Nationwide — Meena Geltink and Minal Tijssen grew up in separate adoptive families in the Netherlands after they were left at orphanages in India as infants. They met by chance as teenagers and became friends, only to discover decades later that they are biological sisters.
According to NBC News, the two girls met in 1996 at a gathering for adopted children. Although they lived about 100 miles apart, they quickly connected and became close.
Their friends soon noticed that Meena and Minal looked remarkably alike. The girls exchanged addresses and kept in touch for a while, even jokingly calling each other “sis” in their letters, never knowing they were actually sisters. They eventually lost contact and went their separate ways for about 15 years. Both continued their lives without knowing they had a biological sibling nearby.
Meena, now 43 and a mother of 3, said she had carried a feeling that something was missing from her life. Finding Minal again felt like “a missing puzzle piece has been found.”
Minal, 44, also grew up in a loving Dutch family with parents and siblings. However, she had no information about her biological relatives and said she sometimes felt a deep sense of loneliness.
That changed in April when Minal received the results of a MyHeritage DNA test. While sitting on her couch, she saw a notification that read, “Mina: Sister.”
At first, Minal did not realize the match was the same girl she had met nearly 30 years earlier. She searched for Meena on social media and recognized her in old photos. The DNA test showed a rare 100% match, confirming that the two childhood friends were biological sisters. Since the discovery, they have spent hours each day talking and messaging.
The sisters later reunited in the Netherlands, where they shared tears, hugs, and laughter. They also took their first selfie together as sisters. “When I see you, it’s like I’m home,” Meena told Minal during their emotional reunion.
“We were friends before we were sisters,” Minal said. “We were sisters the whole time, but we didn’t know.”