What my brother handed me at Schiphol
Thirty-one years, three DNA matches, one caseworker. My reunion was not a ceremony. It was two men going through a plastic bag of paper in a station café.
AArash van Dijk17 Oct 2026
Amsterdam, Netherlands · from Tabriz
Reunited with my birth brother in Tabriz — 31 years later.
My reunion happened in 2019 after a decade of paperwork, three DNA matches and one very patient caseworker. I now help people read Iranian civil records and prepare for the emotional side of a first call.
Written here, published by them. The Jatkhali team can unpublish anything, but the words are theirs.
Thirty-one years, three DNA matches, one caseworker. My reunion was not a ceremony. It was two men going through a plastic bag of paper in a station café.
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