As fate would have it, father, daughter finally meet
Paige Bester's story is one you would usually see in a movie or a television series
POLOKWANE – Paige Bester’s story is one you would usually see in a movie or a television series.
Growing up in Polokwane, it was always just Paige and her mother, Nina, who didn’t hide anything from her regarding her father.
“Knowing who he was, I decided to contact him after I turned 18,” Paige says, but that didn’t happen for another two years.
In 2014, Paige’s Dad, Philip Burman, joined Facebook and a year later, Paige made the courageous decision to message her father. After deliberating and writing several different messages, Paige sent the message that would alter her life. Her father, who was in Tzaneen at the time, replied and they began communicating with each other and getting to know each other, making up for lost time.
When tragedy struck two months ago, Paige had no idea that her father would be the one to console her. After her mother passed away, her father landed in South Africa from America two days later to be with her, something Paige did not expect.
Paige now has the opportunity to get to meet family whom she never knew and travel overseas, as her father lives in Seattle and her grandmother in Scotland.
Paige says that sending that Facebook message wasn’t about wanting anything material from her father, just his time so they could get to know one another better and hopefully form a bond.
This is already happening and Paige now has the opportunity to meet and get to know her younger siblings, Evelyn (3) and Luke (6), because she grew up as an only child.
She says that when she met her father for the first time, he brought with him a beautiful Genie lamp and told her that the lamp represents the fact that he’ll always be there for her when she needs him.
