What we have in common is that we live in the Netherlands, and perhaps also that we were adopted from Bangladesh. If we go back further, we know nothing except for a few people there. What we do share is the historical past from Bangladesh.
Here we try to indicate how adoption from Bangladesh started until it stopped. We are not detailed about this because we do not have all the information. If you can add a missing piece of information, we would love to hear from you. We hope that this story will be rewritten by you until it is completely complete. We create the plan, will you help us complete it? Perhaps your parents still have information or you were involved in the procedures from Bangladesh or you were an escort. We would like to hear it!
Until 1971, Bangladesh was part of Pakistan and was called East Pakistan. In 1971 there was a bloody war of independence, during which women were raped en masse by Pakistani soldiers. Since Bangladesh is a Muslim country and these women would be rejected or these children would be rejected, the aid agencies at the time decided to make these children eligible for mediation to the Netherlands.
Once the great baby boom was expected to occur (about 9 months later), the mass rejection of children did not occur. The emergency services that had set up everything and had done everything possible to provide adequate assistance, had to stand idly by. The reason is probably that these children did not differ in appearance and were therefore included in the family as their own children. Adoption from Bangladesh started to take off after the great famine, which caused many people to die. This famine was one of the most disastrous in the country's history.
From about 1973 (who were the first? Who knows or are you one yourself) people started adopting children. These children came from various parts of the country and arrived in the Netherlands via Dacca.