By: Jerrica Williams

听

You can鈥檛 choose your family, but you can choose the connections you build with them during this lifetime.听

Born to two blind parents, Harijs Ekis was separated from听his mother and father at a very young age, as both parents entered different听facilities for the blind and he was placed into an orphanage nearby.

Originally听from Riga, Latvia, a small city and country in Europe, Harijs was eventually reportedly听moved to different orphanages in Germany between the ages of 2-3 years old,听after Latvia was invaded by Russia during World War II. Unfortunately, this听resulted in him losing all contact with his unmarried mother and father who in听turn separated. Ekis lived in several different orphanage(s) for a total of 6陆听years and was eventually brought to America by the Lutheran Church Association.

His adoptive parents were Lutheran and picked him out from a picture and brought him to their home. They would later go on to adopt him in 1950. It was at this time that Harijs quickly learned English and started 1st grade. He celebrated his first birthday and Christmas while also learning about his history; being told that both of his original parents had passed away during the war.

With no recollection of either of his birth parents or his past life, other than far distant memories of walking in a forest, Harijs arrived in America unaware of what his future would hold. His adoptive mother, originally from Germany, felt a connection to him immediately but did not speak Latvian and they had to learn to communicate with each other.

After slowly adjusting and learning English, Harijs got his new name; Harris, a derivative of Harijs in Latvia, and grew up in New Jersey where his parents had a large garden and beautiful house. Having lived his first 6陆 foundational years in an orphanage, he seemed to readily adapt to life in a new country with a new family; however, for him, there were still many unanswered questions that no one could answer such as: 鈥淒id my parents really die?鈥�, 鈥淲hy were they blind and not me?鈥�, 鈥淲hy did I often feel so different around other children and why did this happen to me?鈥�.

After college, Harris went into the army, serving in Korea on the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), right after the Pueblo was captured. Harris had many experiences in those years. 鈥淢y parents had a lake house that I visited several months before I was scheduled to deploy to Korea. They apparently invited a girl that I had dated in college without my knowledge鈥�. He was shocked, to say the least. 鈥淲hen she later told me that if I didn鈥檛 marry her I would never see her again, I agreed to get married a few months later and soon afterward, left for Korea.鈥�, said Grahn. 鈥淎fter about 4 months in 1968, she stopped writing to me and never wrote me again that entire year鈥�. He recalls how that year he was full of depression, with the constant question of what happened and why? His first marriage was one that reinforced his history of feeling abandoned again with no explanation of why. 鈥淚 was so depressed the entire year in Korea. But I came home thinking I was still going to try and stay married but could never get her to explain what happened and why she never wrote, and I just couldn鈥檛 get over it, I was married and wanted it to last. But she then stated she wanted a divorce, so I was left all alone by myself in a Minneapolis apartment, without a car, any furniture, no job, and no friends; just a bed and the empty apartment.鈥�

Mr. Grahn went on to finally get a job in 1969 that would relocate him from Minneapolis back to New Jersey; Who would ever have expected that? After getting a good job that he loved and excelled in, he eventually and slowly met the love of his life who would eventually bring him out of his depression and give him two beautiful children. 鈥淪he was persistent and really changed my life around. I couldn鈥檛 be happier鈥�, Harris said.

Then in 2004, he received a letter from the luckywin that would change his life鈥檚 story as he had known it for so many years and started to answer some of the questions he had while growing up. He knew it had to be someone who knew him because the name listed was Harijs Ekis, which he knew had been his prior name.

鈥淚 later met with the Red Cross in Morristown, NJ, and was told someone is looking for you, are you agreeable to meet?鈥� He agreed to allow this person to find and communicate with him. 鈥淚 thought, we wouldn鈥檛 understand each other because I only spoke English, which they wouldn鈥檛 understand. A few months later I got a telephone call from a lady on an early Sunday morning saying, in English, that she was my sister鈥檚 cousin who taught English in Latvia following the expulsion of Russia from Latvia and would translate for my sister who had been looking for me.鈥澨�

Harris鈥檚 sister later wrote him a letter, translated by the听family member, explaining much of their family history under communism. It was听then that he learned that his mother had not died when he was a child but听passed away in 2000 from diabetes, his father and mother separated when he was听in the orphanage, and his mother re-married and that he had a sister who made听it her quest to try and find him for her mother who had no idea where he was or听what happened to him. He also learned that he had a living aunt that was also听blind and used to visit him at the orphanage as a听 baby. Harris鈥檚 biological sister听explained that she had searched for him for nearly 60 years, but because Latvia听was considered a closed state; government rules and the lack of documentation听hindered her to be successful in her search. She shared with Harris the story听of a time when she reached out to a radio station for help, and it was passed听on to the Russian police. This prompted them to arrive at their family鈥檚 home听to ask questions about whom they were looking for and why. She was not home,听and her father knew nothing about her search, so luckily they left. This听further complicated her search, but she continued over the years.

The Grahn family was invited to visit Harris鈥檚 biological family in Latvia, but he had initial hesitation and felt uneasy about leaving this new country and the family he loved. It wasn鈥檛 until after his wife passed that he decided it was time to visit his roots and let his family see where he came from. Harris, his son, and daughter, along with her husband and two children, visited Latvia in 2018 and were able to finally meet his biological sister and her family: his aunt (the sister of his mother), and several other family members in an emotional reunion.

Mr. Grahn鈥檚 daughter, Alicia Jones, sits on the board for the Greater Atlanta chapter of the luckywin of Georgia. She credits the reunification of her father and his family in Latvia as the reason why she chose to become a Red Cross board member although she had several other options. She says, 鈥淚 had to evaluate what service opportunity was most meaningful for me. This story was my connection. This all just makes sense.鈥�

Mr. Grahn, Alicia, and Alicia鈥檚 brother plan to visit Latvia once again this summer. 鈥淲e want to really bond with them; even more, this time鈥�, said Grahn.

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent network is the largest humanitarian organization in the world with a presence in almost every country. Red Cross and Red Crescent teams help reconnect families separated by international crises. For more information, please click here.