A young Thai Girl search for her roots in Thailand

Date : 2004-05-31

A young Thai Girl search for her roots in Thailand :

Anybody who could provide information may contact -

The photograph of Maria-Elsa: inset - when she was 10 to 12 weeks old.

This is a heart wrenching story of a young Thai girl named - Maria-Elsa, who is at present 27 years old, living in Sweden and she is searching for her roots in Thailand. She was adopted by a Swedish family when she was less than six weeks old and brought to Sweden and now she is grown up and searching for her biological parents in Thailand.

Maria-Elissa wrote to “Asian Tribune” and sought our assistance to locate her biological parents and her roots in Thailand.

“Asian Tribune” undertook to assist her on humanitarian grounds and we appeal to those who might be able to provide some form or … any form of information that might lead to locating Maria-Elissa’s biological parents or members of her family or her biological roots - to contact “Asian Tribune” and leave the information.

After checking the credibility of the information “Asian Tribune” would revert back to contact those provided the information for further developments.

Given below is the first person testimony of Maria-Elissa : My name is Maria-Elissa - I am 27 years old, said to be a Thai, but brought up in Sweden when I was just a baby less than six weeks old, and I am now a Swedish national and live in Sweden.

I was adopted from Thailand in April 1977, during the height of the period when babies were kidnapped by the notorious gang of Pongsawat and Choulay and sold to innocent and unsuspecting Europeans families, especially from Sweden, who visited Thailand with the noble idea of legally adopting Thai babies with the consent of the biological parents and the approval of the Government of Thailand.

I presume that everyone in Thailand must have probably heard of this scam by a few notorious gangs long before.

It is learnt that between 1975 and 1977 nearly 900 Thai children were taken for adoption just alone in Sweden, unfortunately I am not aware of the adoption details of Thai babies in the other European countries for the corresponding period.

Out of the 900 cases of adoption in Sweden from Thailand, just 5 of those adopted children are aware of their real identities and the rest - 895 children are searching for their identities, their biological and genetic roots. Absence of information regarding the biological background of these said 895 children, who were adopted from Thailand points only to one plausible conclusion – probably they were all kidnapped and sold with fabricated identities.

Unfortunately I am one of them and with a made up identity.

In 1977, I now learnt that, many Swedish people, who visited Thailand for child adoption ended up falling into the trap laid by Pongsawat and Chou lay’s organizations and ended up paying huge sum of money for adopting a This baby.

I understand that the scam of selling Thai babies to foreigners was brought to the notice of the Thai Government. Subsequently, in April 1977, according to my information, Government of Thailand deployed their Military Police to Bangkok airport, to arrest those involved in the smuggling arrangements of Thai children and to stem this inhuman practice of stealing and smuggling babies abroad.

Unfortunately, it is said that the Gang got the wind of it and got wiser than the Thai Government and they got hold of those Military police officers to help them with the smuggling of the babies. According to arrangements, smugglers have to hand over the babies to the Military police outside the airport and they will bring them inside the flight and hand them over to the Swedes who have paid money for adoption.

My adopted mother and 3 more ladies from Sweden said to have got their babies delivered inside the plane and that was the last plane that left Bangkok airport with babies in 1977.

It must be clearly stated that none of these ladies had any idea that the babies were stolen from their biological parents. They all were of the impression that since they could leave the airport without any problem and as the adoption papers too were in order, the unsuspecting Swedish families who came to adopt Thai babies unsuspectingly thought that everything was done legally, rightly and correctly.

When I started trying to investigate about my background, I have heard so many different stories as to, - “who I might be? - during these years, and I don't know which one to believe - probably none of them.

I have taken up this matter with the Swedish Government. Though they were aware of the ongoing baby sale scam in Thailand, they did not venture out to stop such practices. Many of the children who were adopted from Thailand are today suffering due to lack of identity crisis to different diseases, such as psychosomatic illness and self-hate, because of the lack knowledge about their true biological background.

There is no way in the world you can just pick a baby from one side of the earth and bring it for adoption and expect the said child to feel "at home" on the other side of earth. It is being today already proved by medical science. There are so many little things that create a person, and when you do not know anything about your background, you become totally rootless, overwhelmed with a feeling of nothingness and you need roots to go on with your life.

