Lengthy search yields happy results
search lasting 20 years succeeded just a few years too late for Sally McKenzie when she learnt that her mother had died fairly recently .. . but it did yield a whole host of siblings she did not know she had.
Well-known Komani hairdresser Sally was born in Elliot. Her mother was only 18 when she fell pregnant and decided to give her up for adoption at birth. Rhona Fincham was matron of the hospital at the time and knew that Ivan and Grace Rogers, who had five sons, desperately wanted a little girl.
(Incidentally, she also knew of someone who would have welcomed her if she had been a boy.)
About 20 years ago, Sally started to look for her biological mother.
“I spoke to the adoption bureau in Pretoria, welfare organisations and several home affairs offices, but I only knew her maiden name and did not even know if she was still alive. It seemed I was getting nowhere and eventually I decided I would have to give up,” she said.
In her occupation, Sally gets to speak to many people and one of her clients, Erica van der Walt, asked if she had had any
Asuccess in her search as she had previously found her own father. Schalk Smith heard this conversation and said, “My dad will find him, he finds everyone”. So Schalk’s dad, Johan, entered the picture and by that evening, he had found someone with what seemed like a connection and some photos.
Johan continued, “Genealogy is my hobby and my passion. I start with websites which produce leads 70% of the time. Sally had done the time-consuming work like contacting welfare organisations. Although her mother’s name was unusual, I found nothing. Then I went to genealogical registers and found a name and dates that almost matched, so my wife suggested I try Facebook. I got immediate replies from Sally’s siblings and a granddaughter sent Sally’s sister’s phone number.”
Johan phoned Sally’s sister, Linda, who intimated that their mother had died, but said just before, she had said there was something she needed to tell her. She never did, but they believe it had been their mother’s intention to tell her other children about the daughter she had given up for adoption so many years ago.
Last month, Johan sponsored Sally and her daughter, Kristy-Ann, and accompanied them to Cape Town to meet her family.
“I was so excited and nervous. It was like ‘wow!’ a hundred times, but we clicked immediately. Linda insisted we stay with them and we got on so well without any tension or awkward silences. It was amazing to get to know her and she looks and speaks just like I do. I also met my two brothers and an aunt, plus their families,” Sally said.
Kristy-Ann said, “It was great for Mom to get to know someone she is related to and experience that bond she had never known before.”
Sally turns 60 next year and has already told them all that they must be here for her special occasion, including Johan and his family, “because they are part of the family now”.
Johan has done this a few times before and finds it “very satisfying and fulfilling”. Family names are very important and helpful in such cases, he said.
He added Sally’s biological mother had a friend named Stapelberg in Elliot who would be about 80 now, but he does not know if that is her married or maiden name. If anyone can shed any light on the subject, he would welcome the information on spectra.upfront@gmail.com