From US to India, in search of Kanpur roots
AGRA : Two women of Indian origin, Stephanie Kripa Cooper and Rebecca Nirmala Peacock, both in their forties, have come to India from the US in search of their biological parents.
“We are daughters of India,” said the duo while sharing their past. The women (from different families) said their parents had seemingly left them at the doorstep of Missionaries of Charity Orphanage in Kanpur in 1975 and were taken to the US after being adopted by different families there.
Now, they are back to India with the aim of tracing their biological parents and tell them they are fine – all this with no complaints for being abandoned. The two women came to know about their Kanpur roots through the families that adopted them. The duo became friends through social media.
“I am a daughter of India and want to know more about the culture and history of the country where I was born. I would detail all this to my daughter who too deserves to know all about being Indian,” said Rebecca who has parents and two brothers in the family that adopted her and took her to Washington. She is married and has a daughter.
“It was an emotional visit to the orphanage in Kanpur. I have a sense of belonging to this nation and want to know more about my past,” said Rebecca
› I would love to meet my kin, if I am able to find them. It is Taj which brought us to Agra but we continue looking for our roots
STEPHANIE KRIPA COOPER, PIO
who got to know from the sisters at the orphanage that she was one year old when adopted by the US family.
“I would love to meet my kin, if I am able to find them. It is Taj which brought us to Agra but we continue looking for our roots,” said Stephanie with a smile.
Stephanie emphasises on her middle name ‘Kripa’ seemingly given by the orphanage in Kanpur and has a glint in her eyes when she talks about her search for biological parents.
“I want to know who are my parents and want to tell them that I am fine,” said Stephanie now married to a man in North Carolina in US and running an NGO there. “We hope that one day we would stand in front of our first parents,” said the duo while planning for their next destination – Jaipur.