A woman is sharing the emotional story of how she reunited with her dad after not seeing him for 30 years. Mika Ap Ellis was only a child when she last saw her father, Omar. “I’ve never really had a relationship with him,” she told BBC. “However, I did have letters from him. I had birthday cards from him and I had loads of photos, so I knew that there was a connection.”
When her 18th birthday came around, Mika started putting some serious thought into searching for her dad.
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There was only one thing Mika had to go off of from those who knew her father: He was likely homeless. So the daughter started her search through charities and agencies that support homeless people, according to BBC. But she ran into “brick walls” because they could only offer limited resources due to data protection regulations. But in November 2022, a ray of hope made its way to Mika.
The daughter just so happened to be watching a BBC London news segment on the work of Verral Paul-Walcott. He operates a cycling group that does charity work by delivering food and supplies to homeless people sleeping on the street in London. Mika took a chance and reached out to him. To her surprise, Verral replied within a matter of minutes, letting her know he knew where he dad was located.
“It was absolutely amazing, I just couldn’t believe it.” Mika said. “From that, it took me a long time to get my head around it and try to understand what I wanted from meeting my father. It’s one thing knowing where they are after 30 years — you just don’t know how it’s going to be.”
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Verral immediately told Omar his daughter was searching for him. “I approached him and like normal I asked him if he needed some support, and he told me the essentials that he needed,” the cyclist shared. “I got them for him and when I came back, I said to him: ‘I have some news for you. There’s someone called Mika who would like to see you.’ He looked up at me, and his eyes filled up and he said: ‘That’s my daughter.'”
The father then made a voice recording on Verral’s phone to send to Mika. The cyclist kept in touch with the man as he helped to arrange the meetup between the father and daughter.
With it having been so long since they last saw each other, Mika said that she “wasn’t really expecting much.” But the reunion was an emotional one.
“I was so nervous when I eventually went over to him, and said, ‘Are you Omar?’ and he said yes,” she shared. “I hugged him and it was a really surreal moment, but it didn’t feel like a stranger, it did feel like home in a weird sort of way. For the rest of the day we went up to the park and we just chatted for hours and hours and hours just about all sorts.”
To Mika, finding her dad was a “miracle,” and she knows she couldn’t have done it without the help of the cyclist. “If anybody is looking for anybody in London, especially if they’re homeless,” she said, “I give Verral an hour and he’ll find them.”
