A five-year-old girl who went missing two years and four months ago from Siddhirganj upazila in Narayanganj, has been reunited with her family.
The reunion was facilitated by a non-governmental organization 'Local Education and Economic Development Organization (LEEDO)'.
On Tuesday, December 24, LEEDO handed over Ayesha Siddika Manha, daughter of a couple named Hasan Chowdhury and Nipa, to her family in the presence of the Narayanganj District Social Welfare Officer and Siddhirganj police.
This marked the conclusion of an extensive search that began when Ayesha was found wandering in Dhaka earlier this month.
On December 9, two women discovered a girl near Manda in Dhaka and handed her over to Mugda Police Station. Unable to provide her address, the child was placed in LEEDO's temporary shelter at Setubandhan in Kamalapur. Social workers from LEEDO took immediate steps to identify the child's family, reaching out to various police stations and utilizing social media and local newspapers to spread her story.
While initially unable to locate her family, LEEDO compared photographs of Ayesha from 2022 to her current appearance. With confirmation from Siddhirganj Police Station's records, LEEDO eventually traced her family using details from the initial missing report filed in 2022. Her parents, Hasan Chowdhury and Nipa, verified her identity and finally reunited with their daughter.
The family expressed their gratitude and relief, sharing the challenges they faced over the past two years. "We thought we would never see her again," said Ayesha’s father. "When we were informed that our daughter was found, it felt unbelievable. Seeing her and holding her again has brought peace to our hearts."
Ayesha reportedly mentioned a couple named Gazi and Parul, claiming they had cared for her during her absence. The family urged authorities to investigate and locate these individuals.
