29 Dec 2009
Facebook has proven that it can not only help its users keep in touch, but can also reconnect users with family members who were feared long lost. A woman in Palu, Central Sulawesi, recently found her older brother, who had been missing for more than three decades, on the social networking site.
Nurlianti Dehi told Metro TV on Tuesday that she cried when she spoke with her brother, Anton Dehi, on the phone for the first time in 35 years. Nurlianti said she last saw her brother in 1974 when Anton, who was in his early 20s, left Palu to find a job in Manado, North Sulawesi.
For the first two years, Anton maintained good contact with his family back home, but in the third year Nurlianti and her family did not receive any news from him. She spent years trying to find Anton but to no avail. She finally gave up looking for him but said she had never forgotten him.
Hopes of finding her brother were sparked again when she heard about the online social network Facebook. Nurlianti, who runs a travel agency in her hometown, signed up on the Web site and began her quest. She looked for any Facebook members whose last names were Dehi and she got in touch with a girl named Risna Dehi, who turned out to be Anton’s daughter and her niece.
From Risna, Nurlianti found out that Anton and his family lived in Jombang, East Java. Finally, after more than three decades apart, the two siblings reconnected over the telephone.
Nurlanti said that she at first had doubts that the man was really her brother, but she was convinced after they swapped childhood stories. In the near future, Nurlianti will visit the long-lost Anton in Jombang.
The Jakarta Globe
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