30 May,2019 10:14 AM IST | Pune | mid-day online correspondent
Representational image
Neha Holmgren, the Swedish national was separated from her sister in Budhwar Peth, about 32 years ago and located her younger sister in the red-light area of Pune. Neha was 14 months old when she was adopted by a Swedish family from Shreevatsa, an institute of children and never returned to the country ever since now.
About 10 years ago, Neha Holmgren stumbled upon the information about her native family at a child adoption conference she attended in Sweden. The details were shared with her husband and Neha was shown a few documents that included details of her family and her birthplace. Soon they started looking for her family and her husband found a woman by the name of Purnima Gosavi, a native of Pune but now Canadian resident, who turned out to be a common liaison between them.
According to Mumbai Mirror, Neha's husband came across Gosavi on a child adoption forum, where she had mentioned of being a social worker with Shreevatsa in 1986 - the year when Neha was lodged in the institution. Through Gosavi, Neha's husband got in touch with Seema Waghmode, who runs a non-governmental organisation Kayakalpa in Pune which aims to improve the lives of sex workers in the city.
Purnima Gosavi claimed that she was overwhelmed when she was contacted. "The coincidence was so unique that I felt like giving my best to help Neha. Without even meeting, I felt there was a connection between us. I asked for all the documents that she had in her possession and shared them with Waghmode. After a lot of groundwork, we found her younger sister, who is a sex worker."
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The case reached Waghmode in November 2018. She soon spread the word and tried to reach as many people possible in the network. "We knew a lady called Mary D'Souza who was a friend of their mothers," she said. After verifying the minutest details, they found out that their mother had passed away but, her younger sister was traced through connections. "My mother always told that my elder sister had passed away. That was the only memory and knowledge I was carrying all my life," stated the younger sibling, adding that she could not help but cry with joy after she knew that her elder sibling was alive looking for her for a decade.
Neha Holmgren, who works as a nurse, decided to fly down to India once her younger sister was found. "We will go ahead and conduct DNA tests just to be medically correct and then see how we could plan our lives together," she said.
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