When she was only eight years old, Lysa Maria combed the bushes at night with a torch in search of an abandoned baby whom she found, only to lose trace of him soon after.

After 12 years of enquiries,  Miss Maria, this time armed with the power of the internet, now seems close to finding the child, named "Moses," again.

The glimmer of light shone two weeks ago through Seychelles' official website, virtualseychelles.sc's guestbook, where the German couple who adopted "Moses" posted a letter saying they wished to contact any people in Seychelles who were connected with the child, now 12 years old.

We published the couple's appeal in Seychelles Weekend Nation on October 18, and Maria, together with her mother, Monique Augustine, were overjoyed to find Elisabeth and Michael Pracht's email address.

As of yesterday, however, Miss Maria and her mother had not been lucky to get through to the Prachts yet, so they reverted to Nation for help.

Upon enquiry, we discovered that there was an error in the address we published and it should have read as: empracht@t-online.de

As we relayed the proper contact address to Maria and Augustine yesterday, they narrated the story of how Moses was found:

Ms Augustine, an immigration officer, who lived near Seychelles International Airport a the time was on duty at the airport on the night of March 23, 1991. 8-year-old Maria and her father were going to take some food to Ms Augustine around 8.00 p.m., when Miss Maria thought she heard a baby crying in a nearby bush.

Her father dismissed the cry as one coming from a cat, but convinced it was a baby, after they returned home, little Maria took a torch and went searching in the bush alone, where she found Moses, then only just born.

"Maria wrapped the baby in her night dress and took it home," Ms Augustine told Nation yesterday, saying that her family reported the matter to the police and the baby was taken to Victoria Hospital by ambulance.

"We visited the baby every day during the week he was there, and we were disappointed when we suddenly lost contact with the child after he was adopted," Augustine said.

Augustine and Maria yesterday promised to let Nation know when they succeed in contacting the Prachts, and hopefully, "Moses."

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