Journalism of Courage
Adopted separately 40 years ago, friends for 30 years: Indian-origin women turn out to be blood sisters
The two women met in 1996 at a gathering for adopted children. Although they knew nothing about each other’s biological families, they immediately felt an unusual connection.
Minal and Meena reunion in the Netherlands was filled with tears, hugs and laughter. It was also the first time they took a selfie together
Minal and Meena had no idea they were sisters when they first met as teenagers in the Netherlands in 1996. Both had been left at orphanages in India as infants and were later adopted by different Dutch families, who raised them only a short distance from each other.
Thirty years later, that missing piece was discovered when Minal Tijssen, 44, took a MyHeritage DNA test in April.
The two met in 1996 at a gathering for adopted children. Although they knew nothing about each other’s biological families, they immediately felt an unusual connection. Their friends were struck by how alike they looked, prompting the girls to exchange addresses, according to Reuters.
Back then, they even jokingly referred to each other as “sis” in letters, unaware of how accurate the nickname was. But after staying in touch for some time, they eventually lost contact for 15 years.
For Meena Geltink, now 43 and a mother of three, the feeling that something was missing never quite went away.
“For years, I felt a hole in my heart,” Geltink said, struggling to describe the overwhelming happiness of finally finding her sister. “It’s like a missing puzzle piece has been found.”
Tijssen had grown up without any information about her biological relatives. After taking the DNA test, she was sitting on her couch when a notification appeared on her phone informing her that her results were ready.
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Then she saw the match: “Mina: Sister.”
“I couldn’t believe it,” Tijssen said.
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At first, she did not realise that the match was the same girl she had met as a teenager decades earlier. That changed when she found Meena on social media and looked through her photographs.
“Now it’s for real,” she said.
The DNA test showed a rare 100% match, confirming what neither woman could have imagined when they first became friends.
Their reunion in the Netherlands was filled with tears, hugs and laughter. It was also the first time they took a selfie together after discovering that their friendship had, unknowingly, always been a family connection.
“When I see you, it’s like I’m home,” Geltink told her sister.
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Tijssen, who now lives in France with her partner and two sons, said she had always felt loved by her adoptive Dutch parents and siblings. Still, she carried a sense of loneliness she could never fully explain.
The sisters now spend hours each day talking and messaging, making up for the years they spent apart.
“We were friends before we were sisters,” Tijssen said. “We were sisters the whole time, but we didn’t know.”
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