Netherlands-based Rajib searches Cumilla and Brahmanbaria for his birth parents at 49

In 1980, at about two and a half years old, Rajib Uddin was sent from Bangladesh to the Netherlands through an NGO as an adopted child. He was raised and grew up there. Now, at 49, Rajib is searching for his Bangladeshi roots — his birth parents.

For the past six years he has been looking for his parents in different areas of Cumilla and Brahmanbaria, and has come to Bangladesh six times for the search. Rajib is a social worker by profession. Most recently, he came to the Cumilla Deputy Commissioner's office to ask about the village of Peyara Kandi, named in his passport.

According to Rajib's passport, he was born in 1977. His father's name is Gias Uddin, his mother's name is Moriyam Bibi and his grandfather's name is Rahim Uddin. His temporary address is listed in the passport as Baby Homes, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The complications arose in tracing the village in the address. Peyara Kandi village sometimes appears in Cumilla district and sometimes appears to be a village in Nabinagar, Brahmanbaria. The area named in Rajib's address was once part of greater Cumilla, but in 1986 it was included in Brahmanbaria district.

In Cumilla, Rajib Uddin met Additional Deputy Commissioner Ali Rajib Mahmud Mithun. Using the address in his passport, he sought help in finding where the place actually is.

Rajib Uddin said, 'Even though I have spent my whole life in the Netherlands, I am a foreigner there. I have come to Bangladesh to find my mother and father. I have everything in the Netherlands, I am doing very well there. But I feel a great emptiness — when I stand before a mirror, I want to know who I actually resemble: my father, or my mother.'

Rajib said that on an earlier search, in one village a man told him that he was his father. But a DNA test later showed that the man did not match him.

Rajib is not alone: his friend Selina Gomez has also come to Bangladesh from the Netherlands in search of her own parents. Selina has come to Bangladesh with Rajib on the last three trips to look for her parents. Her address is given as Cox's Bazar, and she has searched there as well. She is now staying in Cumilla with Rajib. Selina is a singer by profession.

Selina said, 'I live in the Netherlands like a foreigner. The people who raised me are there. Even so, I want to know — who are my real parents? Whether I or Rajib finds them, that will be our fulfilment.'