TEHRAN — A mother and her long lost daughter have been reunited after 24 years apart, the Persian language Shahrvand daily reported on Monday.

Nilufar, a 24-year-old girl and the only child of an old couple has recently found out about her birth parents who abandoned her at a hospital at birth.

“It was unbelievable, the night I heard about my real parents I couldn’t figure things out, how is that possible? You call two peoples Mum and Dad for years and now you are told that they are not your parents,” Nilufar said.

“At first, I refused to visit my birth Mum but then I decided to see her and ask how she could give up her innocent and defenseless new born,” Nilufar added.

Nilufar, who was the only child, has now four brothers and one sister.

Nilufar’s Mum explained that how her husband refused to keep her and forced her to leave the child at the hospital.

“We had four sons and one daughter. In 1991 I found out that I’m pregnant, I was thrilling; however my husband didn’t feel the same way,” Nilufar’s Mum lamented.

Nilufar’s Dad was a war veteran who bore scars from chemical weapons and also suffered from serious mental issues caused by the 8-year Iran-Iraq war (1980-88).

“Your Dad wasn’t a cold-hearted guy. But, considering his physical and mental problems he couldn’t bear the thought of having another child, so he made me abandon you at the hospital,” Mum told Nilufar.

Nilufar’s Dad died six years ago. Since then, her mother decided to find her long lost daughter to make up for the lost time.

Her adoptive Dad, who was a hospital cleaning staff, explained how he and his wife ended up adopting Nilufar.

“When Nilufar was born, everybody at the hospital was talking about her and her fate,” he said, adding that “one day a couple came to the hospital to adopt her, one of the nurses asked me to take her to the chief’s office, but the couple couldn’t provide some required documents to adopt the little girl.”

“On my way back to the nurse station a saw the girl holding on to my coat with her little hand and didn’t let go of it. At that moment I felt something in my heart,” he said. “My wife and I were childless and the little girl could be the key to our happiness, so we adopted her.”

Although Nilufar has just found her family, she believes that her adoptive parents who brought her up are still her parents and that she wants to live with them.

“I’m happy to know that I have siblings, but I need time to figure things out,” she said.

Nilufar’s biological Mum has been looking for her daughter for four years.

MQ