Two sisters who saw one another 63 years ago have been reunited after living 744 kilometres from one another for over six decades.
This is thanks to the determination and humanity of the organisation Track n Trace and the resilience of the sister’s family friend, Johanna Sthutte who lives in Port Elizabeth.
The family reunion is an early birthday gift for Fredericka Hoffman, 78, who celebrates her 79th birthday on December 14 and will meet relatives she has never met before.
Hoffman is also set to meet her brother Johnny who is also in his seventies.
A week ago, Fredericka Hoffman, who has suffered three strokes was placed on a bus to Port Elizabeth after generous donations from the Track n Trace and was treated to lunch with the team.
The team is a group of volunteers who dedicate themselves in finding missing persons and reuniting families.
The sisters, Fredericka and Mable Hoffman, 72, were just children when they saw one another last.
Hoffman was 16 and Mable, nine and both attended a convent school.
Fredericka Hoffman had boarded a taxi to George and later Cape Town and was never seen by her family again until now.
It had been Sthutte who had recognised Hoffman’s face on a Whatsapp status and immediately knew it was Mabel’s long lost sister.
“I am a family friend of Mabel’s and when I saw this post on Whatsapp that this woman in Cape Town is looking for her family in PE, I knew it must be her sister,” explained Sthutte.
“I made contact with Chaz Thomas of Track n Trace and then it was confirmed it was the two sisters who saw one another more than 50 years ago.
“Mabel told me that they were at a convent when they were children and that Fredericka had left for George and then Cape Town but that no one knew where she was.”
It had also been the intervention of Jeremy Carelse who searched for Fredericka Hoffman on the streets of Grassy Park where she had been living with a woman in a flat.
Once it was confirmed that the two were sisters, Carelse traced Fredericka and made sure that they were able to see one another via a video call and said there was a flood of tears.
“I knocked at the door of the flat where they said she had been living with a woman who had given her a place to stay and she opened the door,” explained Carelse.
“She told me how she had once slept on the streets and how she had been abused. Her bank card was taken at one stage.
“When the sisters spoke to one another for the first time, Fredericka didn’t at first recognise Mabel because they were just children when they saw one another last.
“But when Mabel began mentioning the other siblings' names, there were tears and I began to cry.
“This is why Track n Trace does this work, to bring families together especially in times like this when it is Christmas, it is an amazing feeling and moment to witness.”
Mabel told Weekend Argus she was overjoyed to have her sister in her home and is now appealing for a wheelchair for her.
She said her sister was still speaking with confusion due to the stroke but was happy to be home.
There were nine siblings altogether.
She explained the family had never forgotten Fredericka and had also searched for her at one stage.
“I was nine-years-old when I saw her for the last time and it was my oldest sister who said that she had left for George and then Cape Town but we did not know where she was, even now I did not know until I was told Grassy Park,’ she said.
“She will be 79 next week but she says she is 80. She said she had three strokes and that she was given no medical care in Cape Town.
“She is my sister and I will take care of her. I took her to the clinic the other day but they were closed. We do need a wheelchair for her.
“I have children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren now and she has met them, I am unsure if she had children of her own.”
Fredericka is not able to converse properly but said she was happy to be back home and that she misses walking now.
Track n Trace’s Chaz Thomas commended her team for their diligence and determination.