The search for a Swedish girl of Vietnamese origin's birth mother after 25 years

For more than 20 years living in Sweden, Ida Sofia Huong Giang Andersson has always thought about her biological mother, in one way or another. While her Korean-born brother, also adopted, has no intention of finding his biological parents, cThe older she got, the more curious she became.about her origins. She wanted to know what documents her Swedish adoptive parents had kept for her.

But she was afraid.Not knowing how her adoptive mother would react, she was afraid that she would be sad or disappointed, because her adoptive father had passed away when she was 15, leaving only the three of them in the family. One day, the girl cautiously told her mother, who was over 60 years old, about her desire to find her biological mother.

Inga-Britt Andersson looked her daughter straight in the eye and said, "Sofia, I've been waiting for this all my life." She hurriedly went to get her birth certificate and adoption papers and handed them to her.

According to gAccording to her birth certificate, her name is Nguyen Huong Giang, born on October 22, 1992 at Maternity Hospital B, Lo Duc, Hanoi. A few days later, her 20-year-old single mother gave her up for adoption andShe was adopted through the Swedish Adoption Center.

Later, when Sofia's adoptive parents asked the hospital to provide more details about her biological parents, the only information left was her mother's name:Nguyen Thanh Huong and year of birth 1972. In the listQuestion about the characteristics of the biological mother: "Ctall or short? Introverted or extroverted? Vietnamese or mixed race?", cThe answer received was just one word: "tall".

On New Year's Eve 1992, one-month-old Giang was taken to Sweden by her adoptive parents, starting a new life with a new identity, but still keeping her original Vietnamese name. The Anderssons' neighbors were also eager to help decorate the house when she was welcomed into her new home.Her parents and grandparents, blonde hair and blue eyes, welcomed her with open arms, and Sofia grew up with a peaceful childhood in the suburbs of the southern university city of Lund.

Sofia was one of 20 Vietnamese children adopted by Swedish parents that December, according to figures from the Swedish Adoption Center.When they arrived in Hanoi to pick up Sofia, her parents stayed in a hotel with other foster parents. To help alleviate the sense of alienation and difference that Vietnamese children feel as they grow up, and to maintain a sense of their cultural roots, the foster parents founded the organization Roots in Vietnam.

No matter where they are in Sweden, the children maintain contact, to share and ask questions. Sofiaconsider other Vietnamese children in the organization as their own brothers and sisters, and consider their parents as their own parents.

This was Sofia’s third visit to Vietnam, the previous two being for a few weeks, when she was 10 and 14, on trips organized by the organization Coi Nguon Viet Nam. Sofia’s parents had always been open with her about adoption and wanted her to be proud of her origins. They took her to visit the B maternity ward, meet the nurses, doctors and even her godmother. But she was too young then, and her parents didn’t want to force her to find her mother if she didn’t express her intention to do so.

"On my first trip, I just absorbed every impression and felt happy as a child discovering an interesting country," she said of her journey to the islands in the south or her trip to Sapa in the north.Sofia said she was lucky to have loving and supportive adoptive parents who took her on trips all over the world. They also taught her to work hard to succeed in school and work, and to be polite, respectful, forgiving, and strong.

Sofia has always felt 100% Swedish. She loves Swedish things like the fika coffee culture, Ikea furniture, and meatballs. But she hasn't always been considered Swedish, despite having a Swedish name and speaking Swedish as her mother tongue. She has faced racism from strangers.

Once, Sofia and her friend were walking past a group of older boys, one of whom looked at her and gave her a Nazi salute. She was also insulted once, called a “disgusting Chinese”. “At first I felt a mixture of fear, sadness and a strange sense of shame. It was like a confirmation that I was different from them. Now I’m getting a lot angrier.”", Sofia said.

Sofia has been working as a recruiter and human resources manager in the IT industry in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, for three years. A year ago, she was exhausted from working and asked herself: "What do I want for myself?" After a period of thinking, she wrote down her goal within a year: to find answers about her biological mother. She worked hard, saved money to return to Vietnam for 5 months, a journey she considered "the greatest of her life".

Returning to Hanoi with her Swedish boyfriend and adoptive mother, Sofia tried everything to find her. She contacted the center that helped adopt her, but the organization no longer had the old contacts. She submitted documents to the Department of Adoption, Ministry of Justice but has not received a response.She went to the maternity home twice to ask for more information, but they no longer had any medical records from that time.

She also found a woman who worked for a Swedish adoption agency in Vietnam, but she could not remember anything because there were so many children at that time.With the help of a signed and stamped letter of introduction from the Swedish embassy to help with working with government agencies, Sofia felt more at ease."It's hard when you don't speak Vietnamese, understand how the government works or who to turn to for help. But I met wonderful people who were genuinely interested in helping me," she said.

The long wait, the meetings, and the back-and-forth correspondence without any results left her feeling frustrated.Sofia also set up a page to find her mother on Facebook this week.I am also considering the program As if there had never been a separation.

In Sweden, there is a similar TV show that helps adopted children return to their birthplace to reunite with their biological parents or siblings, but Sofia did not want a large TV crew to interfere with her mother's private life.

Reading VnExpress newspaper, she learned the story of a Swedish girl of Vietnamese origin.Denise Sandquist, thanks to social media and the media, successfully found her mother two years ago. She hopes that through the newspaper, she can find a mother like Denise.

"For a mother, giving up her child is not an easy choice. She gave me up in the hope that I would have the best life possible.I want to see my mother, to tell her I don't blame her for anything or that she did anything wrong," Sofia said.She wanted to meet her mother to see how she looked like her, to tell her about the wonderful life in theSwedenwith those who love and care for her.

"I don't want you to feel uncomfortable or guilty, I understand you can say no to the meeting.I don't expect, just hope," she said.