Whoa Mama! Sometimes life hands you the most amazing opportunity at the perfect time! I have to admit I am in shock... yet again.
This lovely opportunity gift-wrapped in my sparkling dream of being on TV seems too good to be true. But then again, maybe good things come to those who wait... 28 years.
Okay, the deets: My mama rung me the other day to inform me that her friend, June*, had been watching the ol' box and an ad for a new TV show came on calling for applicants searching for long lost loved ones. So my mama, who of course had already told June about my search (without my permission) and June thought that maybe this was the Big Man Upstairs plan for me to find my B-Ma!
June emailed me the deets yesterday and I applied last night. This morning I received the call.
"Bring Briiinggg" went my iPhone.
- Hello?
Why do YOU want to find your birth mother? (paraphrasing of course)
- My desire to find my birth mother came from the birth of my own daughter. Being brought up within a Western/Maori culture with no connection to my own genetic heritage or cultural identity, made me realise that this inherent void doesn't just affect me anymore. I want my daughter to know her roots. I want to also bridge this chasm that has eluded me all my life. This sense of wandering in the unknown desert (- I have been choosing which ethnicity I feel like being that day...)
The informal interview spanned around 20 mins. It was super hard coming up with deep coherent answers when I had literally just woken up. But nevertheless I continued with my story and answered as honestly as I could recall.
I am the first to admit I am not the greatest talker. I feel I am more of a writer. But the researcher didn't seem to mind. She soldiered on trying to decipher SamaSpeak.
Basically the premise of the show is for them to find the loved one you are searching for. So you are in the dark until, SURPRISE! We have found insert name here! Then who knows what happens after that - Though I presume it is like all the others where they take you to meet that person or bring them to you depending - All in front of the awesomeness of a camera lens. Part of me thinks this could totally blow up in my face... oh well! (Haha!)
I did of course, disclose that I had already started the search by contacting the orphanage and the Adoption Unit of the Hong Kong government. They were okay with that as long as any correspondence I receive, I forward to them and not pursue anything else.
As a Film and Television graduate and former Promo Producer, I know how to tell a story choice as... I mean, pretty choice.
The Pitch:
Three generations of mothers and daughters (four if you count my B-Ma as she is only 16 years older than me) A reconciliation of past and present. The desire to uncover my roots and make peace with my past. To go back to my 'homeland' with my family.
What I tried to express through the interview was the desire for my mama and daughter (and hubband, of course) to be a part of the journey.
I told them about my mamas wanting to show me the orphanage. About her desire to thank my birth mother for the opportunity to adopt me (I almost cried...) The experience would not be the same without her.
I do understand that part of it is the wanted - no, needed - security and familiarity. The other part, a yearning to connect my family with the family I could've grown up with. To fit these weird shaped puzzle pieces of my life together.
My original vision was to retrace from the beginning. From my B-Ma's old residence to the hospital I was born in, all the way to the orphanage I lived in for the first two years of my life. I want to discover any (hopeful) resemblance between myself and my B-Ma, and my own daughter. Something I have cried over in my own family situation. I want to hear her story no matter how hard it is to handle. I want to know how I came to be orphaned. I want my B-Ma to know I don't hate her. In fact I feel lucky. Extremely lucky to have had the life I've had - I want her to know that. To know I am thankful...
I am welling up as I write this so I'm going to go. So whoop, TV Show, whoop!
