Mali Meets Her Family - Part 2

Mali's story of finding her family is an emotional one.  To relate, it'd help for you to think of your niece or grandchild right now and what it would be like to have them disappear out of your life when they were 18 months old and then never know anything about their location or their health or even existence.  Next you'd need to  fast forward to 17 years later, when you get a phone-call and  find out that this child that  you love is alive and coming to visit you. That sums up this past month for Mali of getting to reunite with her family in a rural village.

One of Mali's goals in returning to Thailand  this past month, was to find her relatives. When we went to the broom factory  that I wrote about a few days ago, we got the name of just one aunt in a rural village.  Mike called her and made arrangements for us to drive three hours to the province of Chiang Rai to try and meet her. After several phone calls, we planned to meet them at a Mister Donut at their local Lotus store.  As we sat near the door waiting and watching people with anticipation, a Muslim family walked in and looked at us. Dianne, (Mali's mom) looked at me and said "I think that's them".  I said quite confidently "no, it's not", and before we knew it the Imam (Islamic leader) for their village walked up to Mike put out his hand to shake and said, "Hello, are you Mike?"  It took me awhile to get over the shock of her family being Muslim, but then we sat and talked and shared stories.

Her dad was the oldest of 5 children.  These two ladies are her dad's sisters.  The one is red is her Aunt Isha and the one in black is her Aunt Nana. Nana is married to Hasan in the picture. They have 6 children which are Mali's first cousins and Mali got to meet most of them. They answered many of Mali's and our initial questions.  Mali found out that she was the only child from her parents.  She was especially curious to know if she had siblings, so that answered that question.

After learning about her family and relatives and father, before long they said that her grandfather was in the village waiting and very anxious to meet Mali.  We  followed them over some very rough roads into a more remote village another 45 minutes away.

The scenery was beautiful and we felt like we were going to the ends of Thailand.

We pulled up to the village mosque, Mali got out of the truck and an older man and woman walked up to her and  immediately grabbed on to her and starting crying loudly.  I really feel like I should say wailing. They knew instantly who she was and could not hold back their emotions of knowing she had been  found and was okay. 

They started telling her right away over and over that they were so glad that she was alive and well and that they have never known what had happened to her.  She couldn't understand but just stood there and listened. 

Her grandpa kept crying so hard and literally cried the whole time she was there. 

Before we knew it, her relatives were talking Mali off to one of their homes and we followed. 

Once we got in their home, a lot of relatives gathered around and started telling us more about Mali's past. Most of the talk was about her father that they wanted her to know. They wanted her to know that he wanted to care for her but was very sick and could not. 

Her grandpa here was the one who cared for Atcha, her father.  He is the village mountain doctor who gave him shots.  They also told us that he helped him to smoke morphine/heroin to help the pain. 

Grandpa continued on to just cry and cry and let them tell the stories.  Her dad had died 13 years ago, when he was 32 and is buried 12 kilometers from this village. 

At one point, her Aunt Miipha who was also very emotional because she had cared for her a lot, took Mali's thumb and put in next to hers, to show that they were family.

After an hour of talking and story telling, they decided it was time for some family photos.  Mali is here with her grandpa and aunties. 

Aunti Miipha kept repeating that the last time she saw Mali was when she was a baby and she has always wondered what happened to her. 

Mali with Auntie Nana and Auntie Isha.

Mali with Grandpa Poo

Mali's Uncle Hasan left to teach the children.  They told us her Uncle Sit (in Bangkok) is Buddhist, her three aunts are Muslim, and her father was a Christian. 

The children sang an Islamic song for us.

Grandpa is a goats herdsmen but just as we were getting ready to leave, he decided to stop crying, put on a clean shirt, and smile for a picture with Mali. Her Grandpa was her favorite and he asked her to return the next day so that she could meet Grandma who was travelling up from the south to meet her.

We said our good-byes, with hearts full and expectant to meet more relatives tomorrow. It was a lot to take in for one day, realizing that Mali once again has so much to be thankful for. These people all loved her so much and were so happy to see her.  Many orphans do not get the privilege to find their birth families, and God had given her that gift of getting some closure and knowing a bit about her birth family.