French daughter looks for her Sri Lankan mother
A33-year-old woman adopted by a French couple from Sri Lanka when she was an infant is now looking for her Sri Lankan mother who is living in Saudi Arabia.
Magali Rohini de Bruyant, the daughter of a Tamil mother, who was adopted by the de Bruyants at the age of nine months, is currently in Sri Lanka after leaving her job in France in search of her biological family.
According to de Bruyant, lately she received some letters from a person working in Saudi Arabia claiming to be her mother. However, she said these letters had been routed through Sri Lanka instead of coming directly from the Kingdom.
“Maybe my mother does not know my French address and had sent the letter to someone whom she knew in her hometown in Jaffna,” she noted.
De Bruyant said although she had a burning desire to come to Sri Lanka in search of her biological roots, she was reluctant to do so due to adverse reports she had heard about the ethnic conflict in the country.
De Bruyant was born in Trincomalee (according to her birth certificate) in 1979. However, she did not know the exact place of birth or who her biological parents were.
She began her journey of trying to find answers to these questions three decades later, from her residence in France.
De Bruyant, who knows French and little English, told Arab News through an interpreter that she would continue to find the answers. “I simply want to know who my mother is,” she said.
She had travelled with her French mother to the country of her birth last year after the ethnic conflict ended and de Bruyant says she was pleasantly surprised.
"When in France, I heard some gruesome stories, especially about the difficulties of the Tamil people in the north and east of the country.
But when I visited Colombo and those areas last year I found a very pleasant and vibrant place with friendly and hospitable people, which was quite contrary to what I heard back home," she said.
However, her attempts to find her parents and relatives that time did not succeed. But she did not give up and this time she is here for a longer period, even leaving her job behind.
"Even at a very small age I knew that I was not the daughter of my parents due to my skin colour. I was told at a very early age that I was adopted.
When I was small I played games with my sister pretending that we were going to Sri Lanka. When the plane actually touched down last year I had the strong feeling that I had come home," Magali said.
"I am proud to be a Sri Lankan. I want to know who I am. I want to celebrate being Sri Lankan; it is very im-
According to her Lankan birth certificate (translated into French) de Bruyant’s mother's name is Janaki Nadesan, born in Karaveddy in 1952. Her father's name is not mentioned, but her grandfather's name is mentioned as Subramaniam Nadesan of Karaveddy. Her birthplace had been mentioned as Anbuvalipuram, Trincomalee. Asanka Abeywardene, advisor to the National Youth Services Council in Colombo which is helping de Bruyant, told Arab News the mother must be currently in the Kingdom
portant," she stressed.
According to her Lankan birth certificate (translated into French) de Bruyant’s mother's name is Janaki Nadesan, born in Karaveddy in 1952.
Her father's name is not mentioned, but her grandfather's name is mentioned as Subramaniam Nadesan of Karaveddy. Her birthplace had been mentioned as Anbuvalipuram, Trincomalee.
Asanka Abeywardene, advisor to the National Youth Services Council in Colombo which is helping de Bruyant, told Arab News the mother must be currently in the Kingdom.
“She will be around 60 years of age since she had given birth to Magali when she was 27,” Abeywardene said, adding that at the time of adoption the mother had handed a small box to the adopter parents to be given to Magali after she turned 18.
The box contained a bracelet, some coins, a pendant and some gemstones.
Back in France, de Bruyant is an active member of the Green Party. She also takes part in a number of social service activities in addition to her job.
After the task of finding her roots is over, she intends to pursue her career as an education consultant.