Some of these Thai adopted men and women do not live no longer. According to the information I received, a man hung himself up in a tree, because he couldn’t deal with the stress of not knowing who he was. A girl tried to kill herself several times, but couldn’t make it, so she ended up in the mental hospital.

Some of these men and women who are supposed to have a better" life in Sweden, are unable to come to terms with the life over here. They cannot work with piece of mind, they cannot concentrate on their studies, they cannot lead a happy and contended life, because of the questions about their identity keep on looming large in their mind and they have come to saturation point and they are unable to take it any more.

There are a few who managed to overcome the questions of their identity and tread on without any problem seemingly with ease. Well, congratulations to them, but I am not one of them.

The question of identity fully occupies my mind and the mind keep on yearning for a confirmation of my true biological identity.

Many including me are interested in knowing from which part of Thailand we all come from? Whether our biological parents are still alive? Why they chose to give us for adoption? Whether they gave us for adoption with their full consent? Or we were stolen from our biological parents and sold for adoption by the greedy agents?

That is why I am writing this brief resume about me. This is written with the fervent hope that it might lead me to get in touch with my biological parents. I wish to get in touch with my parents in Thailand. I am not leaving any stone unturned in my search for my parents.

My adoption papers were said to be fabricated by one or some unscrupulous agents. The Thai name for me found in the adoption papers too is not genuine, must have been baptized by the spurious agent/s. Also the Thai family name too is made up by some people in Thailand, who must have got paid to sign the papers.

Yet I still l need to know who I am. This is an unending search until my biological parents are located, found and confirmed conclusively.

I am at times worried that maybe my biological parents are thinking about me everyday?

Maybe my mother asks herself everyday what happened to her baby?

Who took her, and why?

Maybe she wonders if I am alive, or maybe she doesn't wonder at all.

Maybe she is dead... I don't know, but sometimes I can feel in my heart that they live - at least my father …..? It's a strange feeling, and I am not quiet efficient to explain it, but sometimes I feel inside me that he is still alive and I do so much want to find him and see him.

Can you help me with that?

I contacted the man who helped my adopted mother in Sweden to adopt me in 1977. He fled the country in 1977, to Sweden on the same aircraft as my mother returned back to Sweden with me – a small bundle with flesh and blood lying in her lap – strangely enough but could get the grasp of those memories as I was too young to understand what was happening around me ---

My mother and the other Swedish ladies were told not to speak to him, look at him or show that they recognize him at all during the flight to Sweden, otherwise he could have been arrested and thrown into a jail for lifetime.

I don't know if he kidnapped me, but the story he told me, while visiting him in Phuket - where he stays nowadays, is the same story he has told my friends who were also adopted from Thailand in 1977. So, he is probably lying, or maybe he just can't remember.

The story he told me goes something like this:

"You were found in Phatalung by a taxi driver. This man - I did try to find him during a few years, but they said he had died - brought you up to Bangkok where he left you in an orphanage, where we took care of you until the day your mother from Sweden came to adopt you."

Isn't it strange that he told the same story to the other Thai adopted men and women?

There was this team from Swedish Television who went to Thailand to make a documentary about the kidnappings of children. They did some research for me and said that this taxi driver probably is the man himself, telling me the story that's why he couldn’t find the taxi driver no more. The team made this 2 hour long documentary that was sent on Swedish Television in 2002 about two friends of mine, Sawitri and Malinee - both were adopted too via Pongsawat and Choulay.

Sawitri and Malinee never found their parents, but they did find out that they had double identities, and that the signatures on the adoption papers where made up, and also that the men and women, who were said to have placed their signatures on the adoption papers, never did this at all. They were completely surprised, and wondered what kind of person who had stolen their identities to sign false documents. So it is such a mess.

Maybe you don't want to help me with this, but I think that maybe that my photograph as a baby published here might try to kindle your memory. Maybe someone, who still recognizes me as a baby, sees the pictures and contacts “Asian Tribune” for further information.

I know this may sound odd, and maybe you just think that I should be grateful, living in Sweden. And yes, I am. But I still can't go on with my life, because my brain is in such a mess with all these thoughts whirling inside my head and I just can't drop it. It is too important to me.

Will you please help me?

Please, keep in touch.

Best Regards,

(sgd.) Maria-Elissa - Sweden.

- Asian Tribune -

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