Indian-born women who became friends as teens discover they were sisters all along
Two Indian-born women adopted by separate Dutch families discovered through a DNA test that they were biological sisters. The match explained the bond they had felt since meeting as teenagers and led to an emotional reunion.
Two Indian-born women who grew up in separate adoptive families in the Netherlands discovered they were biological sisters after a DNA test, nearly three decades after they had first met as teenagers and become friends.
Meena Geltink, 43, and Minal Tijssen, 44, had both been left at orphanages in India as infants before being adopted by different Dutch families. They grew up around 130 km apart and had no idea that they had a sister living nearby, according to a Reuters report.
The sisters first crossed paths in 1996 at a gathering for adopted children. At the time, neither knew about their biological family, but they immediately felt an unusually strong connection.
Their friends also noticed how alike the two girls looked. The pair exchanged addresses and stayed in touch for a while, even jokingly referring to each other as “sis” in their letters. They eventually lost contact for around 15 years.
Their unexpected connection resurfaced decades later when Tijssen took a MyHeritage DNA test. In April, she received her results and was stunned to see a 100% match identifying someone as her sister.
Tijssen was sitting on her couch when the notification appeared on her phone. She reportedly initially struggled to believe what she was seeing.
She later found Geltink on social media and went through her photographs, eventually realising that the woman was the same girl she had met at the adopted-children gathering decades earlier.
The discovery brought back memories of their teenage friendship and explained the sense of familiarity they had felt all those years ago.
“We were friends before we were sisters,” Tijssen told Reuters. “We were sisters the whole time, but we didn't know.”
The sisters finally reunited in the Netherlands on August 11, where their first meeting after the DNA discovery was filled with tears, hugs and laughter. They also took their first selfie together.
Geltink, who is a mother of three, said she had struggled for years with a feeling that something was missing from her life. Speaking about their reunion, she described it as finally finding a missing piece of a puzzle.
“When I see you, it's like I'm home,” Geltink told her sister during the emotional reunion.
Tijssen, who lives in France with her partner and two sons, said she had always felt loved by her Dutch adoptive family but had also experienced a sense of loneliness because she had no information about her birth relatives.
Since discovering that they were sisters, the two spent hours each day talking and messaging one another as they began getting to know each other not just as the childhood friends they once were, but as family.
For the women, the DNA test did more than reveal a biological connection. It explained why two girls who had never known they were related had somehow found each other decades earlier.
Two Indian-born women who grew up in separate adoptive families in the Netherlands discovered they were biological sisters after a DNA test, nearly three decades after they had first met as teenagers and become friends.
Meena Geltink, 43, and Minal Tijssen, 44, had both been left at orphanages in India as infants before being adopted by different Dutch families. They grew up around 130 km apart and had no idea that they had a sister living nearby, according to a Reuters report.
The sisters first crossed paths in 1996 at a gathering for adopted children. At the time, neither knew about their biological family, but they immediately felt an unusually strong connection.
Their friends also noticed how alike the two girls looked. The pair exchanged addresses and stayed in touch for a while, even jokingly referring to each other as “sis” in their letters. They eventually lost contact for around 15 years.
Their unexpected connection resurfaced decades later when Tijssen took a MyHeritage DNA test. In April, she received her results and was stunned to see a 100% match identifying someone as her sister.
Tijssen was sitting on her couch when the notification appeared on her phone. She reportedly initially struggled to believe what she was seeing.
She later found Geltink on social media and went through her photographs, eventually realising that the woman was the same girl she had met at the adopted-children gathering decades earlier.
The discovery brought back memories of their teenage friendship and explained the sense of familiarity they had felt all those years ago.
“We were friends before we were sisters,” Tijssen told Reuters. “We were sisters the whole time, but we didn't know.”
The sisters finally reunited in the Netherlands on August 11, where their first meeting after the DNA discovery was filled with tears, hugs and laughter. They also took their first selfie together.
Geltink, who is a mother of three, said she had struggled for years with a feeling that something was missing from her life. Speaking about their reunion, she described it as finally finding a missing piece of a puzzle.
“When I see you, it's like I'm home,” Geltink told her sister during the emotional reunion.
Tijssen, who lives in France with her partner and two sons, said she had always felt loved by her Dutch adoptive family but had also experienced a sense of loneliness because she had no information about her birth relatives.
Since discovering that they were sisters, the two spent hours each day talking and messaging one another as they began getting to know each other not just as the childhood friends they once were, but as family.
For the women, the DNA test did more than reveal a biological connection. It explained why two girls who had never known they were related had somehow found each other decades earlier.
Two Indian-born women who grew up in separate adoptive families in the Netherlands discovered they were biological sisters after a DNA test, nearly three decades after they had first met as teenagers and become friends.
Meena Geltink, 43, and Minal Tijssen, 44, had both been left at orphanages in India as infants before being adopted by different Dutch families. They grew up around 130 km apart and had no idea that they had a sister living nearby, according to a Reuters report.
The sisters first crossed paths in 1996 at a gathering for adopted children. At the time, neither knew about their biological family, but they immediately felt an unusually strong connection.
Their friends also noticed how alike the two girls looked. The pair exchanged addresses and stayed in touch for a while, even jokingly referring to each other as “sis” in their letters. They eventually lost contact for around 15 years.
Their unexpected connection resurfaced decades later when Tijssen took a MyHeritage DNA test. In April, she received her results and was stunned to see a 100% match identifying someone as her sister.
Tijssen was sitting on her couch when the notification appeared on her phone. She reportedly initially struggled to believe what she was seeing.
She later found Geltink on social media and went through her photographs, eventually realising that the woman was the same girl she had met at the adopted-children gathering decades earlier.
The discovery brought back memories of their teenage friendship and explained the sense of familiarity they had felt all those years ago.
“We were friends before we were sisters,” Tijssen told Reuters. “We were sisters the whole time, but we didn't know.”
The sisters finally reunited in the Netherlands on August 11, where their first meeting after the DNA discovery was filled with tears, hugs and laughter. They also took their first selfie together.
Geltink, who is a mother of three, said she had struggled for years with a feeling that something was missing from her life. Speaking about their reunion, she described it as finally finding a missing piece of a puzzle.
“When I see you, it's like I'm home,” Geltink told her sister during the emotional reunion.
Tijssen, who lives in France with her partner and two sons, said she had always felt loved by her Dutch adoptive family but had also experienced a sense of loneliness because she had no information about her birth relatives.
Since discovering that they were sisters, the two spent hours each day talking and messaging one another as they began getting to know each other not just as the childhood friends they once were, but as family.
For the women, the DNA test did more than reveal a biological connection. It explained why two girls who had never known they were related had somehow found each other decades earlier.
