Mangaluru: 40 years since found abandoned in Mumbai, Mirjam hopes to find her biological family

Mangaluru, Apr 18: Forty years ago on March 1, 1978, a baby girl barely 1.5 years old was found alone at Victoria Station, today known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Railway station in Mumbai. She was found by the police and taken to an observation home and later to an orphanage and eventually was adopted in 1979, by a Dutch couple from Netherlands. She was named Mirjam Bina, who grew up to have a good childhood, education, job and is happily married with two kids. Yet, there is a void in Mirjam who is yearning to know her origin and who her biological parents are.

Thanks to the advancement in science, Mirjam underwent a genetic test which revealed that her ancestry is Mangalurean Catholic. With this being the only clue or 'shot in the dark’, as she calls it, she hopes to trace her family.

On March 1, 2018, 40 years after she was found at Victoria Station, Mirjam put up a post on social media. She also contacted Daijiworld on advice from friends.

Mirjam shares her story with Daijiworld and says she is not sure if she was abandoned or lost and has no memories of early childhood as she was very young. However, she has always been interested to know about her roots and her biological family.

In the year 1998, Mirjam visited India for the first time after being adopted and visited Shree Manav Seva Sangh where she had stayed for a year before being adopted. However, the orphanage said they did not maintain any information pertaining to her biological family and Mirjam decided not to continue with the search.

It was the year 2015, when Mirjam's youngest son turned the age she was adopted at, the desire to know her biological family surfaced again. "I began to yearn for my biological family. I always felt that during the high and low points of my life (birth of our children and the loss of beloved ones), not knowing my real identity had and continues to makes it difficult for me to cope," she says.

In the year 2015, Mirjam visited India with her friend Sarita who is also adopted. She visited Shree Manav Seva Sangh, which did not provide any information. However, one of the employees later contacted her on email with a vital clue – "Found on 1 March 1978 at 11:30 AM at Victoria Station. Found alone without a guardian. Estimated age then to be about 1.5 years".

Though this clue was vital, it was not of much help. "It established that I was a foundling. I have not been able to stop thinking of my biological family and how hard it must be on them, considering that they don’t know what happened to me or that I am still alive," she says.

In 2017, Mirjam underwent a DNA test with hopes to trace her ancestry through Family Tree DNA (FTDNA). There were four matches, which identified her 5th cousins. Mirjam wrote to them, and two responded with information that they are Mangalurean Catholics. Later she got a match of another 3rd to 5th generation cousin, which shows a link to the other two matches.

With this, Mirjam feels that ‘Mangalurean Catholics’ could be the link to her past and hopes for more clues that could connect her to her family. "I am not interested in property and don’t expect anything from my biological family. I just hope to find my roots," she says. Mirjam is also in touch with Mangaluru’s famous genealogist Michael Lobo, who is helping her with information.

Life after Adoption

Mirjam says she is blessed with a good life after adoption. She was around three years old, when she arrived at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam and met her adoptive parents for the first time. The couple also adopted another girl from Nagpur.

"We lived in a little village in North of Netherlands. My sister and me had a happy childhood and were loved and accepted by my adoptive family. Sadly, when I was 14, my father passed away due to a medical error. My mother remarried and we moved to another village in the Netherlands," she says.

Mirjam adds that she moved out from her home at the age of 18, a common practice in Europe. She worked in a restaurant and pursued a Diploma course. She then worked for an insurance company, where she met her husband. After her marriage, she was blessed with two sons now aged 12 and 5.

"My husband and my children are the light of my life," she says. In 2008, Mirjam started working as a Manager in different call centers and is in-charge of over 80 people. She runs a Facebook community called 'DNA India' in her spare time, with 400+ members.

"If meeting my biological family doesn’t materialize, I hope that I will be able to gather peace and say to myself that I did everything in my power to find them," she says.

If anyone has clues about Mirjam Bina’s biological family or wants to connect with her can contact her on bina597@gmail.com

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