By: Dawn Slade

Milaca Elementary School teacher Lora Dagel helped to make a connection for two girls adopted from India. 

Dagel’s first grade student Alex Bemboom recently received a unique gift-the gift of a little sister. 

Her gift was unique because her sister didn’t come from her mommy’s tummy- she came from India. 

When Dagel learned the Bemboom family would be welcoming home a child from India, it didn’t take long to realize there was a local connection. Milaca High School junior Priya Zakrajsek was also adopted from India when she was just an infant. 

Dagel made arrangements for the two families to meet.  She invited them to her classroom and took the opportunity to teach her students about culture and adoption.

“All of us learned a little bit of culture,” Dagel said.

April and Travis Bemboom of Foreston adopted two-and-a-half-year-old Seema Kiran in September. 

School superintendent Barbra Zakrajsek adopted Priya when she was seven months old. 

Priya said it was a good experience for her to meet Seema and her mother. 

“It makes you know you’re not alone,” she said.

Priya said it was also an excellent opportunity to explain adoption to the students. 

Adoption, she said, is when parents realize they cannot take care of a child. They love them so much, they have to give them up. 

“It was really nice to meet Priya and talk with her,” April said.  She also appreciated talking with Priya’s mom about adoption. 

“Meeting the family was fun,” Barb said.  “A whole pot full of memories came back regarding the adoption of all three of my children.” 

Both Priya and April brought some items from India to show the children, including a doll, bracelets and anklets. 

“I want her to be proud of where she’s from,” April said of her daughter’s birthplace.

Barb said it’s hard to raise children of ethnicity in a small town like Milaca.  It helps to bring diversity into children’s lives, she added.  For her two older daughters, that diversity was experienced when they entered college. 

The Journey

The Bembooms began the adoption process in December, 2003, not in India but in the Ukraine. 

After a long struggle with paperwork, setbacks and difficulty getting a child from the Ukraine, the Bembooms decided to take a break from the adoption seeking process. 

“We’ve got a beautiful girl,” April said of Alex.  “If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen.”

Then, last winter the family attended a wrestling match in Milaca where they met a woman from Elk River who had adopted a child from India. 

That’s when Travis initiated the adoption subject once again. 

“There’s kids that may or may not have had a chance,” he said.  “To give them that…”

“There’s so many children that need homes,” April added. 

Because of a hereditary condition discovered when April gave birth to Alex, the couple chose to adopt.

“It’s so much longer than a pregnancy,” April said of the adoption process. 

The couple switched gears and met with the Children’s Home Society and Family Services in St. Paul and began the process once again. 

Since they already had the government’s Immigration and Naturalization Services approval, the process wasn’t nearly as long. 

Because Seema was found in the streets and brought to a hospital when she was an infant, the orphanage gave her a name and assigned her a birth date. 

When April and her mother returned from India, Seema took to the family and her new home instantly. 

Unfortunately, April ended up in the hospital two days later with appendicitis. 

But, big sister Alex took over the motherly caretaker role during her short absence. 

Watching Seema play with her big sister and listening to her speak and understand several words of English, you wouldn’t guess the tiny toddler has only been in the states for three months. 

The youngster is becoming so accustomed to her new surroundings that she quickly smiled and said “cheese” when a camera was readied. 

“Our social worker is completely blown away,” April said of Seema’s progress. 

“She behaves so much like Alex did when she was a little girl, it’s scary,” Travis said.

April was pleased with the orphanage where Seema was living.  It was clean and the women at the orphanage took exceptionally good care of the children, especially Seema.

“If it weren’t for them, she wouldn’t be who she is,” April said of the orphanage ladies. 

Seema was, however, slightly malnourished.  When April arrived in India, Seema weighed only 16 pounds, but she’s already up to 24 pounds. 

“She’s starting to get taller already,” April said.

Finally here

It’s been a long wait for the couple and a long wait for Alex, too.

In 2003, she placed a “letter” to her new brother or sister in a sealed envelope and it hung on the refrigerator for nearly two years. 

So much time had gone by for the seven-year-old that she didn’t remember what was in her letter.  Turns out, it was a picture she drew for her new sibling that she was finally able to give to Seema in September. 

“It takes a while for you to realize she’s going to stay,” April admitted. 

“Enjoy your children” Barb advised.  “If they have the same experience as I have had, it is, hands down, the best thing I ever did and the best part of my life.”

The Bembooms have no doubt in their minds they plan to adopt again.

“It’s so worth it,” April said of adoption.  “It brings you really close as a family.

“People say, ‘she’s so lucky,’ but we’re the lucky ones,” April said. 

Learn more about adopting from India