I do not recall my last address in Bangladesh but I strongly believe I can find out my near and dear ones, said Sultana Van Der List, a Dutch woman of Bangladeshi origin who has come to Bangladesh after 37 years to find her roots.
“I do not even know who my parents are and where they hailed from. But still I have come here as I believe I can meet a family member or relative,” Sultana, overwhelmed with emotion, told a press conference at Chittagong Press Club yesterday.
A school teacher by profession, Sultana, her husband Joris Jacobs and son Noa Abed Nabila came to Bangladesh on February 1 and SLOPB-Bangladesh, a Dutch-run NGO, is supporting their stay in the country.
The 41-year-old woman said she was unable to recall the name of even a single member of her family or the address of her ancestral house at Dohazari union in Chittagong’s Chandanaish upazila.
“I have no memory of my childhood in Dohazari. I just have some pictures of Dohazari railway station and a market that date back to my childhood,” she said.
It was Sultana’s grandmother Rahima Khatun who had handed her over to a Dutch couple through an organisation in Dhaka back in 1979.
“They adopted me and brought me up with care and affection like their other children in the Netherlands,” Sultana said.
Ismail Sarif, human resources manager at icddr,b who is assisting Sultana, told the Dhaka Tribune they had already sought help from the local administration, police and local freedom fighters to trace Sultana’s relatives or find out her ancestral address.
“We will explore each and every option to find any member of Sultana’s family in Bangladesh or relative,” said Sarif, a former programme manager at SLOPB- Bangladesh.
Sultana is scheduled to return to the Netherlands on February 11.