Rocio Carolina

September 26th, 2023
Who knew, that on a simple tuesday my whole world would change. It began as a very normal tuesday morning. I woke up, saw the time, and didn't want to get out of bed. As usual, I stayed in bed as long as I possibly could until it was safe to go outside. The world... is so difficult somedays. Clearly, I'm being dramatic, but am I really??

 
I don't remember much of that day. Work was work. Nothing abnormal that day. No crazy drivers to deal with both on the road and at work. I do remember, the feeling of an intense need to do something about finding my birth mom. Some would call it a yearning. I remember that I had emailed Connecting Roots a few weeks back but of course I was hesistant. What if it was spam? What if they just wanted my money? What if... WHAT IF?!? I could hear my adopted parents and my husbands voices in my head telling me to be careful. Because this world has become a world of people who enjoy stealing, destroying others, killing others and just straight evil. Which causes someone like me to worry. Will I be safe?

 
After a few seconds of listening to their voices in my head I decided to finally do the phone call with Cristina at Connecting Roots. So that night, I answered her call. And Thus began an exciting and thrilling story to get to today. December 7th, 2023. Which oddly enough is the anniversary of another story that also impacted several lives.

 
Id like to take a few moments of your time to have you remember the lives of those who were lost defending our freedom and Pearl Harbor all those years ago. 1941.

 
"A DATE WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY... NO MATTER HOW LONG IT MAY TAKE US TO OVERCOME THIS PREMEDITATED INVASION, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IN THEIR RIGHTEOUS MIGHT, WILL WIN THROUGH TO ABSOLUTE VICTORY." - PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

Our President, uttered one of the most famous speeches. One that symbolized the unity and defensive nature of the US. Obviously time has passed and many things have happened since. Perhaps a lot of us have forgotten how important it is to remember moments like this that shape our country. There are plenty of other equally momentous moments for our country but this one today seems different to me.

All of our Presidents have made decisions that not everyone agrees with. They all may not be perfect, but in my opinion, there is another President that is worse than any of the ones we've had. This President doesn't even live in the US.

I'm talking about Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. Former President of Chile. He ruled for 17 years. Let me tell you about this guy. He was not a good guy. In 1998 he was arrested under an international arrest warrant in connection to NUMEROUS Human Rights violations. At the time I was 10 years old. A semi normal child living in Minnesota with no idea that my birth family in Chile had to deal with this guy. This horrendous man, during his dictatorship orchestrated a giant organization to steal and/or force families to SELL their children to the US and Europe. On the chilean end... everything was secret, it was illegal. On the US and Europe side, it was hidden by a facade of a legal adoption. The new parents who were adopting these kids were told that the mothers were poor, could not take care of their children and that they agreed to the adoption. This is what was told to my American Parents here. However, this was never actually the true with any of the Chilean mothers.
“In this case they were judges, they were doctors from public hospitals, they were social workers — even the police and immigration. Everyone realised this was happening but never did anything about it, and they started to participate in it,” Ana Maria Olivares, a journalist who works with the non-profit Hijos y Madres del Silencio, which advocates for adoptees, told Al Jazeera. “So here they were, effectively agents of the state, working against a large number of civilians.” - taken from the aljazeer website.

Our lives... literally stolen from us. Our mothers... lost us. So today... December 7th... the anniversary of another traumatic event, as President Roosevelt said, "no matter how long it takes," I believe we are called to defend these Chilean families. It is time.... Its time to step up. To hold people accountable. I am a victim, my parents Ron and Joyce, my siblings, my mother in chile and my chilean siblings, we are ALL victims. We can be victorious.

 
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December 2nd, 2023 6pm - video call.
"Can you hear us?" - Connecting Roots
"Yes, I can!" - Ana-Maria
"We are waiting for your mom to join us" - Connecting Roots
**gasp** My heart beat loudly in my chest. I could hear the rustling, I saw all these faces that I didn't know but they all looked so familiar.

 
"Ana-Maria, I would like to introduce you to your mom. Guillermina" - Connecting Roots
"MAMA!" I gasped and I cried. My mom. There she was, and there were all my siblings.
"Hola Rocio!" Miguel 42, my older brother.
"Hola!" Victoria 31, my younger sister in Italy.
"hi!" in unison my younger sister Catalina, 27, and younger brother Luis, 20, waved.
The tears flowed. Their they were. Their was the family that I was taken from 35 years ago. They existed. They were real. I felt... alive. I felt wanted and I felt like a giant hole was GONE from inside me.

 
"Te amo, mucho, Rocio!" - Guillermina, my mom said to me.

I cried. I was complete.

 
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So what happens now? How do I move forward? How do I help all these other children find their families? There are more. There are SO many more. Are they all alive? None of their families know the answers to those questions. How many more children are hurting because they were taken?? When does it end?

It ends when we find them. YOU can help. Tell the world. There might be a Chilean within listening distance who is close to ending their life and all they need is to hear that they ARE important and deserve to feel at peace as well. SHARE the Connecting Roots website and donate what you can so that they can have the funds to help all the thousands of children connect with their families.

 
Because of people like you, who kindly donated, I was able to find my mom. Hopefully.... I'll be able to fly to her and actually give her the hug I so dearly want to give her. Then introduce her to my parents Papa Ron and Momma Joyce, along with my husband. Then I'll turn around and fight for the many others, who are lost like me.

 
Sincerely,

 
Rocio Carolina Perez Perez - La niña de Guillermina
Ana-Maria (Halverson) Haefemeyer - Chilewegian daughter of Ron and Joyce.