“Hello my fellow Indians, I am from the Philippines, and I am looking for my father,” Sat La wrote in a Sydney Indian community group on Facebook, hoping someone would recognise his long lost father’s name.
Highlights:
- Sat La lives in the Phillipines with his mother.
- He is looking for his father Sat Pal Kumar in Sydney.
- His parents had lost touch 30 years ago.
Sat Pol Kumar Jr, also known as Sat La, has lived 32 years of his life without knowing his father. Raised by his mother and aunt, Sat La believes his father Sat Pal Kumar met his mother in Singapore before moving to Australia decades ago.
“In 1982, my mom went to Singapore to work as a domestic helper," he says. "She met my father there, and they became good friends. They decided to migrate to Australia in the year 1985.”
According to Sat La, both arrived in Sydney and started working in Ingham’s chicken factory in Liverpool. But, his mother had to leave Australia.
“When my mom got pregnant with me, she decided to go back to the Philippines because they were undocumented immigrants of Australia," Sat La says. “She returned to Manila to give birth to me, and everything went well.”
Sat La has this picture of his father Sat Pal Kumar from 30 years ago. Source: Supplied by Sat La
Sat La says for some time his father supported his mother financially, but then they lost touch.
“My father gave financial support to my mom to raise me and to provide for my needs. But unfortunately, they lost contact with each other for unknown reason… totally no letter, no phone call at all.”
So he grew up without his father, raised by his single mother with the help of her sister.
He went to school and worked hard, but life was not easy.
“There were times when I had to stop attending school and find work due to financial struggles,” says Sat La.
However, he never lost hope and kept working hard.
“With the help of some relatives and our almighty God, I finished my degree in nursing and passed the Philippine’s nursing license exam to become a registered nurse.”
Working as a nurse with a government hospital in the Philippines, Sat La got married last year and had a child of his own. Fatherhood has ignited a desire inside him to see and meet his own father.
Sat La has this picture of his father Sat Pal Kumar from 30 years ago. Source: Supplied by Sat La
A few weeks back, his mother asked him to search for one of her friends from decades ago on Facebook.
"Luckily we searched her name on Facebook and sent her a message,” says Sat La.
He hopes to find his father the same way, and he has some extra clues too. His mother's friend told him that Sat Pal Kumar lives in Campbelltown in Sydney.
Sat La's daughter Source: Supplied by Sat La
As such, he posted a message in the Facebook community groups hoping for some news, which he is still waiting for.
"I need to find my father because I want to fill the missing part of my life," he says. "There is a big question mark in my life.
"My mother is also getting old - my wish for her is to get a chance to meet again my father before she dies. And lastly, I want to inform my father that his son in the the Philippines is a father now; that he has a granddaughter here."
