While building herself up and living day-to-day, wondering if she had any other family, she had no idea that in Cape Town there was a young lady 10 years her senior, named Wilma Iris Merrington, who was in fact her sister.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother passed away 19 years ago, and before she died, because I had known so much controversy and lies in the story of my life, I asked her to leave me with something to work with.<\/p>
\u201cShe wrote on a piece of paper that she had married a man named Desmond Charles Merrington, and that she had a daughter named Wilma Iris Merrington who was born at a provincial hospital in Cape Town in 1949 and who she had given her up for adoption,\u201d Morenita said.<\/p>\n
Morenita looked into the information given to her by her mother, but nothing came from it, her research was inconclusive and she decided to let it go.<\/p>\n Also Read:\u00a0Xyle to set new fashion trends in Germiston<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Abandoned as a baby, Wilma grew up in Cape Town under the care of a foster mother.<\/p>\n They had been living in a \u2018European\u2019 area, and under the laws of the apartheid regime, when the foster mother\u2019s husband died they had to leave the neighbourhood because she was \u2018non-white\u2019.<\/p>\n Wilma, who was nine at the time, had started her schooling and went from finding a home here, there and nowhere to eventually landing up in a convent.<\/p>\n Although miles apart, the sisters grew up in a similar manner – they both attended boarding school, were both left to look out for themselves at a young age, and through it all they both yearned for a sibling to help them bear the hardships of life.<\/p>\n \u201cThe foster mother gave me all these photos of my mother, and because I did not know the person in the photos I felt no relation to anyone,\u201d said Wilma<\/p>\n \u201cMy son, Patrick Lakey, and I started looking for my mother when I had just turned 50. We were looking for her under the name \u2018Frieda Stangar\u2019, and I later found out she had given half a name to the provincial hospital when I was born and that made it harder to track her down, so we decided to stop the search.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilma later found her paternal relatives and was informed that her father and mother both died in 1996, so the quest to uncover anything about her mother or relatives had hit a dead end.<\/p>\n Then, whilst cleaning last month, Morenita found the piece of paper from her mother, and something prompted her to try looking for her sister again.<\/p>\n \u201cI typed her father\u2019s name and it immediately came up on the births and deaths, and her [pointing at her sister] name came up as the daughter, and it said her mother was Frieda Stangar,\u201d Morenita said.<\/p>\n This time Morenita felt a need to pursue her search to fruition.<\/p>\n Also Read: Dukathole the perfect host for National Police Day<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Social media played a significant role in joining the sisters.<\/p>\n When Morenita felt she had compiled enough information, she searched on Facebook for Wilma, and there began their exchange of information.<\/p>\n \u201cI added her, and sent her a message leading with, \u2018If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. I have information I would like to share with you\u2019, and I left my email address,\u201d said Morenita as she relived the day.<\/p>\n Wilma did not take long to respond. \u201cI received her message, immediately deleted her as a friend, and sent her an email saying, \u2018I understand you have something to tell me\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the while I thought she was a scammer, I was waiting for the typical chain messages about God and the \u2018I have missed my flight, I need money\u2019 messages, that never came,\u201d Wilma teased.<\/p>\n Morenita responded and said, \u201cIf my information is correct, I think you may be my sister\u201d, and Wilma\u2019s response read, \u201cWhat the hell; more information\u201d.<\/p>\n Out of fear of upsetting Wilma and her family, and not knowing whether she knew she was adopted or knowing much of her background, Morenita felt scared to reveal all the information she had, but as the two began to share information each one\u2019s material began to fit the missing bits of the other\u2019s information.<\/p>\n \u201cShe sent me a black and white picture of my mom on a horse in Cape Town, and immediately I knew that was my mom,\u201d said Morenita. \u201cWe shared pictures of her and we arranged to meet.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilma recalls falling intensely ill four months ago: \u201cAll I had were my children and they had moved out and I was alone again.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember praying and asking God to send me someone, a brother or a sister.<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot just be alone in the world, I remember saying, and a month later this happened.<\/p>\n \u201cWith this excitement, I will probably live another 10 years,\u201d Wilma joked.<\/p>\n Morenita celebrated her 59th birthday on February 10, and her sister flew up from Cape Town to join the festivities, and they have spent the week catching up on lost time and sharing memories of their upbringing.<\/p>\n Have a story?<\/strong><\/p>\n Contact the newsroom by emailing: Melissa Hart (Editor)\u00a0<\/span>germistoncitynews@caxton.co.za<\/a><\/strong>or Leigh Hodgson (News Editor)\u00a0<\/span>leighh@caxton.co.za<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>or\u00a0Kgotsofalang Mashilo (journalist)\u00a0kgotsofalangm@caxton.co.za<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Remember to visit the Germiston City News on the following social media platforms:<\/p>\n Facebook<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Twitter<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Instagram<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n YouTube\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Or add the GCN on\u00a0<\/b><\/span>WhatsApp 079 406 1181<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>or\u00a0BBM (BBM Pin: 7F102137)<\/strong>\u00a0<\/b><\/span>today, to get all the latest news.<\/p>\n Catch-up on more local news with our sister newspapers\u00a0<\/span>Bedfordview Edenvale News<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0<\/span>Alberton Record<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Kempton Express<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2018\/02\/07GCNGENERAL59YR_61505-520x390.jpg\")
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