Around the world and for many generations, families are divided as nations separate due to politics, war, and border disputes. The situation is as old as history. In Old Testament times, even in God’s chosen nation, families took up arms against one another. That nation split into two kingdoms, Israel in the north and Judah in the south. But God promised through His prophet Jeremiah that He would one day reunite His people into one kingdom.
Divisions that separate families cause great pain. People long to reunite with those of shared bloodlines and heritage. Several settings in the world now offer glimpses of the kind of reunion that many hope for with their extended kin.
Alaska-Russia
Robert Soolook gazes across the Bering Strait. Big Diomede Island looms just three miles away. Soolook lives on Little Diomede Island. Before World War II, both were inhabited by Inupiat Eskimos. The Inupiat traveled freely between the two islands.
When relations between the United States and Russia turned cold, up went a political “ice curtain.” Russia forced the residents of Big Diomede to move farther from the U.S. border. Today, all who remain on Big Diomede are Russian meteorologists and border guards. Some of Soolook’s cousins now live in the Russian region of Chukotka. Mr. Soolook visited twice—but that was about 20 years ago.
A National Park Service grant may make it possible for Soolook and others like him to resurrect ties with long-lost relatives. The Anchorage-based travel company, Circumpolar Expeditions, is trying to help. It is arranging for Little Diomede elders to travel to Chukotka in 2016. Additional plans for 2017 include inviting the Russian relatives to visit Little Diomede for a reunion. That event would include festivities with traditional dancing, storytelling, and sharing native foods.
Timing is important for the Diomede reunion project. Relationships between the United States and Russia have cooled again. That may make the visits more difficult to arrange. Meanwhile, the small population of residents who lived on Big Diomede is aging. The youngest person who remembers living there is already 75 years old.
North and South Korea
North Korea’s scenic Diamond Mountain resort hosted three days of joyous reunions in October. Hundreds of mostly elderly Koreans met there to greet family members they had not seen in 60 years.
About 390 South Koreans traveled north. They came dressed in their best formal attire and traditional garb. Some were in wheelchairs. Others used walking sticks. Most were overcome with tears, laughter, and shock. They brought clothing, medicine, and cash as gifts for the 140 North Korean family members who met them.
South Korean Lee Soon-kyu is 85 years old. She looked with amazement at her 83-year-old North Korean husband, Oh In Se. They had not seen one another in decades. It’s unlikely they will meet again before passing from this world.
After the brief celebration, both groups will return to their own homes. The reunion is only temporary. North Korea allows these meetings only rarely. Participants from both sides of the border must apply. South Korea makes a selection by lottery. North Korea chooses participants based on loyalty to the Communist government. Most who apply are elderly, desperate to see their loved ones once more before they die. Many will never get selected.
The border between the two countries remains closed. It’s a bitter reminder that the Koreas are technically still in a state of war. The fighting ended in 1953, but only with an armistice (ceasefire) and not a peace treaty. So Koreans are barred from visiting relatives across the hard-drawn line of geography and political differences.
India and Pakistan
About 12 years ago, a deaf and mute 11-year-old girl crossed the Indian border into Pakistan. Pakistani police found her. She could not tell them how she got there, so she was taken to a charity organization for care. There, she received the name Geeta and was raised as an orphan by the ministry. Across the border, an Indian family longed for its daughter’s return.
The two countries are hostile neighbors. They have been at war with one another three times since 1947, when both were granted independence from Great Britain.
In 2015, at the age of 23, Geeta finally returned to India. Details remain vague, but somehow officials in both India and Pakistan came to agree that Geeta truly was an Indian citizen. Her plight may have been helped by an Indian feature film with a famous movie star. In that film, it’s a Pakistani girl who has been separated from her family and trapped in India. The film’s main character has compassion on the girl and works relentlessly to enable her return home.
Efforts to trace Geeta’s real family have turned up several possibilities. Geeta believes she has identified her family based on pictures. Geeta says she is happy to go home to India. “In Pakistan, I used to often feel sad,” she told reporters using a sign language interpreter. She says she will find a job in India. For a short time, she will live at a home for people with disabilities in the central Indian city of Indore. Meanwhile, DNA testing will guarantee the correct parents have been found and reunite them after all this time.
