman called Anna who was searching for her twin sisters.
The twins eventually discovered that they not only had one but three more siblings.
Georgian journalist Tamuna Museridze who was a victim of the illegal adoption ring, has helped hundreds of children reconnect with their biological families.
She discovered the truth about herself back in 2016 after the death of her adoptive mother and founded the Facebook group "Vedzeb" ("I'm looking").
A strong advocate against the adoption-for-sale scheme, Tamuna alongside a group of other eight women, has helped uncover the identities of 700 stolen babies in just two years.
FIGHT FOR INFORMATION
Despite her efforts, she has still not been able to track down her biological parents but she is determined not to give up.
Speaking about the unbelievable story of the twins, Tamuna told The Sun: "I met Ano and Amy when they had already met each other, and they were looking for their parents.
"They had different information because one was sold and the other girl was sold one month later, so now they didn't know the exact date when they were born, and one knew one surname and another family knew another surname."
With the help of the group the twins discovered their mum Aza Shoni had had Lana, 25, Nika, 24 and Anna, 22, before giving birth to them.
It didn't feel like meeting a stranger
Ano Sartania
Desperate for answers, the pair decided to travel to Germany, where Aza lives, to meet their biological mum.
Aza says she was unconscious after giving birth and it was only when she woke up that she was told the twins had died.
The heartwarming moment the twins were reunited with their biological mum was captured by the BBC World Service as part of the new documentary Betrayal At Birth: Georgia's Stolen Children.
Aza breaks down in tears as she hugs the two women and says "I still can't believe it."
Even though it's an emotional moment, Ano cannot hold back her anger as she urges adoptive parents to be honest with their children.
She said: "It's difficult - it's awesome that I found my biological family.
"But it's quite difficult because you don't know where you belong.
"You don't know what to do sometimes with both families.
"We deserve to know everything about ourselves.
"To know what we are and what to do with our lives.
"So if I have brothers, sisters I must know them because they are like gifts from God, and you can just take away from me."
Thousands of babies are believed to have been illegally trafficked across Georgia since the 1950s.
After the fall of the USSR, many of those kids were adopted by families in the USA, Canada and Europe for thousands of dollars.
She told how a few years ago a woman who was told her baby boy had died at birth found out that her son was very much alive - he had been sold to a different part of the country.
Tamuna recalled how the woman had difficulty believing her when she first told her about her son as her doctor at the time was in fact her godmother.
She told The Sun: "Her godmother was helping her to give birth to her boy, and told her that the boy died.
It's quite difficult because you don't know where you belong
Ano Sartania
"So we went through this woman, and she didn't, didn't believe us at first.
"She said that it wasn't the truth, because her godmother would never do that to her"
After repeated pleas, the woman finally agreed to a DNA test which confirmed that the boy was indeed her biological son.
The Georgian government launched a fresh investigation into child trafficking but Tamuna says they have not received any answers so far.
She said: "The main problem is the Georgian law.
"Because adopted children don't have the right to get information about themselves, and they don't have the right to get their birth certificate, and they don't have the right to know their name, surname, birth, place, and birth date."
Ano and Amy discovered they share another three siblings - Lana, Anna and Nika
Tamuna has helped hundreds of children reunite with their biological families