Rohan was a malnourished three-month-old when he was airlifted from Saigon in 1975 in the dying days of the Vietnam War. He was adopted by a loving Canberra family but always wanted to find his biological family
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00:00When I came over, I believe I was the youngest child to come over, it was at three months
00:15old in a cardboard box, so a lot of the babies, it was a big rush to get them airlifted out
00:23from the war-torn area, so they used what was back then the world's biggest aircraft,
00:29it was a galaxy airplane, which is more used for armies, so they strapped these boxes and
00:35kids down into the cargo floor and got us out of here.
00:45Last time in August we were in Cambodia and then we went to Vietnam for a week, I met
00:54up with a blood relative, a fourth cousin, who I met through various DNA testing, and
01:01she and I organised a meet-up, it was a very special meeting because this is the first
01:07time in 49 years that I met a blood relative, so it was very exciting for both of us.
01:18We worked out that we actually both came from the same orphanage, and she was airlifted
01:24to Sweden while I came to Australia.
01:27She was just so warming, and she'd been through a lot as well, and it was just catch-up conversation,
01:36lots of questions, there weren't a lot of answers for some things about finding family,
01:41and I just felt so happy for Ro in particular, it made me get really quite emotional.
01:57She was just beautiful, so I took some photos of them, and I said, look at each other, give
02:03each other a hug, and it was just brilliant, and then we had to get on some motorbikes,
02:08get back to the hotel, and get in a plane and come back to Australia, but it really
02:12touched us, and particularly Ro, yeah, but it was very exciting, and we're in contact
02:17with her all the time, so it was lovely.
02:19From April next year, it'll be the 50th anniversary of Operation Babylift, so there's a group
02:27that has organised for adoptees from all over the world to meet up and do a 280km bike ride
02:35from Saigon down to Sok Trang, which happens to be where the orphanage I came from, so
02:45it's going to be very special going back to that town.
02:48We have been to the orphanage before, but actually being there 50 years later, after
02:56leaving there in such terrible circumstances, will be very special.
03:00Part of the trip isn't just for the experience of cycling down there, we're also raising
03:08money to give out care packages to poor families on our way down.
03:17There's a lot of poor people over there, there's very little assistance from the government,
03:22and so we'll be giving out care packages to the elderly, as well as giving out DNA testing
03:28kits to mothers which gave up their children during the war to go for a better life, and
03:36so we'd love to be able to give them the opportunity to do DNA testing and possibly find their children.