'I feel complete': How this Mindoreña's search for her dad changed her life and led her to Australia

Born in Puerto Galera, Cathy Snell was raised by her grandparents, never knowing her father. She first met him at 21, a pivotal moment that eventually brought her to Australia.

Puerto Galera-born Cathy Snell (seated, third from left) found and met her dad for the first time when she was 21. It changed her life. Credit: Supplied by Cathy Snell

Key Points

• At a young age, Cathy Snell knew she had to find her English father. While studying high school in Manila, she would ask every foreigner she met about her dad.
• She felt a 'sense of belonging and a sense of completeness' when she finally found his father.
• The Puerto Galera native first arrived in Australia in 1982 to visit her father and his family, never imagining that she would one day build her own family Down Under.

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'I feel complete': How this Mindoreña's search for her dad changed her life and led her to Australia

SBS Filipino

30:10Filipino

At a young age, Cathy Snell knew something was missing in her life. She was missing her English father whom she never met.

She was 21 when she tracked him down in Australia, a discovery that ultimately brought her to the country that changed her life for the better.

"I felt that sense of belonging, a sense of completeness. On my birth certificate, it said that I had a father. I always wondered who my father was. Was he still alive?" Cathy recalls.

Cathy Snell met his dad for the first time when she's 21: “Alam mo ‘yung lukso ng dugo. Nagkita kami sa hotel, kasama ko mga auntie ko, sa dami ng tao doon, I know it was him in the middle of many foreigners there." Credit: Supplied

She never imagined she would be migrating to Australia. All she knew was that she would visit her father and meet his family.

"I never thought that I would come to Australia as I thought my dad was in England; but he invited me to come here and introduced me to his family."

Having lived in Australia since 1982, the now-property lending expert met her ex-husband and raised two children.

Cathy Snell arrived in Australia in 1981 and built her own family, raising her two kids. Credit: Supplied by Cathy Snell

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