They are twins, they haven’t known each other for 24 years and …

Two indonesian twin sisters, who were separated when they were only two months old, they saw each other after 24 years thanks to a video on the social network TikTok. The reunion ended their separation due to local superstitions and an episode of sectarian violence.

Elis Treni Mustika, one of the protagonists of the story is a young “influencer” with thousands of followers on social networks. Her adoptive family raised her as an only child.

“At first I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was a scam, someone who only looks like me,” said the young woman, owner of an online makeup store.

the the reunion with his sister came from the publication of one of his usual videos on the Internet. Video was seen by a neighbor of his sister Trena, to whom he commented that his videos had been fun on TikTok. To the surprise of the two, the young woman replied that she did not even have a profile on this social network.

“When we started talking in October, she knew my parents’ names and even had a picture of my childhood. She knew that I had lived in Ambon a long time ago. Then she sent me her Facebook profile and I saw that we were very similar, especially when we were girls, ”Treni said.

Twin Elis Treni Mustika and Trena were born in 1995 in the town of Ambon, capital of the central Moluccas Islands. His family had emigrated from West Java as part of a government program to encourage the repopulation of part of the Indonesian archipelago.

Due to a series of beliefs and the fear that both will get sick at the same time, a local elder recommended raising the twins separately. For years, parents regularly visited their adoptive parents.

In 1999, violence broke out between the Muslim and Christian communities installed in the Moluccas. The fighting lasted over four years, killing at least 5,000 people and up to 700,000 displaced residents.

The twins’ biological parents were forced to flee to their native West Java, but could only locate Trena, as they lost contact with Treni’s adoptive parents, who in turn moved east. from Java.

From her home in the town of Blitar, Treni, who changed her last name to Fitri Yana, from the adoptive family and was unaware of her twin sister’s existence, uploaded videos of her daily life to TikTok, where it had around 8,300 subscribers.

About 500 kilometers west, in the town of Tasikmalaya, Trena, who had been trying to find her sister for two years, managed to contact Treni’s profile thanks to her neighbor’s comment.

Finally, last October and after more than two decades of interval, the sisters were able to meet again. Now the two continue to document their daily lives in videos posted on social media.