Why is family so important? Lidewij Nuitten finds out in the new 'We are family'

From Monday 23 May, in We are family , Lidewij Nuitten will look for her own roots and those of others, and she will try to get closer to her own family.

Last year, Lidewij appeared in the three-part series Where is Mark? looking for her first childhood love. It became a touching story in which she got help from several adopted people who shared their experiences with her. After the broadcasts, Lidewijs mailbox was flooded with messages from viewers who were touched by the program. That made her realize how important knowing your roots is for your identity. That is why Lidewij wants to learn more about her own ancestors and wonders where she actually came from and how far back in time she can go.

From a DNA sample to a spectacular appeal in Chinese media

In We are family, Lidewij not only goes in search of her own roots; she also helps Noëmi and Anéline in their search for their biological parents. The two Chinese adoptive sisters from Leuven would like to find lost relatives, but have no idea how to get started. What starts with a small sample of DNA quickly escalates into a major search campaign with a spectacular appeal in the Chinese media.

The two sisters

The adoptive sisters Noëmi and Anéline sent Lidewij a message after she said Where is Mark? had seen. That sequence convinced them to do something they'd been planning to do for years: really start the search for their biological parents.

Noëmi and Anéline have no biological relationship with each other, but were adopted from China by the same family in Leuven. They were born there in the 1990s and given up for adoption as babies due to the one-child policy. Perhaps their biological parents already had a child and were taken from their family after birth by the government. Or perhaps their parents hoped for a boy – much more valuable than a girl in Chinese culture – and therefore abandoned their daughter(s).

Many scenarios are possible, but Noëmi and Anéline have no information whatsoever about how they came into the world. And although they had a beautiful childhood together and grew up in a warm family, the unanswered questions about their roots continue to haunt them in their identity formation.

Together with Lidewij, the two sisters take every possible step that can bring them closer to their biological parents. They hope to get useful tips from China through DNA tests, search posters and media calls, but it doesn't promise to be an easy search. With one chance in a million to find something, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. And yet their efforts are yielding something no one ever thought possible…

Approaching

Thanks in part to the story of Noëmi and Anéline, Lidewij soon realizes that she shouldn't look that far herself. She therefore abandons the search for her roots. Because while it seems almost impossible for many people to ever find out who their biological relatives are, Lidewij has two brothers close to home with whom she grew up together, but with whom she rarely has contact.

From her childhood, Lidewij only remembers moments of quarrel and enmity. We are now twenty years later and the quarrels are a thing of the past, but there is hardly any connection. When Lidewij suddenly receives surprising news from her older brother, she realizes that it is time to reconnect and do something that has never happened before: meet up with her two brothers.

We are family : from May 23 every Monday at 9.30 pm on One.

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