Kurdish mother and son reunite after 36 years of separation

 

After decades of separation and search, a Kurdish mother and her missing son are reunited in Iran.

 

Both sides were unaware about each other’s whereabouts.

 

They reunited in a bittersweet moment this month.

 

Omid got separated from his mother 36 years ago when his Kurdish mother and Persian father got divorced.

 

Omid was only one year old. 

 

His mother Adiba Abdullah did not lose hope. She kept searching relentless in Iran until she found her son.

 

“I saw him last when I was breastfeeding him. They took him away from me and kidnapped him. After that I never saw him,” said Adiba Abdullah. 

 

The courts gave Omid to his father after the parents divorced. 

 

“When I was living in Mazandaran [in Iran], I was informed that Omid had died of burns,” Abdullah continued. “His baby smell is still there. When I hug and smell him, I feel the same smell.”

 

Omid never lost hope either in 36 years. He also kept searching for his lost mother.

 

The mother and son were eventually reunited with the help of Adiba’s second husband.

 

From the age of 5 he began asking about his mother, but was told by his relatives that she was dead.

 

Omid is now an architectural engineer. He is married and has a son. They live in the Iranian city of Gonbad.

 

Since finding each other he has visited his mother in Erbil.

 

“When I saw my mom I felt like I was reborn. My friends were happy. They wished they had my luck. They said they missed their own mothers and I was just reuniting with mine,” said Omid Muhammad.