Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Calcutta is my Mother... Support an Upcomming Documentary on Finding Roots

I was recently contacted by Reshma, a woman adopted from India as a very young child.  Reshma was abandoned as a baby, weighing just over a pound when she was brought in to an orphanage in Calcutta.  They waited for her to die, but she amazed them all and lived.  She was adopted by a family in the US, being sent to them after another child that they were going to adopt, Ruby, passed away. 

Though, as a child, Reshma loved her family very much and felt very connected to them, she ran from her story of adoption and wanted nothing to do with India or her roots.  Now, as an adult and a mother, she yearns to discover her heritage.  Her dream is to return to Calcutta and to create a documentary about her journey.  In her documentary she plans to shed light on adoption in India, connecting to both those adopted from India, as well as those whom have adopted a child from India and are wondering what emotions their child may face.  She also wants to show what her life may have been like if she was raised in Calcutta.  She has started a kickstarter page where she shares her story and her plans for her documentary, as she is currently in the process of raising the funds needed to document her journey.

I see so much of her story and thoughts reflected in Ramya already.  I am excited to see her documentary come to fruition and to get a bit of an inside look in to what Ramya may think or feel as she grows as well.  I also think documentaries like this will help Ramya have peace with her story when she is an adult and looking to connect.  As I have shared in the past, I was also adopted.  Though my parents gave me a life full of love and connection, and I never felt like I was lacking, I still wondered about my birth parents. About 5 1/2 years ago I found my birth mother and connected with her, later connecting with my birth father as well.  My parent's love and support throughout my journey was huge for me.  I want Ramya to know that if one day she is wondering what India/the orphanages she lived in/her birth parents are like (though we do not know who her birth parents are.  Like Reshma, she was found abandoned), or if she ever wants to return, I will be there to love and support her as well. 

If you would like to contribute to Reshma's journey, please visit her kickstarter page and learn more about her story and her plans. 

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