In an amazing story of friendship and identity discovery, Meena Geltink and Minal Tijssen, two women who met in their teenage years, uncovered their shared secret after years. These two women, now in their fourth decade of life, were both born in India and adopted by Dutch families. They met at a ceremony organized by an adoption agency and immediately noticed their strange similarities.
A Friendship That Turned into Sisterhood
Meena says, “They said, look at yourself in the mirror.” And I exclaimed, “Oh my God, she has my nose! We laugh the same way!” The two women quickly became close friends and corresponded for years. They referred to each other as “sisters” and talked about various topics including love, school, and even their favorite band, the Backstreet Boys.
However, over time and due to various relocations, their communication ceased. Minal moved to France, and Meena became busy with motherhood. In 2017, Meena attended another meeting for adoptees and learned about DNA testing. She took a test but found no matches and eventually deleted the app.
A Message That Changed Their Lives
This May, she suddenly received an unexpected message from Minal on Facebook. She had also done a DNA test, and the results astonishingly showed Meena that they had a “100 percent match”; meaning they are biological sisters. Meena says, “Minal was the missing piece of my puzzle that I had been searching for.”
Since then, these two women, who are now sisters, talk every day and have gotten to know each other's families. They finish each other's sentences and even have similar body language. Their story exemplifies the power of friendship and family bonds, even if those bonds remain hidden for years.
