By LISA TANGER
Observer staff
April 23, 2008

By all appearances, Cecily Lach is a carefree 32-year-old American woman.

Photo courtesy of CECILY LACH
Lach returned to India for the first time in her adult life in January 2008.

Tall, slender and always smiling, Lach is full of exuberance and life. A first glance gives no indication of early years spent in a humble orphanage more than 7,000 miles away.

Lach was left in a basket at the door of an orphanage in India in 1975, where Catholic nuns cared for her for roughly two and a half years. She said an Indian couple brought her and 12 other children to the United States in 1977, when she was adopted by a Milwaukee-based family.

Over the past three decades, Lach’s adoptive parents, Fred and Gae, encouraged her to return to the country where she was born.

“We’ve always talked about me going back to India,” Lach said. “I thought, not without mom and dad, no way. I don’t go anywhere without my mom.”

After a few months of planning, Lach returned to India in January 2008; her first trip back since her adoption more than 30 years ago. Her journey was lengthy, taking her from Raleigh-Durham, N.C., through Washington, D.C., on to Doha, Qatar, and ultimately landing in Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala, India.

Upon landing in India, she was joined by a family friend, Stacy, who had been to India in the past and could serve as a bit of a guide.

Photo courtesy of CECILY LACH
Lach’s salwar kameez cost approximately $18.

After flying for more than 25 hours, Lach said she desperately wanted to go to sleep, but, instead, went straight to a tailor shop to have traditional clothes made. Lach’s salwar kameez – a traditional cotton outfit consisting of a shirt, a scarf and pants – cost approximately $18.

Lach and her friend took a 45-minute train ride the next day to the coastal town of Varkala. She described the train as very cheap (less than $1), unclean and very crowded.

“The train was filled with people who seemed to think we were very unusual,” Lach said. She said the few seats that were available were made of wood and were uncomfortable.

“We thought Varkala was paradise. It was a beautiful relaxing beach town and the locals were very friendly. We felt very safe there. We swam in the sea, ate traditional Indian food and relaxed on the beach,” Lach said. She said one of the highlights of her excursion to Varkala was an elephant festival, in which elephants were decorated with gold and paraded through the village.

Photo courtesy of CECILY LACH
Lach attended a Jan. 23 elephant festival.

From Varkala, they traveled by ferry to Kottayam, a city located on the Meenachil River.

“A Spanish couple that we met in Varkala had told us about a home-stay in Kottayam, and we were very happy to find that they had room for us,” Lach said. She described the river-front guest house as very comfortable and quiet, surrounded by trees full of birds. She said the Sarovaram River View home-stay cost about $12 per night, and included breakfast, lunch and dinner.

“The best part of this home-stay was getting to know the family. When they learned that I was adopted, they insisted that their rickshaw driver help us find the orphanage,” Lach said. She said they spent more than two hours going around town asking people for directions before they found the orphanage.

Photo courtesy of CECILY LACH
Lach was greeted by nuns at her former orphanage.

“I knew that it was there, I knew it wasn’t gone,” Lach said. She said they were greeted by a nun who identified herself as Sister Superior. The nun gave Lach and her friend a tour of the facility after hearing Lach’s adoption story.

“For years, I was like, I don’t know where I’m from. I’m an American citizen, but I’m really not. I’m from India,” Lach recalled.

She said she was not overwhelmed upon her return to the orphanage, she was excited.

“She showed us the room where I lived the first two and a half years of my life. The former orphanage was very clean and bright, and is now used as a home for elderly sisters,” Lach said. She said the nuns invited them to stay for lunch.

“It was reassuring; everything just came together. Two of my most important years of my life were there,” Lach said.

Photo courtesy of CECILY LACH
The nuns found a photo of Lach in an orphanage album.

“Afterwards, they brought out an old photo album and we found my picture. It was very special to see where I spent the first two and half years of my life,” Lach said.

She speculated that her biological mother was probably unmarried and poor when she became pregnant, and someone influential in her life probably advised her to give her baby up.

“In India, you just don’t give up a child. You just don’t,” Lach said, explaining it is against religious and social norms in India to abandon a child.

“I think my mother is still out there. But, I don’t feel like she knew, I feel like somebody else helped her out. She was so poor, where I was from, it was so poor,” Lach said. “But, she was intelligent enough to give me to somebody else and drop me off at the orphanage.”

Photo courtesy of CECILY LACH
Sister Superior gives Lach and her friend a tour of the facility.

Lach and her friend said tearful good-byes to their home-stay family the following day, and started on a journey of many bus rides across southern India.

They traveled over the 6,000 foot Western Ghats, completing what Lach described as a terrifying six-and-a-half-hour ride on winding roads. She said the bus driver constantly beeped the horn as it passed animals, people and other moving vehicles.

They visited the Periyar Tiger Reserve, where they did not see any tigers.

“But, we saw lots of elephants and barking deer,” Lach said.

Photo courtesy of CECILY LACH
Lach saw many elephants in Periyar.

“We left the beauty and peacefulness of the mountains and descended into Madurai, which is a huge city in Tamil Nadu,” Lach said.

She said she had been told Madurai has the most impressive temples in all of south India.

In the final days of the trip, Lach and her traveling companion visited Munnar and Fort Cochin, logging many hours on buses. They eventually split up to continue on separate journeys, and Lach spent a final two days of relaxation back in Varkala.

Photo courtesy of CECILY LACH
Madurai is known for beautiful temples.

“This was truly a trip of a lifetime,” Lach said.

She said the trip gave her a fuller realization of how fortunate she is.

She said adoptive parents need to know that it’s important for adopted children to seek and find their roots.

”Don’t pressure them. Just let them go,” Lach said.