"As I reflect back on my life, I often wonder how it would have turned out if this or that didn’t happen to me. One of the most significant moments of my life was the chance I had to reunite with my birth family… Thank you to Debbie and her team, it would not have happened without them and it has changed my life for the better."

Maria.

My name is Maria Pollard, I was Masha before I was adopted from Russia. My American parents adopted 4 girls from Russia, including a birth sister of mine. I live in USA now and I have a beautiful daughter.

As I reflect back on my life, I often wonder how it would have turned out if this or that didn't happen to me. One of the most significant moments of my life was the chance I had to reunite with my birth family in Russia. After being adopted into American life that was so different; the language, food, culture and especially family structure, my heart raced for my old life back.

Debbie and her Irish team worked in our orphanage for many years. I decided to reconnent and reached out through Facebook, over a decade after leaving my orphanage. I knew that once I hit send, she would respond. 

She of course remembered me and even sent me pictures of us together in Russia. We  talked everyday sharing memories and joy of each other’s company and how life has changed since I left Russia. I yearned for my  life back in Russia and asked Debbie to help me get back to my grandma and sister who stayed in Russia.

After years of losing connection with the only family I had, I always wondered how and if they are okay, I now had the opportunity to find out. 

Debbie had connections everywhere even though she lived in Ireland. She contacted a friend from New York, who met me and my sister for lunch to go over the steps we had to take to take to get a Russian visa.  It was so difficult due to the paperwork I had, and the Russian Embassy in New York was very hard to contact. Not letting these problems get in the way, Debbie contact the Russian Consulate herself and everything was sorted – we got our passports and visas. It all happened so quickly, as though she moved mountains to make it happen.  

We had not had any connections to Russia in over 10 years. Within that time, we found out we lost two of our sisters in Russia to alcohol. Our grandma wasn’t doing well at all and her last wish was to see us.  The Russian team Debbie worked with visited my grandma with small gifts, and food, before we got there to let her know we were coming. She was blind and wanted to have small gifts for us. 

The team met our Grandma a few times to prepare her tiny old flat for us as Grandma was so nervous.

Finally, after traveling for days, we were at the bottom of the stairs of our old apartment building that we grew up in before being placed in the orphanage. The feelings cannot be described. We felt pain, joy, love, accomplishments, gratitude, excitement, sadness, kindness, broken hearts, lost years.

One year later I attended my grandmas funeral, and I now talk to my Russian sister every day.  I am a different person since I got to hold my Grandma in my arms. My sister Nadia never expected Grandma to still have her old soft frog, it now lives in my sister’s home in California. 

Thank you to Debbie and her team. It would not have happened without them and it has changed all our lives for the better.