Isabel and Ana's Reunion Fund
Donation protected
Isabel and Ana are trying to raise $4,000 by June 27th, 2015 in order to offset some of the cost of their reunion.
Isabel and Ana Williams were adopted from El Salvador in the 1980’s and grew up in the New England area, knowing very little about their past. The sisters had only faint memories of their life in El Salvador. However, Isabel clearly remembers the face of a woman, who she thought was her mother, laying dead next to her. Wanting to understand her past drove Isabel to begin searching for her birth family in 2008.
With the help of an organization called Pro-Busqueda, Isabel and Ana were able to locate their birth mother, Ester, who is alive and living in rural El Salvador. The sisters learned that they had been torn from their birth family during a massacre in 1980 which took the lives of their grandparents. They had been forcibly separated from their family by the Salvadoran military forces who placed them in an orphanage to be put up for adoption. Their birth mother, who survived the attack, tried to get her daughters back but was prevented from doing so and the sisters were adopted to the US.
Since 2010 when they learned that their birth mother was still alive, Isabel and Ana have been trying to meet Ester in person. Due to a debilitating illness, Isabel is not able to travel and Ana does not want to have the reunion without her sister by her side. Their only option was to bring their birth mother to the U.S. which required required years of working with the US government to secure a travel visa for Ester. In December 2014, Ester’s visa was approved. After a long journey, a reunion is going to happen this year - Isabel, Ana and their mother will finally get to see each other for the first time in 35 years.
The Mama Chila Foundation is collecting funds to help Isabel and Ana offset some of the cost of bringing their birth mother to the US. This includes airfare and hiring a translator for the duration of Ester’s visit. Any funds raised above and beyond our goal of $4,000 will go to helping others with stories like Isabel and Ana.
To learn more about how Isabel and Ana were separated from their mother, watch the video below (produced by Unfinished Sentences, a project of the University of Washington Center for Human Rights.
About the Mama Chila Foundation
The Mama Chila Foundation is dedicated to providing support to individuals who, as children, were separated from their biological families during armed conflicts as they navigate the experience of rebuilding relationships with their families. It was established by Nelson/Roberto who was forcibly separated from his family during the Salvadoran civil war.
To learn more about our organization please check out our website at http://mamachila.foundation/
Isabel and Ana Williams were adopted from El Salvador in the 1980’s and grew up in the New England area, knowing very little about their past. The sisters had only faint memories of their life in El Salvador. However, Isabel clearly remembers the face of a woman, who she thought was her mother, laying dead next to her. Wanting to understand her past drove Isabel to begin searching for her birth family in 2008.
With the help of an organization called Pro-Busqueda, Isabel and Ana were able to locate their birth mother, Ester, who is alive and living in rural El Salvador. The sisters learned that they had been torn from their birth family during a massacre in 1980 which took the lives of their grandparents. They had been forcibly separated from their family by the Salvadoran military forces who placed them in an orphanage to be put up for adoption. Their birth mother, who survived the attack, tried to get her daughters back but was prevented from doing so and the sisters were adopted to the US.
Since 2010 when they learned that their birth mother was still alive, Isabel and Ana have been trying to meet Ester in person. Due to a debilitating illness, Isabel is not able to travel and Ana does not want to have the reunion without her sister by her side. Their only option was to bring their birth mother to the U.S. which required required years of working with the US government to secure a travel visa for Ester. In December 2014, Ester’s visa was approved. After a long journey, a reunion is going to happen this year - Isabel, Ana and their mother will finally get to see each other for the first time in 35 years.
The Mama Chila Foundation is collecting funds to help Isabel and Ana offset some of the cost of bringing their birth mother to the US. This includes airfare and hiring a translator for the duration of Ester’s visit. Any funds raised above and beyond our goal of $4,000 will go to helping others with stories like Isabel and Ana.
To learn more about how Isabel and Ana were separated from their mother, watch the video below (produced by Unfinished Sentences, a project of the University of Washington Center for Human Rights.
About the Mama Chila Foundation
The Mama Chila Foundation is dedicated to providing support to individuals who, as children, were separated from their biological families during armed conflicts as they navigate the experience of rebuilding relationships with their families. It was established by Nelson/Roberto who was forcibly separated from his family during the Salvadoran civil war.
To learn more about our organization please check out our website at http://mamachila.foundation/
Organizer
Nelson de Witt
Organizer
Auburndale, MA
