KLANG: A young Filipino woman and her elder brother, living in Davao City, the Philippines are desperately trying to locate their Malaysian father who they have never met.
Ellika May, 25, and her brother Magesh Kumar, 26, said they have no inkling where their father is and only know him as Siva Kumar.
They only have an old faded mugshot of their father.
Ellika May, who just gave birth to her first child, said her mother Maria Elena, who died of a cardiac stroke eight years ago, did not tell them much about their Malaysian father.
“All I know is that my parents met in 1995 when my mother worked as a domestic worker in Ipoh, Perak.
“They never got married but lived together and my parents had my brother in 1996,’’ said Ellika May.
She said her parents separated in 1997 when her mother was heavily pregnant with her and so Maria Elena returned to the Philippines in March that year and had her (Ellika May) a month later.
According to Ellika May, her brother had had a Malaysian birth certificate but her mother left it behind when she left the country in haste.
“We also heard from my mother that she only received one letter from my father and in that letter, he had stated that it was the 12th letter he had written to her and that he was hoping for a response from her,’’ she said.
Ellika May added that her mother did not know why she had not received the 11 other letters Siva Kumar had sent her.
The former call centre employee said her desperation to connect with her father intensified after she became a mother herself.
“I just had my daughter and I don’t want her to have the same fate as me of not knowing our roots. I have also never met any of my grandparents and my mother was also away working all the time,’’ she added.
According to Ellika May, her mother met a local man and had another son with him and although they were not legally married as well, they remained a couple for more than 20 years until her death.
“My brother and I were taken care of by my mother’s brother and his wife and our stepfather whilst my mother was away working as a domestic helper in the middle east,’’ she said.
Ellika May said she was keeping her fingers crossed that someone will know her father and inform her of his whereabouts.
Those who know Siva Kumar’s whereabouts can drop a message to Ellika May at cdii.community@gmail.com