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Goa's phone numbers change from Nov 10, 2002. Prefix old number with a 2. New numbers
will be seven-digit 2XXXXXX (where XXXXXX is the old number).
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CATHERINE, 11, PROVES A BRIDGE BETWEEN GOA AND SWEDEN
By Frederick Noronha
PANJIM, Nov 16: Catherine, 11, is the link between Maria Zitting-Nilsson and
Goa. It was this 'beautiful child' who pushed the 48-year-old Swedish
e-banker to have a place in her heart for this distant place otherwise
better known just as a land of beaches in her country.
"It was a very sad story in the beginning. But it's a very happy story in
the end... not that it's the end as yet," says the light-haired business
development project manager of Swedbank AB from Stockholm.
Maria and her husband Rolf's story is one of adoption, it's travails and
struggles, and finally wanting to do just that little more to help a region
that helped her.
She was 36 and her husband 43 when they decided to go in for an adopted
child. "We waited nine years, four years trying to get a biological child,
and five years with adoption agencies," she recalls.
But getting an adoption done in affluent Sweden -- where demand outstrips
supply -- is an uphill task. Some adoption agencies cash-in on the
parents-to-be's desperation, and costs spiral to thousands of dollars.
"First we waited for a child from Chile (in Latin America). Suddenly
adoptions from there were stopped. We were already too old to have our own
children. I discussed it with my cousin (who married a Goan), and learnt
that adoptions might be possible from Goa," the thrilled mum explains.
But this was in the early 'nineties, communication with Goa was still
primitive and life was trying. Late priest Albert Luis, who helped in this
process, was awaiting a fax, and tiny Catherine was to be taken to Stockholm
after the lengthy process and an exhausting search.
But someone who was supposed to deliver the fax to Fr Luis fell sick, and
their search almost fell through. There were some panicky moments, when
Maria thought they would loose the child.
All ended well, however. "She's a wonderful girl. We're the happiest
parents," says Maria Zitting-Nilsson of Catherine, now in the fifth. She
loves art, music and is good at maths.
Some years back, the child visited Goa and all the places she came from --
the Bardez hospital where she was born, the home for unwed mothers in
Nachinola, and the priest who helped with the adoption.
Catherine gets on fine with her fellow students, and speaks Swedish fluently.
"They see her as Catherine, not as someone (having a brown skin). Maybe they
first saw her as someone different (because of her colour) but now now,"
says Maria.
But that was not the end.
Each time they visited Goa, Maria and Rolf spared a thought for those less
fortunate than Christine, who could have still been struggling. She spoke to
her colleagues and also convinced her 1851-founded Swedbank to support
children who needed it. Their help goes to an orphanage in Calangute.
"Eleven dollars a month (for a child's upkeep) is so little for us. Yet it
means so much for them (the children)," she says. Maria is keen to do
something that would help the girls get a better education, so that they
could stand independently on their own feet one day.
Maria is perturbed by the fact that adoption of a child has become such a
phenomenally costly affair for Swedes. "You really don't need to be rich to
be a parent. You should be a good parent. So why should only some (Swedes)
be able to get children (just because they can afford it)," she asks.
After her experience in getting Christine home, Maria was chairperson of one
of the smaller adoption agencies herself.
"There are a lot of middlemen, so the government (of Sweden) should be
strict in overseeing this. But there are still people who try to earn money
(out of adoptions)," she says.
There are some six adoption agencies in Sweden, and Maria feels the smaller
ones face a relatively tough time, while those who are more influential get
away largely uncontrolled.
Incidentally, Dr Aloma Lobo, author of the recent 'Penguin Guide to Adoption
in India' (published in 2002) says that couples who are both foreigners get
fourth preference in adoptions -- after Indians who live in India, Indians
or foreign passport holders of Indian origin, married couples where one
partner is Indian or of Indian origin.
There is considerable paperwork to ensure that adopting parents,
particularly foreigners, are healthy, financially sound, that the adoption
would be legally valid abroad, and the like. (ENDS)
Email: Maria Zitting-Nilsson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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What's On In Goa (WOIG):
Nov 06 Children's book exhibn opens, Walkabout, Anjuna... (all weekdays)
Nov 06 ArtHouse, Calangute: Chaitali's acrylics on canvas till 19.11
Nov 07 Revision of electoral rolls (till Nov 30) See schedule.
Dec 01 Two day conference, Goa Agenda. IT For Society. (Ends 2.12)
Every Sunday: Music therapy sessions at Moira, 5 pm. 278, N.Portugal
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