Featured Image Credit: BBC
Topics: Social Media, Facebook
Emily Brown
Like millions of people on Facebook, Tamuna Museridze welcomed her dad onto her friends list. But unlike millions of people, Tamuna had no idea about their biological link before she did so.
Tamuna Museridze, from the country of Georgia, began the hunt for her birth parents in 2016, after the woman who raised her died and she began clearing out her house.
The journalist came across her own birth certificate but realized it had the wrong birth date.
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She began to suspect she was adopted, and after doing some research she created a Facebook page, titled Vedzeb (I’m Searching), to try and track down her biological mom and dad.
Eventually, Tamuna's public search paid off as she received a message from someone in rural Georgia who knew a woman who had given birth in September 1984 - around the time Tamuna was born.
The sender expressed belief the woman, who they were able to name, was Tamuna's mother.
Using this clue, Tamuna shared an appeal on Facebook asking if anyone knew the woman, and received a response from someone claiming to be the woman's niece. She agreed to do a DNA test, which confirmed she and Tamuna were cousins.
Tamuna reached out to her biological mother, but unfortunately, she was met with 'screaming [and] shouting' from the woman who 'didn't want anything to do' with her.
However, Tamuna did manage to convince her mother to give her the name of her father; a man called Gurgen Khorava.
Tamuna quickly began an internet search for Gurgen - but it turned out she didn't have to look very far.
As Tamuna began her own search for her parents, she began to help other families reconnect, too. Her work became known across Georgia, and Gurgen was one of the people following it.
He and Tamuna had connected on Facebook as a result, three years before Tamuna realized who he really was.
“He didn’t even know my birth mother had been pregnant,” Tamuna said, according to the BBC. “It was a huge surprise for him.”
The father and daughter arranged to meet in Gurgen's hometown of Zugdidi, where they quickly formed a bond.
“It was strange, the moment he looked at me, he knew that I was his daughter,” she said. “I had so many mixed emotions.”
Tamuna went on to meet the rest of Gurgen's side of the family, including half-siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles.
The journalist has also since been able to learn more information from her mother, who explained she and Gurgen were not in a relationship when she became pregnant.
Her mother chose to hide the pregnancy, and she gave birth in secret before arranging Tamuna's adoption.