TWIN SISTERS, SEPARATED AT BIRTH
TWIN SISTERS, SEPARATED AT BIRTH
Description
In a small village in Kastoria, in the 1960's, twin girls are born. One is given up for adoption, and is raised with no knowledge that she ever had a twin. When her sister seeks her out, both their lives are changed.
Tags
Credits
Field Reporter
- Nikoleta Mpaka
Interviewee
- Rania Fwtopoulou
Podcast Producer
- Dafnh Matziarakh
Sound Designer
- Iasonas THeofanou
Video Director
- Mixalhs Mpekos
Voiceover
- Μελισσάνθη Μάχουτ
Music
- William Ryan Fritch
Urania is my baptismal name. I have a bit of a grudge towards my grandmother for this, the name. I never liked Urania. But later, when I grew up, a rather appreciated it. I told her once: “I hate you for this name they gave me.” “But why?” She would say. “It is a nice name, look, the entire sky!” Urania comes from the word “Uranos” which in Greek means sky.
I was born and raised in a village of Kastoria, called Eptachori, in the Arrenon community. A small village. We lacked nothing. We had our food. We had the animals then, cheese, milk, meat, it was all ours. My parents had eight children. Seven of them are alive. We are. They lost one when it was very young, from meningitis, if I remember correctly. My grandmother would tell me these things. I remember when I was very young, she would say: “You had one more sister.” My grandmother told me everything. We were born, me and my twin sister, Maria.
When my mother was pregnant with the two of us, I am telling you this as my grandmother told me, in the neighboring village, every year they would celebrate Panagia Kladora (Mary of the Branches) on the eighth of September. That is what they called this icon, which had been found among the branches, the old folks called it that and they built the church and called it Panagia Kladora. And on this festival, the congregation would go at night and keep an all-night vigil. They would stay there overnight, they would go with mules then, on horses as I remember, the road wouldn’t reach it, there was no road for a car. There were of course cars, but I remember we went either on foot or on the animals.
My mother was pregnant, and Mrs. Zoe started crying in front of the icon of Mary. They were very good friends, Zoe and her. “Don't cry”, she told her, “don't worry.” My mother made a promise: “You should know”, she said, “right here in front of Mary, I swear, and I promise, that when I give birth to this child, I will give it to you.” And they hugged each other, and both started crying.
Back then there was no ultrasound or anything, and unexpectedly there were two of us born. And the woman came after three days. She came and my mother told her: “Do you see, Zoitsa, that God didn't want you to be childless, but also wanted me to hold one in my arms, as well. So, he gave me two.” And so, on the third month, they came and took Maria away.
Of course, the whole adoption process was done in court, properly, in Giannena, with papers, everything legal.
Whenever my grandmother told me this, I would say to her: “And why did they take her, grandma, and they didn't take me?” “Because Zoe is a Vlach, and when she came and saw you, I told her: ‘Pick, Zoitsa, pick and take the one you want.’ And she looked at both of you, and looked again”, my grandmother said, “and because that day your mother had you swaddled, with the diapers and had hers over the head, the swaddling started from the head, while your head was uncovered, she said: ‘I will take her, because she is like a Vlach.’”
After taking my sister to live with them, they lived in the next village over, the one where the promise had been made, and when she was six years old, they took her to school. When Maria grew up, we were six, let’s say, we had of course never seen each other up to that age, they decided to leave for America. Simply so that no one would ever happen to tell her the truth! She had no idea! And they left for America, out of fear, so that nobody would tell her something.
Mrs. Zoe made sure to write letters to my mother. To let her know how she is growing up, how she is, her personality, everything, how she is progressing in school and even photographs. She also sent packages. I remember how we waited for these packages! With clothes inside, shoes, hair clips, hair bands, hairpins, and that smell... Sometimes I think I can still sense it now. It smelled like America!
Her parents came, the adopted ones, from America, in ‘95-’96, they had come to Thessaloniki. I was with my younger sister and they called us and said: “We are here, in Thessaloniki!”
I made every argument I could, saying, "Please, this is all I want! Ever since I was a small girl, I have the desire to meet my sister."
“You see, it is difficult, my girl, try to understand, how many times I had it on the tip of my tongue to tell her, and I didn’t... I thought twice and I couldn’t bring myself to do it, it is not at all easy to say it.”
I said: “But what are you afraid of, that she will stop loving you? You raised her with love, she lacked nothing, you educated her. Why wouldn’t you tell her?” I could never understand this fear they had. They left, they went back, they went to America.
After a couple of years, I was talking with my other sister, we got together frequently, to do things. I was just thinking – given that we had begged them so and even then, they still didn’t intend to say anything, to tell the truth, I thought that maybe we need to do something else. And as I was discussing this with my sister, the telephone suddenly rang. And who was it? It was Maria.
We got on the phone, and I couldn't speak... Me and my sister, we had both fallen down. And OK, we all already knew, all of us in Greece. But what about Maria who had no idea of our existence? And didn’t know that she was adopted and that she had all these siblings in Greece? She was shaken. We didn't sleep at all for ten days and nights. Not a bit. The day would come, the night, the morning, everything. We.... We could not calm down, until we concluded, or rather we decided, to go to America, the two of us. And in 2000, we went.
They came to get us from the airport. Even now I cannot explain it, what happened that day. I can't. Even now. I mean, what was this attraction? People would go by, one after the other, people, people, people, and suddenly, the minute I came out, she was there on the other side, she entered from the wrong side, because they didn't let people come in from that direction. I immediately threw down my suitcases and we embraced so tightly that they could not separate us. What I had been waiting for my whole life, since I was a young child, finally happened. To embrace her in my arms.
You don’t need to know too many details. You feel like you never separated from your other half, because that is what I felt like, like I had a void. So did she. I always felt like something was missing from inside, from myself, something was missing. There was a void. And I think that for both of us, this void filled up, in a way.
