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Today in Focus

The scandal of Bangladesh’s missing children – podcast - part one

Today in Focus

The Guardian

News, Daily News

4.65.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 September 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What would you do if everything you believed about your childhood was wrong? Rosie Swash and Thaslima Begum investigate an international adoption scandal that is still shattering lives today. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the Guardian.

0:08.2

Today, the first of three episodes uncovering a scandal that was buried in Bangladesh

0:14.8

five decades ago. But he's still shattering lives across the world.

0:19.8

She just replied so she to say it's okay if you're going to be here a bit later than you said so.

0:38.4

We've arrived in a village outside Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It feels rural and quiet.

0:45.7

We pull up on a gravel drive and step out of the car to a grand, eccentric farmhouse.

0:55.7

The courtyard looks like it has seen some parties. There are headless mannequins, fairy lights,

1:01.9

and a bathtub all setting the scene. I'm with Guardian journalist Tislima Begum

1:08.0

and Rosie Swash. And we're here to meet a woman called Bebe Hassanar.

1:18.7

Maybe the first thing that went through my mind when I saw this woman is that she's a rock star.

1:26.3

She's dressed head to toe in black, leather trousers, long, flowing hair.

1:31.8

Inside, her home is magazine shoot ready. She gives us a little tour of the grounds and introduces

1:40.2

us to her Mongolian double-hunt camel. And at one point, she starts calling out for another pair.

1:48.8

That was the high grass. Oh my god. Steps in the evening.

1:53.2

I wasn't expecting a small bud. It isn't actually you. Hello.

2:00.4

Bebe has a real presence about her. Steely. No nonsense.

2:07.2

She tells me she runs several businesses and is a mother to four grown boys.

2:13.1

Oh yes, I did a lot of things. I am an entrepreneur so I had to restaurant in bar and I also

2:21.3

have some apartments that I rent and I do really good business in the second hand in the street.

2:30.1

She's lived in this village since she was adopted as a small child from Bangladesh.

2:36.3

And Bebe's life, her identity, was built on a very specific story about how she got here.

2:44.2

Hello, I'm Bebe. I was born not long after the Liberation War and I was adopted to the Netherlands.

...

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