Farmer looking for mother’s family

High-profile Canterbury dairy farmer Jessie Chan will appear on this week’s episode of David Lomas Investigates.

At the heart of the episode is the intriguing story of Chan’s mother, who was abandoned as a baby in a Hong Kong slum 72 years ago.

She was three months old when she was found in a garbage bin.

She was raised by nuns in an orphanage in Hong Kong and was adopted at the age of 12 by a couple from Invercargill.

As part of the episode, called The Lost Girl From Hong Kong, Chan and her mother, who now lives in Palmerston North, fly to Hong Kong.

“We wanted to find our Chinese relatives and for our mother to connect with her Chinese heritage,” Chan said.

The outcome of David Lomas’ quest is revealed in the episode.

“We will watch it with great interest,” Chan said.

Chan and her sister Miriam Tankersley did their own search about 15 years ago when they approached the orphanage and went through translations and documents.

Although the nuns were helpful, they were unable to continue the search beyond the orphanage.

“Our last resort was to approach David Lomas,” Chan said.

“He had never had a case from Hong Kong before and was interested and started working on it,” she said.

The veteran investigator spoke to TV Guide, who described the case as “one of the most harrowing” he has ever undertaken.

Lomas said the dumped baby was lucky to be alive and brought to New Zealand.

“People who have been put up for adoption or abandoned in various ways are always fascinating,” says Lomas.

“Normally there are a few of those in every series we do.

“In Hong Kong it just felt incredible to look for connections. The child who was eventually brought to New Zealand was so lucky to be alive. Most of those babies were just put there and found dead.”

In the interview he explained that the modern world had made his job a lot more difficult.

“Growing distrust in the way we communicate has meant that the tools that broke down barriers are now ineffective,” he said.

He gave the United States as an example where people do not want to answer an international call.

“They think it’s a scam, just like we do now,” he said.

“I normally try to track down an email address because it’s more likely to be read than anything else.”

Lomas, who has been reconnecting Kiwi family members for more than 15 years, is now looking further afield for his stories.

In addition to Hong Kong, his latest series, which started this month, includes searches in Bucharest and Brazil.

“After years of doing stories from New Zealand and Australia, I think someone can find their father living in Palmerston North. It’s not really a story for us anymore,” he said.

A common theme across half of the current series is the stories revolving around New Zealanders abandoned by their parents at a young age.

• David Lomas Investigates The Lost Girl From Hong Kong screens on Three on Tuesdays at 7pm

By Malcolm Hopwood