a year ago, Martijn went on the road passed them without greeting. Strangers they were. Today, he sits with five of his brothers and sisters in a Restaurant in The Hague, because you can look at the food of the sea and you like the sea. The waitress comes and asks: “Are you complete?” “No,” says one sister, “there are 37 people are missing.” All laugh. The waitress look taken aback, because they didn’t get the joke. Actually, it’s not a joke: Martijn, Sanne, Antje*, Frederik*, Laura* and Marsha have 37 more half-brothers and half-sisters.
Maybe the waitress has heard your story in the news: Until 2004, the anonymous seed was allowed donation in the Netherlands. Thousands turned with her longing for a Baby to the doctor Jan Karbaat. He was in the Netherlands, a luminary in the field of artificial insemination. Already in the 1950s, he experimented donations with Seeds, and later he led a fertility clinic. In 2017, it came to light that Karbaat had often used his own sperm. People from all over Europe since then, your DNA analyze. 43 adults know that Jan Karbaat is her father, and there could be a lot more: 200 siblings – this is a conservative estimate.
In the media reports on the Karbaat-court process. For Martijn and his siblings a other, personal process: to each other is one approach. Can you be subsequently a family? You want them to? Just because of a few common genes derived from a megalomaniac? And then the big question: What is a family anyway?
No shared past
The evening sun fades. Martijn is sitting first on the table, shirt sleeves rolled up, in front of a Pils. On the common Whatsapp group “Welkom” has he invited all 24 brothers and sisters who are saved in his Smartphone. So he makes every few weeks or months. Some of the answers are rarely, others never, but a handful of siblings to say most of the time. According to a third Pils Antje comes in, kiss on the left, right, left. Martijn says, the sea was so Common, and flails a wave-shaped with the hands. Although she wears almost every person in the love of the sea, but if you are still unsure of each other, does it well, the Unifying highlight. Three sisters hug Martijn. Frederik shakes all the hands. “We have time for a Starter?”, Martijn asks. Frederik looks pointedly at his silver watch. “We have all the time in the world”, he says, it sounds like a desire. Because that’s exactly what is missing to you: time together, enjoyed a past. Perhaps the missing years in the case of Chili-Cheese-Nachos make up for it.
in 2009, had to close Jan Karbaat his clinic. The donor lists were sloppy, he didn’t even bother, eye colors correctly. In Interviews, he is said to have boasted to be a lot of times the father. He was confronted with that later, he denied everything: it was crazy! Nevertheless, he had, that his DNA will not be allowed to be posthumously investigated. No one should destroy his reputation.
The oldest with Karbaats help-begotten child of today is the 60, the youngest 9. Here at the table are all in their Thirties. Antje and Sanne play together football, Sanne and Marsha drinking wine at the kitchen table, Marsha and Martijn go out with their daughters.
All always want Drama
annoying thing Martijn to the journalists: they Always zoom in on the Negative in your story, they want Drama. In April, 2017 Jan Karbaat died at 89 years of age. When someone would make a step to the side for a second before a heavy object from the scaffolding falls. A Moment later, Karbaats of lies collapsed. But there could pull him, no one is more accountable for his actions. His 43 children.
they Would not have reason to be angry at him? Frederik scroll with the index finger through the documentary about them, which showed the Dutch television. A black-and-white recording of Jan Karbaat. “I’ve seen Karbaat never right,” says Frederik. Since he is so: her biological father, suddenly at the table. Now, the siblings ask the questions: How does it feel? “Uh, weird”, says Frederik.
According to Karbaats death, police searched his apartment. She took a toothbrush, a hair stockings cutting device and supporting a Remnant of a retired life and the last pieces of evidence. A court ordered that they must be kept. Until today, families complain that the DNA should finally be published. The decision is that the fault of Karbaat is proved, nevertheless, A recognized son was his DNA.
In April 2017 Martijn saw in a German talk show a recording of the young Jan Karbaat and was startled. He realized himself. From Texas, he ordered a DNA Test for 79 dollars, sent back Avrupabet a saliva sample and was able to view the result online. This was Martijn in a database, which works similar to the Dating platform, Tinder, only to find instead of partners, according to Relatives. The System finds someone, a message comes: “you have a new Match.” For Martijn it were with a single click into your mailbox 26 Mails, and 26 brothers and sisters. In a secret Facebook group is for donor children, he wrote that night: “at The Moment, I am amazed and very happy about so many nice brothers and sisters.”
is The Name of Karbaat is forgotten. There’s no anger, no hatred. Not even the interest.
At the table all have intact families, spouses, children. And small or large careers: Martijn owns a flower shop, Sanne claims to work in the company of her father, but actually, it belongs to your half, Antje was commissioned after two weeks in the Job, with the planning of a new laboratory. Smart you are, self-employed or in management positions. Their explanation: it’s in our genes. What they have in common are the eyes, the tip of the nose and the mouth. “What could I sell in the Winter in my flower shop?”, Martijn asks. Sanne proposes to cum, because she knows that all of the semen jokes love. Martijn engages gently to your wrist. He shows that We have wide hands and short fingers. And we are scrabbling around, if we are talking about. You have to laugh. “The genes hold,” says Martijn. A Summon of the similarities. The Name Karbaat is forget this evening and at this table he will not fall. There’s no anger, no hatred. Since special interest is not even.
brothers and sisters are taken for granted as one of the Similarities is hardly true. You will learn them later in life, you can not stop even to see the similarities. Sudden siblings are like a mirror in which one’s own identity. Martijn will be amazed, and wonder about it. Marsha says, when you look at your sisters and brothers, then you get angry about your bad sides and was pleased with their good. The bad: a honesty, so radical, that it can hurt. The good: self-confidence, Humor and optimism that helps in the 43-sibling Situation.
After the main course, you don’t need any more jokes. Frederik told that his wife is third Time pregnant, that your media do to create hype. And that his daughter’s class was the best. Martijn smiles, Antje says: “Wow, that’s great.” She sounds a bit proud.
all children
Perhaps you are people, all family, because they still have something in common: they were children. All the parents who turned to Karbaat, wanted to have a Baby. But how to explain to the children the sudden siblings?
Laura says: “these are my Cousins.”
Frederik says: “This is family, I don’t know.”
Marsha said: “I have very, very many brothers and sisters and I would like to get to know.”
What is the half-siblings are to each other, can answer each and everyone only for themselves. For your relationship, there are no categories. It is up to you. Family, you will, if you so choose.
At the end of the Night, hugging Marsha and Martijn all. The promise of a reunion, soon. You want to stay still. When all are gone, go to the second beach promenade. The dawn brings the sky to light: the best light, to hold something. And as the two walk along, the shoulders that would be in a natural touch, a perfect image for the journalists. But not now. Now want to put Marsha and Martijn in the next Bar. The sea view and talk about anything. Two people who had gone a year ago on the street pass each other and now are brother and sister.
* name (editor-in-Tamedia)
Created: 05.12.2018, 21:29 PM
