A Liberian woman, 37 years old, identified as Lyena Shamson, who had not set eyes on her biological father for the past 33 years, has finally gotten in contact with him for the first time.
Lyena had not seen her father Mr. Mohammed Shamson since she was four years old, but they finally met recently at Dubai airport.
The report also indicated that Lyena met her father at the airport along with her 12 years old son which was the first time for Mr. Shamson to have laid eyes on his grandson since he left his daughter for 33 years.
It has been gathered that Mr. Shamson originated from Oman but had a daughter by a Liberian lady in the 70’s.
Mr. Shamson disclosed that during the start of the civil war in Liberia, he lost all communications link and location of most of his family members including his daughter Lyena.
According to him, when the civil war started in Liberia, people were moving in large numbers to others countries, a process that caused many persons to lose their families and contacts.
“By the time I had already moved out of Liberia during that period, all contacts were missing in order to get to my family in Liberia at that time. All I had was just one photograph of my daughter I left in Liberia,” he indicated.
“I was always in tears when I lost total communications to get to my daughter and her mother. I tried a lot at all times, but there was no way of finding them,” he said.
Mr. Shamson explained that the last time he saw his daughter was when she was just four years old under her mother’s care.
According to him, he was working for an international group called InterContinental Hotels Group, an institution where he had spent 27 years.
“I met Lyena’s mother in Liberia, a Liberian, during an assignment in that country where I he got married,” he stated.
He disclosed that this was his second marriage and that they later relocated to Kenya as part of his work where Lyena was born in 1976.
Mr. Shamson narrated that after switching to Kenya with his family, he was told by his wife that she was not comfortable with the relocation and thus decided to come back to Liberia. But Mr. Shamson said he remained there because he was still on assignment.
“After I returned to Liberia later, my wife decided to quit the relationship and we separated. But I still used to meet Lyena and her mother,” he pointed out.
Mr. Shamson went on to say that despite the difficulties and challenges he went through in getting his daughter, he later got married to a Kenyan national who work for a cosmetics company there.
He noted that it was his Kenyan wife who helped him reunite with his daughter Lyena because she always told him that for each time she met a Liberian customer, she would tell the person how Mr. Shamson was looking for his daughter.
“One of my regular clients made several attempts of getting the location of our daughter but things did not work out. Few months later, a Liberian lawyer Dr. Isaac Wiles and wife walked into our lives. I first met them as customers when they heard our story about searching for Lyena,” said Jameela, wife of Mr. Shamson.
According to her, Dr. Wiles and his wife promised to help them in the process of finding their daughter.
Mr. Shamson confirmed sending a message about their missing daughter for airing on Liberian radio stations. Mr. Shamson mentioned that when the message was being aired, some relatives then decided to contact Lyena and mother, who were then in London.
He said Dr. Wiles reconfirmed the details with Lyena’s birth certificate and childhood photograph and contacted them abroad.
“It was hard to believe at first that Lyena was found. It was such a wonderful day for all of us. This was during Ramadan,” he narrated.
For her part, Lyena said she remembered something great from her farther when he spoke to her for the first time via telephone after 33 years.
She described the call as dream to her, thus causing her to cry in what appeared to be the best moment of her life.
According to her, she still remembers her father although she was still too young.
“My mother told me that after we left Liberia for London, she tried to reach Mr. Shamson by calling the hotel he worked. Whenever we called, the hotel staff would tell us that he was at a different place.”
Lyena also narrated that as times went by, she decided together with her mother to stop thinking about Mr. Shamson. “We decided to move on with life in London where I gave birth to a boy who is now 12 years old. But later, I also decided to contact the Salvation Army in the United Kingdom (UK) and attempted tracing my father, but my efforts were unsuccessful,” she further narrated.
It was then made known that effort in finding Lyena were increased by Mr. Shamson’s daughter born from the Kenyan lady and brothers by his first wife. They all remained positive about finding Lyena.
Several attempts to find Lyena online by her sister and brothers were fruitless because she had adopted her stepfather’s surname. Finally, they saw each other at the Dubai airport.
