There is no stronger bond than a mother-son relationship. One Jordanian man spent his entire adult life in search of the woman most near and dear to his heart.
Just a couple weeks after Wissam Mohamed was born, he fell very sick and was admitted to the hospital. His parents marriage was on the brink of collapse when his father told a lie that would shape the rest of Wissam’s life.
In fear that his mother would take Wissam back to Egypt with her, Wissam’s father explained that their newborn had passed away in the hospital. Heartbroken, Wissam’s mother, Reda Mahmoud, divorced the man and returned to her hometown of Cairo.
Wissam Decides to Search for His Mother
Reda proceeded to live the rest of her life thinking that she had lost her son. She spent years grieving young Wissam’s death, all while he was growing up with his father in Jordan.
Years later, when Wissam grew into adulthood, he began searching for his mother. He didn’t know whether she was alive or dead. The only resources he had for the search were her name and a general idea of where she used to live in Cairo.
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He travelled to Egypt multiple times in hopes to find her but never did. “She used to live in a place in Cairo that was destroyed by an earthquake in 1992,” he said, “I only knew for sure that she was alive about four years ago, when the lawyers told me they couldn’t find a death certificate for her,”. Even with this new information, he still had no idea where she could be.
Recently, Wissam’s aunt in Jordan found some old pictures of Reda, she posted them online and they made their way to an Egyptian Facebook group called “Missing Children”. The group was founded in 2015 and had grown to roughly 2 million followers, along with 7,000 volunteers helping reunite Egyptian families.
A Facebook Group Reunites Them
Wissam’s story along with old photos of his mom were posted to the group with a caption reading: “Your son is alive and looking for you.”
Only 24 hours later, on December 7, Wissam’s mother was contacted through the page. He flew to Cairo the next day and met her at the airport. “You thought I was dead?” Wissam asked as he embraced his mother for the first time. “They told me so.” Reda responded.
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What Wissam said next shows how important it was to him to have found his mother. “I am sorry, I have been looking for you for 20 years.” He spent his entire adult life in hopes of reconnecting with someone he had no information on. Nonetheless, Wissam told reporters, “For the past 20 years, I’ve always believed that I will find her.”
With the wide reach of the “Missing Children” Facebook group. This family was reunited again. This is just another happy ending for the group, as they have reunited 3,000 people so far.
Wissam and Reda both went through many years of grief and hardship. It is beautiful to see a mother and son be reconnected and still have time to build their relationship.